No doubt Stern are in it for the money.  They are a business.  But I feel that Gary is also genuinely wanting to grow pinball because of his love of the game.  This is true of all the new manufacturers.  In 2008, Gary effectively sold part of his company, likely for next to nothing, just to keep it alive.  He had an option to simply 'pull up stumps'.

I'm not a hardcore Stern fan, but I do think they get more criticism than deserved.  Some valid (dimples!) but on the whole they are producing nice looking machines recently.

We at least all agree seeing Stern expand is a good thing.  All of us would hate to wake up to hear they had shutdown.