Nothing I've heard of from stern at all about a premium option. They will try to sell a shit ton of pros like Tron did.

They would be dumb if they didn't. Question is now is what will they take out from the LE...

I don;t know.

I hope so but if not I am down with the pro

They will announce at least two premium versions as soon as the LEs sell. That is my uninformed WAG.

Not likely at all.

If it's going to happen, it will be announced in the next 3 weeks.

That announcement would be a shocker to me. Buuuuuut....Gary has been misleading and secretive before.

I don't think it will happen.

But if for some reason Stern suddenly thinks it was a huge mistake to not run a Premium version, it would be much smarter to announce the Premium before the LE's are shipping than later.

I believe there will be a Prem model. I fully expect it and would be surprised if they didn't release TWD with a premium package (i.e., basically like the LE but without the plaque and minor artwork differences...). Edit - I anticipate that there will be demand for a premium and there is money to be made.

Perhaps there will be a VE down the road with a small bump in features and price similar to ACDC VE with the bell

From our side of the fence yes. From a silent partner at Stern looking to make profit based on sales, no it doesn't.

Sell out LE's and punch out a lot of pros. THEN, gauge interest later for a potential premium.

But--avoid premium hassle to begin with and just offer 2 flavors. Avoids resale distress in market for folks looking to not lose money on re sales.

LE's will be "sold out" to distributors whether there was a Premium version or not, so I don't see this as being the reason to not release a Premium.

It will happen...........Anyone care to make a $6000 bet with me?

Maybe not. If a premium is announced BEFORE LE sales are closed, lots of folks will jump ship and reconsider options. Hook em now, but don't forget to SET the hook or you'll lose the lure AND the fish.

I do t think Stern wants a bunch of pissed off distro's.

I'm sure they're second guessing their business plan and taking I.Q. tests as we speak!

Who's dumb? Premiums don't have anything taken out from the LE. Same playfield features. That's the whole point. Pro has stuff removed.

Of course they will sell premiums, way too much money on the table. Look at AC/DC 2 premiums still selling, Met also have more than 1 premium due to the popularity of the Monsters edition.

If you are not in a hurry it will happen

Just my opinion, nothing solid or confirmed backing it

Of course, they'll jack the price up to be close to a LE. Might as well the spend the extra now and be done with it. I dont want to keep checking for updates all the time so i just got the le.

One site had a pre order selection for premium. Not sure if its still there.

Different cab/trans artwork. Different color hardware. No signature-who cares. No certificate or #-who cares. Probably close to the le price anyways, depending on who you buy from.

I'm guessing this pin will do very well and that Stern will announce a premium version.
Of course, they'll probably strip off the side armor (which I love) and the mirrored back glass.
I think I'll be in for a Premium, but not if anything on the playfield is removed or missing from the LE.
For me, the Premium has to be the full play experience that the LE offers.

Honestly, I so wish that the LEs weren't limited at all, and were just another option/version you could buy at anytime.
I LOVE my ACDC and would have paid more for an LE when I bought it.
If TWD is as good as I'm hoping, I'd rather shell out a little extra for the bling.
Unfortunately, I think I'll hold off until code is proven this time around.

I'm pretty sure this will happen. Guessing some people will jump on the LE thinking value will increase since no premiums avail and this is the only way to get extra features. After LEs sold and delivered watch for an announcement about artwork finished for a new version...

I was convinced it would. Delaying announcement was a clever way to make sure that Stern would not sit on a pile of LE.

Then comes the price changes: Pro +$600 LE: -$200 narrowing the gap by $800. The difference between the two is still large enough to introduce a third model in between, but the signal it sends is not so clear to me. Hence the "may be" vote.

If they do, it wouldn't be too savvy to wait until after the pros and LEs started to ship. Otherwise you end up with the same situation as Tron.

Funny, because the more I think about it, it makes less sense to me that they will make a premium.

Stern did their market research. They didn't feel there would be enough demand to justify a premium. If you consider that the sales of the premium version of ST and Mustang have been low, and Avengers before that, it doesn't surprise me that they decided to forego a premium on this one.

The only Premiums that seem to have sold well for Stern so far is AC/DC and MET. Stern knows these figures better than we do obviously. Something led to their decision not to do a Premium version of TWD.

The thing is if Stern weren't ever doing a premium they would announce this NOW as LE's would sell out. The fact they have said nothing speaks volumes.

The Tron Premium will be announced before the TWD Premium.

Stern's website says two table options. To me, that means two table options.

Damned if you do....damned if you don't. Speculating is playing in Stern's favour.

Stern's FB page has a link to an article that says "Eschewing Stern's recent model of releasing three versions, the company is making The Walking Dead in only two: a standard Pro model and a Limited Edition with some special features"

If they don't make a Premium, they lose at least one sale next year. I am not interested in the LE, but I want a full featured game. I have purchased two NIB Premiums in the last 12 months, and that is really the only model that I am interested in. I am budgeting for one or two new pins next year, but if the Premium model is gone, I won't be buying.

Can anybody ask Stern before buying a LE if there are plans for a Premium?? I don't need any laugh my ass off GI's either! Seems to me if your really concerned its a very legit question to ask! Why can't any one phone Gary as per every second post about jack! Is he that pompis he won't answer? Call him out now before you put your money out for an LE.

I'm sure Stern is employing a wait-and-see approach regarding the Premium. If the LE is a big success and there is demand for more full featured games then I believe we'll see a premium. If the LE is not successful than Stern probably won't do one. Simple as that...

Because Jack has been so forthcoming, right?

Nice find. That is the most definitive proof we've seen so far.

If this is true then why didn't they do a Tron Premium before doing several more runs of pros. I don't get it.

Stern could get smart and price the LE slightly less and then charge more for the premium. Then LEs would sell out and if someone still wanted in on the fully packed game they could pay a bit more on an open ended high end version.
That would solve everything.

You know what.... key words in the above: releasing three versions.

The premium is not offered "on release"... it will come later.

I honestly wonder if the Premium model isn't going to die. It seems like they aren't selling that great, and it's a lot of work to do all the new art etc. Might just end up not being worth it.

Which is too bad, I like my Star Trek Premium a lot, I just think that many people ordered them.

Just so it's super clear, I wrote that sentence, and it's based on the same info we all have here. Stern linked it up and their PR didn't write me to correct me, but beyond that it's not an official confirmation of anything.

So what are you saying.....you already know Gary isn't ?

Because the Premium business model didn't exist back when the Tron Pro and LE were released.

Stern's best selling game in recent memory is ACDC Premium, I doubt we'll see them abandoning the Premium model completely. All of Lyman's games that have a Premium model have been successful which is why I'll be surprised if they don't do one on TWD.

It did when they were re-running pros.

Stop with all this logic!

i doubt it, it would have been announced on their website but if it does well i expect a VE edition with more extras, like ac/dc.

***edited:

i meant to say like the new ac/dc led pro with added bell, something similar.

_{Post edited by beatmaster: fixed a mistake}

A reliable source told me those who bought the ST Premium got the true LE from that run. For what it's worth.

Umm, you're having trouble keeping up. What I'm saying is; they're all used car salesmen and full of shit. The whole, call (insert company figurehead) them up and ask is the thing lemmings parrot to each other.