Yippee! ....I guess.

Regardless of TWD, I hope Stern does not abandon the Premium model. As others have said, I want the full feature game, but don't want to pay extra for 'exclusivity'.

not having problems keeping up at all. I say phone and ask. He may surprise you and you may get a straight answer. No laughing my ass off gi's here either please

I'm really hoping they do release a Premium because I want to play the game before I commit that much cash to it. Unfortunately, I don't think i'll be able to snag a NIB LE by that time.

At that point, i'll just have to wait on a good deal on a used LE. Just like I have to do with every other pin I buy. I think it's kinda silly for me to demand that Stern make a premium or decree that it is silly if they do not. Heck, I won't even know if I want the thing for several more months. I'm sure they will do whatever nets them the most money because I'm sure Mustang set them back a bit. If my buying habits cause me to miss out, i'll just get over it and adjust accordingly for the next title I want.

I would assume that's what was meant.

Honestly, I think it's because too much time had passed and an attempt to run Tron as a Premium would have came across as a greedy cash-in. For TWD Premium it would just be a cash-in as long as they don't wait years' down the line to announce it which would really make LE owners angry. I'd expect to see an announcement within the next 60 days or so to boost sales of TWD to counter any positive release news on the Hobbit.

At the price they are charging, there will be plenty of LEs available for those that want one.

Big price but big game. This may really be the next big title for them.

I believe the reason is due to the truly limited nature of the LE. For the premium model to work, you have to have a smaller number of LE games. When you have LE machines readily available, the premium model does not work as well.

I think Stern would have been better served by making 400 TWD LE (like Tron run) and then selling unlimited premiums.

Marcus

I think AC/DC is the exception. I'm not sure even Metallica Premium sold all that well. It might just turn out that the 3 model tier isn't realistic. Mustang I'm sure didn't sell many Premiums, and I think most Star Trek buyers with the extra cash opted for the (large amount of) LEs instead.

I like the Premium model, I hope it's not dead, but Stern needs to do what makes sense for their books. I'm pretty confident none of us armchair quarterbacks really know the numbers like they do.

If LEs are limited by Stern and premiums are limited by customer sales yet LE sales outnumber premiums, then making premiums isn't cost effective (the extra costs for special artwork, etc. for the premium aren't recouped over the small quantity of premiums sold and unused inventory of parts unique to the premium model are wasted expense). Perhaps a very low number of Mustang premiums were sold. Better for Stern to make the buyers choose to step up to the LE if they want full features or choose the pro for the lower cost (which seems to creep higher each year).

If they are to permanently get rid of one of the game tiers, it might make more sense to do away with the LE. Then Stern can sell as many of each model as they can without being locked into a certain production number on either model. But what do I know? I'm only a player.

This doesn't make sense to me.

One group of LE owners would be rightfully pissed at a later announcement of a Premium simply because of the amount of time that has elapsed, while the other group of LE owners can't be upset because not as much time elapsed?

How is one scenario more of a "greedy cash-in" than the other?

I really don't get this one at all.

I always thought it would be the pro owners that would be pissed.

That too!

There is no ACDC VE, only IM. They reserve the VE moniker for games that have been out of production for years.

Too soon to really know what Stern reserves.

The number of premiums sold have always been less than the number of Pros or LEs, that and the effort they put in to a special art package makes the bean counters question the effort. Most customers would be just fine with a Pro cabinet and LE playfield so Stern didn't need to make that extra effort on art and trim for any other reason than to bump up price or entice those not happy with Pro art. Personally I thought they did a great job with both ACDC Premiums and ST Premium, and I'd argue they look better than the Pro or LE models. Metallica DD edition is awesome too.

The problem with Stern not even announcing a Premium for TWD is the issue they have with Tron.. they will not have the option to create a Premium in the future if TWD sales justify it. Wouldn't you agree Tron Premium would be rapid seller even today? I thought the Luci version was a great idea after the fact to bump sales, but not announcing a Premium now does not allow them to take advantage of unforeseen demand, and I have yet to see Premium sales cut into LE sales. They have a short window remaining to ponder it...

I will say this.... if Stern is doubling down on the Pro model and price point, forgoing the Premium product, there will never be a full color LCD on a Stern pinball. There won't be a margin to support creating content for it.

I'd be fine with that model personally. If there was a TWD Premium that was Pro cab with LE playfield? No worries!

In some ways it makes the LE more special too, there would be only one unique art package out there.

To me, the TWD Pro is a full featured game. The Crossbow/Frickin Laser Beam sucked on AP and will likely suck on TWD. I'd just rather not have it on my game. A ramp flap that raises up to bash a stationary Zombie face, not a game changer. Zombie Guts - whatever. Tank full of heads, mods will make it happen, only better. OK, there is one extra magnet. And I do like the brown armor, but the pro cabinet art is way better to me. Being a fan of the show, I want to see the characters SOMEWHERE!

I'm waiting for our local launch party first. Then, as long as the game plays well, it's NIB pro for me. Anyone want to buy my TZ?

Once they go LCD, it will be for all models. Doesn't make sense to make 2 different sets of animation content…doing dots for Pro and color animation for LCD will only cost MORE. Two art teams, two different types of programming…Bulk LCDs for all games will probably be cheaper than buying LCDs and DMDs. It will be cheaper to do one display for all.

Pro seems super solid…the only thing that I don't like missing on the Pro is the drop target in front of the shot that goes back to the shooter lane. IMO they should have done standup targets on the left instead of the 3 drops…and kept the drop (and maybe the spinner, too) on the right for the Pro. I like how that drop blocks the shot so it's not always a gimme…that shot will be way easier to make on the Pro.

Stern has a strong LE base, I am one, should they decide to change this release by adding a premium later,
the purchasing habits of this base could change.

Yeah, you're probably right. But, man, what a bummer that Mustang got a Premium and TWD won't.

There are probably less Mustang Premiums & LEs in existence than most games' LEs!

Agree.

And this is going off topic, but....it makes me wonder what the value of Mustang LE will be in the next year? I mean I don't think demand is going to be very high...but it seems that supply might be very low, which means it might not drop as badly as pins like AVLE have?

^

Good point

Remember when Avatar was the poor mans IM?

What if IM, thanks to the VE, becomes the poor mans Avatar due to production?

Weird

Wont happen. Value isn't entirely determined by production number, it's determined by demand for the game. More people will always want Iron Man over Avatar.

If no one really wants Mustang still…then no. They didn't finish the run of Rolling Stones LEs (word is they made 100 or so) …those haven't skyrocketted in value, cuz no one wants them really (I'd buy one cheap, tho hehe). I can't see people scrambling to get Mustang LE due to rarity…maybe the odd Stern LE completist will have to have one. The theme is a dud, The LE art isn't that great, and it still needs a code update. Still, for the sake of those who have one, I hope they don't WOF it.

Wouldn't it be interesting to know the exact quantity of Mustang LEs that have been (and will be) made. It could end up being one of the rarest LES and we might possibly not have any way of ever knowing.

sorry my bad, i meant like the ac/dc led pro with the added swinging bell.

+1,000,000............ What those fools at Stern forget is we are the customer, we decide what we want...........and then we buy it. They should try asking us before they come up with their stupid ideas. I understand they need to make the LE models special and there are many ways to do that while still producing a premium. Don't blame poor sales on the customer, blame it on yourself Stern!!!...........Prices keep going up and code is still crap on release.........and Mustang WTF.........You couldn't tell that pin was going to be a bust??? I am surprised you didn't have Kenny Rogers do a custom speech package for that. Come on Gary??? Didn't you learn anything from IMVE?? Listen to us, make us happy and the cash will flow.

Ok no premium but put the gdm spinner back on the pro!

When we do get one, and we will... I hope they have a Premium available. But we just spent our "play wad" on our first NIB which is currently on it's way (will be here Wednesday), so it won't be for about another year.

The one on it's way is a MetPro... an easy choice for us since the LE/Premium upgrades really didn't do much for us, except the rising cross.. that's just damn cool & I'm hella bummed it won't be on our game. On TWD though... Shitballs I want the upgrades! But the price is WAY out of our league and by the time we're ready to buy... I'm sure they'll be gone. And knowing my husband, once the MetPro gets here... he'll be hooked on NIB so a HUO LE will be out of the question.

Or... Stern could be testing the waters and do a TWD premium after the LE sales, gauging consumer feedback for a Tron premium.

Or... not.

I just had a thought....

How does MMR production affect this? Perhaps with MMR scheduled, and the tight scheduling of the factory, and MMR taking 4-6 weeks of the factory time, they could not produce a premium any time soon. so they don't announce it now.

We'll only know in 2-3 months, if there ever is a premium announcement.

But I think its possible they are squeezing these TWDs into the factory before MMR, and there is no time for premiums, so they don't announce them at all until they can sell them within their usual 4-6 week window.

PPS stated on their site that Stern has two lines and can manufacture the MMrs while continuing to manufacture their own games.

No it wouldn't.

Premium models = more profit for Stern. Racking up more Pro tables at the expense of a Premium makes no sense financially.

please pinsiders..... i have one request..... buy a ton of pros and le's, so that stern will have no other choice than to make a premium

i would LOVE to have the pro artwork with a le playfield!

How about this for a two model scenario:

LE: truly limited low production 100 to 200 and stupid price say $10k - lots of bling. Truly exclusive for those that need that sort of thing and have the spare cash. Real backglass, fancy pantsy cabinet with leds in armour, coin mech, autographed playfield/glass,

Standard/Pro/Premium whatever you want to call it: same playfield/software as LE but less bling

This would save Stern having two different software releases and all the issues and development time that incurs. Same BOM and production/assy line for the playfields.

Buyers are happy as they don't feel they are missing out on toys and features.

We could call it The Ruby Dead Edition.

Edit: Just realized you were talking in general and not TWD specific.

I would expect once all LE's are sold, yes a Premium option will be announced. If it will make Stern money, they will make more. Proved this with IM. And TWD Premium would make them TONS of money.

Yes it would.

Which are all good reasons to avoid a premium fiasco.

What's the matter, RobT? Are you sill upset with me for calling you out on selling your Star Trek before a major code update drops?

Or are you still pissed that I correctly called the release date for the new Star Trek code, when you were telling all of Pinside that I had no idea what I was talking about?

What is it RobT? What's the root of your insecurity? We're all waiting.......

This is like the third or fourth time that you've said this.

Why would I be upset that you posted that I sold my STLE when I was the one that told everyone here that?

Do you think that you let out some nasty little secret that I was keeping or something?

How strange can you be?

Strange? I wasn't claiming I revealed you sold it, just that it was a premature.

You also failed to apologize for saying I was full of it, when I accurately called the release date.

Strange? Look in the mirror buddy.

Yes, premature, a subject that you know a lot about.

They have a pill for that.