I felt exactly the same way. While I enjoyed and watched many of the streams, it sorta spoiled the 'new factor'.

I didn't LOVE the theme. Once I had some time on a machine though... HOOKED.

I'd certainly like to hear the most important reasons JJP cut production short (Wonka politics, BOM, assembly line mutiny) but I'll bet it was profit/game and lower-than-expected demand (at the time). After the delays, and after watching many many streams, and infinite availability, I had decided to wait for Black Knight and Elvira, etc. It was only when Jack stated he was stopping production at TPF, that I panicked along with everyone else and most of the LE inventory poofed.

I've been waiting for shooter lane wireform. The piece that screws down was welded in the wrong spot and the ball hits it on plunge. It does work at least, and I can still play thankfully, but my game shipped with an extra-difficult (random!) skill shot.

zaphX is right and they won't make more POTC until the day JJP announces "we're building more units based on demand by x/y/z date, contact your distributor to get on the list and place deposit". And if we're dreaming, the new units should feature some compelling improvements (trunk mod, new cabinet art, etc.) in a Black Pearl edition.

Same story here - scratched backglass... AND my shooter lane wireform is messed up making skill shots entirely random. Apparently this was a common issue and JJP shipped all backups to other owners... But thanks to successful experiments from zaphX and Yelobird , I just bought a set of metal files...

It's CRAZY but I'm getting better support from Dutch Pinball. Seriously.

In MY perfect world, we'd see a professional (rehearsed, produced) launch video showcasing the new GNR game features and selling points.
They'd ask for questions. THEN, we'd get a live stream with Eric and Joe and Keefer (good players!) showing how it's played AND answering FAQ.
THEN take my deposit money.

With all of this banter back and forth, I'm still left wondering what the actual opportunity for JJP might be... I'd really like to see them remake but it's hard to imagine the same hype driving presales of an unseen R&M (before epidemic) can match the reality of POTC (after epidemic).

I think we'll need to wait a few more months for the economy to settle for any real clarity. Although government has printed $4T to prop things up, it won't last long. Values of pinball games are propped up by resale value. I'd have a much MUCH harder time buying $7k+ games if I thought I couldn't resell and recoup most of my money (if trouble hits...).

Here are my from-ass-estimates of demand TODAY (prior to an economic recession):
100 units @ $15,000 - there are enough rich comfortable pinheads to sell 100 of anything (see Elvira SE)
250 units @ $12,500 - it may be the GOAT, but to even reach 250, I think they'd need to say final/last opportunity and add a few enhancements (chest mod, Lior mods)
<500 units @ $9500 - I'm less certain about this considering the volume from Chicago Gaming... I mean, if they could sell 1000 of MBr, then you'd like to think POTC would sell 5000... but our community must be too small.

At TPF, Jack said they had 3 years remaining on the current license. Getting that lame cereal-box-class license extended should be trivial as well.

The point here is the development of a game costs a million (sunk cost). Maximizing sales of that game at the highest possible price is how you maximize ROI in this business.

It's hard to see how restarting and moving the established company, firing some of the most valuable and knowledgeable staff is a pure ROI move. It sounds like the rich investor loves pinball, has someone other that Jack convincing him to do stuff, and is pushing for more new games. If I owned the company and had plenty of spare money, I'd absolutely prioritize new games (for me!) too.

Disney were previously difficult. Things are easier now. And it depends on the license. Unfortunately (or fortunately at this point), the JJP POTC license is bare-bones and involves very little (limited access to assets, actors, etc.).

If this was "from" and not "for" each character, I'd expect them to leverage the Black Pearl ship or something for any art changes.
But either way, they've already got those approvals if they want an extension on existing assets.

JJP has a POTC in their break area. Cool.

Should be easy to re-license. No actors. No movie scenes (with actors?).
Frankly, I REALLY hope JJP didn't pay much for that license. The game would lose very little if a few things were changed and renamed Black Rose 2.

Gotcha. Well, I stand by my comment that the character pictures/names add little to the game and so I hope they didn't pay too much. The JJP guys did a great job with the onscreen visuals considering the limited assets.