Collusion is a dirty word , its intent within this field is to remove competition by limiting choice and that seems to be the situation with respect to the Halifax and by extension to an undisclosed number of other aircraft.
Each product brings a unique set of features , the modellers skills , texture artists talents as well as the flight dynamics are all unique to a given production and having pre arranged “ no fly zones “ isn’t doing the consumer of FS addons any favour , in the interest of competition keeping us on our toes i would like to see as many Halifax Bombers or whatever suits the fancy of the artists that produce them as possible.
Chuck, interesting parody there, I agree with what your saying, in the good old days, can we still call it that ?, it was called baggsies, those that bagged an aircraft effectively told everyone else to back off, most would, some did not. With time it has been realized that many previews came to nothing, cruelly called vapor ware, some no doubt was to keep competition at bay the rest probably failed for genuine reasons.
I've seen other recent backing off from other developers, quite a lot actually, its now called not treading on others toes
. Call it what you may but the commercial sector is certainly guilty of carving up the market, I doubt any of it planned or calculated, most is by natural selection, some developers aim at tube liners, others at WWII, others at modern military, others at GA, generally all stick to their forte's, but occasionally someone will cut across some one else's bow and warning shots or brief skirmish's will occur, its been going on for a long time, its nothing new.
The tactic is only an issue if you believe it to be so, I've dropped many a project because another has previewed something similar, however as time has proved, its not over until the fat lady sings, an egg does not make an omelet and much that I shelved never came from the other source.
This situation seems only to be the preserve of the military fraternity, tube liner fans and developers seem to build, collect anything thats developed, theres no issue with duplication there, Boeing's and Airbuses abound and as such each needs to be a cut above the previous.
Tube liners are generally accepted as being more in depth than military stock, maybe thats because of the duplication and fierce rivalry, perhaps thats what the military market needs ?. Certainly the gentlemanly walking around others and carving up the market place makes for an easy environment, but, as you rightly say, its not helping the community and its (tongue in cheek) perhaps not forcing developers to push that little bit harder, if anyone feels that last comment is out of context then think of any developer who primarily aims at the military market and put them head to head with the likes of PMDG or Capt Sim. That doesn't mean that the military market is lazy or cant do it, it could mean that the market doesn't actually want what the civil market wants, the military market could be perfectly happy with what they now have, you tailor your skills and wares to the perceived market.
As Ian points out, first to market generally wins, thats a subjective conclusion to which we may never prove or disprove, Alphasims Intruder was first to market, but did Razbam suffer ?, perhaps a little, but Razbam also targeted another market that Alphasim doesn't. Initially I was against duplication, but with time can see that it is an important driving force and have seen that frequently that which starts out in competition often isn't at the end due to drop outs and withdrawals.
So make more Halifax's, the more that start then the bigger the chance one will cross the finish line, and if two finish, well then you have the choice to choose which ever suits your own needs, doubtless neither will be the same or target the same audience.
