Have you realised.....

[Prowler1111]

..That since MS announced that there is not a certain future for the MSFS franchise, leaving FSX as the current benchmark, the quality of payware (and freeware) products have raised considerably?...I got my own theory, simple, there is no pressure to release anything until all what have been learnt and tested have to be changed again (in the worst case) or simply cross the fingers, while having a rabbit´s foot in the pockets walking under a horseshoe.....

Just a thought...

Prowler

[harleyman]

I agree...now there is no need to wait and see what MS will pump out next.I think that made Devs nervous as to commiting so much for an addon that might be old in a year...

[JIMJAM]

Or it cannot be used an excuse anymore.

[Daube]

..That since MS announced that there is not a certain future for the MSFS franchise, leaving FSX as the current benchmark, the quality of payware (and freeware) products have raised considerably?...I got my own theory, simple, there is no pressure to release anything until all what have been learnt and tested have to be changed again (in the worst case) or simply cross the fingers, while having a rabbit´s foot in the pockets walking under a horseshoe.....

Just a thought...

Prowler

I got my own theory, simple: those high-quality payware products that are released right now were started waaaaay before MS announced the end of the FS franchise ;)

[Bjoern]

I got my own theory, simple: those high-quality payware products that are released right now were started waaaaay before MS announced the end of the FS franchise ;)

...and can be realized thanks to the excellent FSX SDK and the possibilities given by SimConnect.

[Bone]

Let's hope the shelf life of FSX isn't as short as Mathias of Aerosoft predicts, and these great models keep coming.

[Gibbage]

Most of the high quality payware products were underway before MS dropped FS11. So there is no real connection.

[Brett_Henderson]

And.. the market of FSX users has grown, as hardware improves..

[heywooood]

I think maybe both things is happen-ing at the same time - Forrest Gump

[Gibbage]

And.. the market of FSX users has grown, as hardware improves..

This I dont agree with. Sales are down, by quite a bit. Quality is up, time and investment is up, sales are down, so the price must go up to recover the investment. Thats why your seeing some 3rd party add-on's cost as much as FSX Gold. Supply and demand, the basic foundation of ecinomics. I remember back in FS95/98 you could buy a back of aircraft for 9.99 on a CD at Microcenter with 150 various aircraft. If there was enough sales, aircraft would cost a LOT less.

[Brett_Henderson]

This I dont agree with. Sales are down, by quite a bit. Quality is up, time and investment is up, sales are down, so the price must go up to recover the investment. Thats why your seeing some 3rd party add-on's cost as much as FSX Gold. Supply and demand, the basic foundation of ecinomics. I remember back in FS95/98 you could buy a back of aircraft for 9.99 on a CD at Microcenter with 150 various aircraft. If there was enough sales, aircraft would cost a LOT less.


I wasn't talking about price.. I was talking about the quality of add-ons (freeware included.. per the post).

[Gibbage]

Freeware quality is up I think because the few people left doing it, are now very good at what they do. They have gotten familure with FSX and how to properly use it. It happens with any game engines, and even game systems. Like the Xbox 360. Take a look at the first games compaired to todays games, and its night and day. The hardware stays the same, but people now know how to get the best out of the system. FSX is the same. The engine is still the same, but people now know how to get the most out of it.

[spotlope]

This I dont agree with. Sales are down, by quite a bit. Quality is up, time and investment is up, sales are down, so the price must go up to recover the investment. Thats why your seeing some 3rd party add-on's cost as much as FSX Gold. Supply and demand, the basic foundation of ecinomics. I remember back in FS95/98 you could buy a back of aircraft for 9.99 on a CD at Microcenter with 150 various aircraft. If there was enough sales, aircraft would cost a LOT less.

And this I don't agree with. Our sales are as strong as ever... maybe better.

[Daube]

This I dont agree with. Sales are down, by quite a bit. Quality is up, time and investment is up, sales are down, so the price must go up to recover the investment. Thats why your seeing some 3rd party add-on's cost as much as FSX Gold. Supply and demand, the basic foundation of ecinomics. I remember back in FS95/98 you could buy a back of aircraft for 9.99 on a CD at Microcenter with 150 various aircraft. If there was enough sales, aircraft would cost a LOT less.

Think about it: is the price going up because the sales are down, or because the complexity cannot even be compared with the FS9 addon (thus require MUCH more time and effort to be developped) ?
A company is not going to sell a product that was developped in 3 months at the same price than the product that was developped in one year with twice as much people working on it.

[Wombat_VC]

Price of a product is not determined by how much it costs to develop and produce. It is determined by the value perceived by the customers. Case in point: no one bothers to download a crappy freeware, but some are more than willing to pay for a PMDG 747.

[Brett_Henderson]

Freeware quality is up I think because the few people left doing it, are now very good at what they do. They have gotten familure with FSX and how to properly use it. It happens with any game engines, and even game systems. Like the Xbox 360. Take a look at the first games compaired to todays games, and its night and day. The hardware stays the same, but people now know how to get the best out of the system. FSX is the same. The engine is still the same, but people now know how to get the most out of it.


I might have a qualified opinion here :wiggle: I've made three, native-FSX models (C177RG, C310, Saab 340), and have been involved in a few others (Alrot's Citations, 727, 707).. and correspond regularly with several payware designers.

As hardware got better (and prices came down); not only was there a MUCH larger pool of users.. designers themselves began to be able to see the potential.



More requests and appreciation for True FSX models + more designers with FSX-capable hardware = Higher-quality models, across the board.

:applause:

[Bjoern]

If there was enough sales, aircraft would cost a LOT less.

Maybe dropping the prices on one or two products or doing more than one yearly sale would help...