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I wonder if.......?

B

b52bob

Charter Member
I wonder if designers make more if their products are priced under $20 or over. I would think that the volume would make up for the lower price. I'm on a fixed income and would love some new things but have to wait for sales. I am saving for p3d but that darn dc-8 got in the way because of the sale.

Just wondering.

Bob
 
Hi,

It's certainly a hope that would work but, quite honestly, I think that most people place a value on a premium price for a premium product.

Kat
 
I tend to think that with how bad piracy is, they need to make their return on investment for the amount of work quickly as soon as released before their work hits the pirate sites. Sucks for legit buyers, but we have only the pirates to blame. This is such a small niche market, I bet the majority of sales come right after release rather than down the road. Luckily there are sales often for those that can/have to wait.
 
I'm in a similar circumstance as Bob. I have to wait for the sales and, even then, I need to bee very judicious in my purchasing decisions. A major driver in my continuing preference for FS9 is the simple fact that there is such an active freeware development community there. Similarly, a major reason for my reticence to follow the crowd in to FSX/P3D is the ever increasing cost of those platforms. Sometimes the best answer to a given question is the most simple one.

LA
 
andersel said:
I'm in a similar circumstance as Bob. I have to wait for the sales and, even then, I need to bee very judicious in my purchasing decisions. A major driver in my continuing preference for FS9 is the simple fact that there is such an active freeware development community there. Similarly, a major reason for my reticence to follow the crowd in to FSX/P3D is the ever increasing cost of those platforms. Sometimes the best answer to a given question is the most simple one.

LA
Click to expand...

There are five copies of FSX Gold Edition for sale for $30 or less on Ebay right now. One is labeled Good and the others are Brand New or Like New. When you consider the TONS of freeware available for FSX, I can't agree with you that FSX is expensive in terms of the platform.

Now if you need a newer, faster computer to run FSX, that is a different story. But the software platform itself is very inexpensive. I've been running my copy of FSX Acceleration on an old Dell GX260 desktop (Win XP Pro) with a 3 GHz P4 chip, 2 GB RAM and a 512 MB GeForce 6200 video card. I get some stutters because it's not the fastest system and video out there but it is quite livable to me. But I am NOT a purist in terms of the results I expect.

I have been doing this for about 6-7 years. Still running like a champ. My system was also bought on Ebay.

Just my $.02.
 
MCDesigns said:
I tend to think that with how bad piracy is, they need to make their return on investment for the amount of work quickly as soon as released before their work hits the pirate sites. Sucks for legit buyers, but we have only the pirates to blame. This is such a small niche market, I bet the majority of sales come right after release rather than down the road. Luckily there are sales often for those that can/have to wait.
Click to expand...

I think I have to agree with you. I would guess that the majority of income is gathered on the first few days of sale. I am extremely greatful for sales as I can wait a few months before I get it. I remember the days when I was on the leading edge of computing..the latest and greatest..until I found how much I can save by waiting a few months for the prices to come down.

Bob
 
b52bob said:
I wonder if designers make more if their products are priced under $20 or over. I would think that the volume would make up for the lower price. I'm on a fixed income and would love some new things but have to wait for sales. I am saving for p3d but that darn dc-8 got in the way because of the sale.

Just wondering.

Bob
Click to expand...

You can set P3D as a lower priority and simply get Steve's DX10 fixer for FSX. Add a few FTX sceneries and you are good to go. And yes, that DC8 is quite nice.
 
Katoun said:
Hi,

It's certainly a hope that would work but, quite honestly, I think that most people place a value on a premium price for a premium product.

Kat
Click to expand...

No, 'Gen X' and the 'Must Have it Now' people make up a small percentage of the Flight Sim Community.
The larger part of the Community are older and have family commitments or are retired on fixed incomes.

Developers who insist on the 'Premium Price for a Premium Product' train of thought are (In my opinion) massaging their own egos, obvious given the number of duplications announced or in development.
There is no need of three (3!) 'Premium' McDD Phantoms competing for space in the market, certainly they are different versions but I can't see all three selling to the same clients.
Some lateral thinking and diversification on subject choice is badly need by the high priced end of the vendor community.

If you take the Automotive industry analogy as a comparison, Honda and Toyota sell far more units than Ferrari.
Good quality at a fair price beats overpriced excess every time.
:173go1:
 
glh said:
There are five copies of FSX Gold Edition for sale for $30 or less on Ebay right now. One is labeled Good and the others are Brand New or Like New. Just my $.02.
Click to expand...

Just to follow up the above, I can walk into the three local outlets in my area (JB HIFI, EB Games and Harvey Norman) and collect a brand new copy of FSX Gold for A$20.00 to A$25.00 off the shelf, less during a sale.
Good value and useful for a fallback, I now own two backup copies at under A$20.00 each.
  • :triumphant:
 
As someone who's add-ons sell for $15 I don't think sales volume is that price sensitive. Certainly I remember seeing the numbers for the T-38 and thinking they'd sold at least twice what our best selling model had done. Ultimately I'd say it's more to do with the aircraft type than the price, after all I don't download much freeware I'm not interested in.
 
MCDesigns said:
I tend to think that with how bad piracy is, they need to make their return on investment for the amount of work quickly as soon as released before their work hits the pirate sites. Sucks for legit buyers, but we have only the pirates to blame. This is such a small niche market, I bet the majority of sales come right after release rather than down the road. Luckily there are sales often for those that can/have to wait.
Click to expand...

Oh, come on! People who indulge in piracy will NEVER buy stuff. Why should they, they can get it for free.

IMHO piracy does not equate to lost sales, the people who simply download would never buy it. Moreover, FS pirates are no real flight sim hobbyists, they are downloaders. Hunter-gatherers if you will. They download what they want, fly it for a couple of minutes and are off to download something else.

Real flight simmers buy the stuff so that they can have the full functionality of the product. Cracked payware almost always loses functionality because of the cracking. Just like other cracked software does. That is a simple fact.

Before anyone gets angry: I am NOT advocating piracy, I'm just stating a humble opinion.

Cheers,

Dumonceau
 
wombat666 said:
No, 'Gen X' and the 'Must Have it Now' people make up a small percentage of the Flight Sim Community.
The larger part of the Community are older and have family commitments or are retired on fixed incomes.

Developers who insist on the 'Premium Price for a Premium Product' train of thought are (In my opinion) massaging their own egos, obvious given the number of duplications announced or in development.
There is no need of three (3!) 'Premium' McDD Phantoms competing for space in the market, certainly they are different versions but I can't see all three selling to the same clients.
Some lateral thinking and diversification on subject choice is badly need by the high priced end of the vendor community.

If you take the Automotive industry analogy as a comparison, Honda and Toyota sell far more units than Ferrari.
Good quality at a fair price beats overpriced excess every time.
:173go1:
Click to expand...

You gotta keep in mind the size of the team and licensing expenses....that's why PMDG products don't sell for $35
 
Naruto-kun said:
You gotta keep in mind the size of the team and licensing expenses....that's why PMDG products don't sell for $35
Click to expand...

I do know only too well the costs (Licensing! Try getting one from Ferrari!!!) from experience in a different Sim area, however, my point should east to understood, NOT everyone wants a 'PMDG standard' product.
A common thread running through this discussion is obvious, except for a relatively small percentage of 'First Responders' many people are patient and just wait for sale to come around.

For example over this weekend we have this lot from Just Flight:

[FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]747-200/300 HD FSX (for FSX & P3D v1/v2)
[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif] £9.99 / €12.45 / $14.99[/FONT] [FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]747-200/300 FS2004 (for FS2004)
[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif] £9.99 / €12.45 / $14.99[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]767-200/300 Series (for FSX)
[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]£9.99 / €12.45 / $14.99[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]767-200/300 Series Expansion Pack (for FSX)
[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]£2.99 / €3.95 / $4.49[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]767-200/300 Series Livery Expansion Pack (for FSX & FS2004)
[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]£4.99 / €6.45 / $7.49[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]767-200/300 Series (for FS2004)
[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]£9.99 / €12.45 / $14.99[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]767-200/300 Series Expansion Pack (for FS2004)
[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]£2.99 / €3.95 / $4.49[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]737 Professional (for FSX)
[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]£14.99 / €18.95 / $22.49[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]737 Professional 737-100 Expansion Pack (for 737 Professional)
[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]£4.99 / €6.45 / $7.49[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]737 Professional 737-200 & T-43A Expansion Pack (for 737 Professional)
[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]£4.99 / €6.45 / $7.49[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]737 Professional 737-200 Early Version Expansion Pack (for 737 Professional)
[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]£4.99 / €6.45 / $7.49[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]757 Jetliner Fremium Combo Pack 1 (for 757 Jetliner Freemium)
[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]£9.99 / €12.45 / $14.99[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]757 Jetliner Fremium Combo Pack 2 (for 757 Jetliner Freemium)
[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]£3.49 / €4.45 / $5.49[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]777 Professional (for FS2004)
[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]£9.99 / €12.45 / $14.99[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]757 Professional (for FS2004)
[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]£9.99 / €12.45 / $14.99[/FONT]
Not 'PMDG Quality' but they will sell a considerable number of items.
 
Dumonceau said:
Oh, come on! People who indulge in piracy will NEVER buy stuff. Why should they, they can get it for free.

IMHO piracy does not equate to lost sales, the people who simply download would never buy it. Moreover, FS pirates are no real flight sim hobbyists, they are downloaders. Hunter-gatherers if you will. They download what they want, fly it for a couple of minutes and are off to download something else.

Real flight simmers buy the stuff so that they can have the full functionality of the product. Cracked payware almost always loses functionality because of the cracking. Just like other cracked software does. That is a simple fact.

Before anyone gets angry: I am NOT advocating piracy, I'm just stating a humble opinion.

Cheers,

Dumonceau
Click to expand...

Not wanting to get into a debate, I hear this lame excuse all the time, usually from users and not developers. There are users on every forum that d/l stolen addons and share with others. There are even forums full of users sharing payware. it really made my day to read at Avsim about a user that installed a patch for FTXGlobal and it deleted his folders because he was updating a stolen product, LOL.
 
Pirates will never buy anything. That is why they are pirates.
So, no increase in sales there.

As for volume/price

100 x $36 = $3,600

200 X $18 = $3,600

Development costs are spiralling out of control because of market demand for systems depth, content and features.

Compare a $30 model to one of 5 years ago and see what I mean.
 
Yes.

The costs have risen but the prices haven't. So, quite honestly, from a buyers perspective, this is good news.

And sadly, it cannot last.

Kat
 
There are many add-ons I've wanted to purchase but have skipped as a result of their high price. For me, once a product crosses that $25.00 - $30.00 threshold (depending on what it is), I feel my money's better spent elsewhere. While I could easily afford numerous add-ons I don't have, I also have a family with it's many financial responsibilities. Therefore, FSX add-ons take a back seat to the cost of life.
 
When I read a thread like this I wonder how many still remember the CFS1 and CFS2 day when everybody contributed to his abilities and knowledge. People still regarded flight simmimg and developing for flight simulators a hobby. Netwings and simviation were filled with freeware and you could fly nearly any aircraft you wanted.

Over the years I've seen a lot of freeware designers gong into payware and rapidly becoming frustrated about disappointing sales, unsatisfied paying customers, the product ending up on a pirate site and colleague designers who are ruining the market as this colleague is designing exactly the same model as they are.

Were we just naive or really happier in those day?

Just a thought.............
Huub
 
wombat666 said:
No, 'Gen X' and the 'Must Have it Now' people make up a small percentage of the Flight Sim Community.
The larger part of the Community are older and have family commitments or are retired on fixed incomes.

Developers who insist on the 'Premium Price for a Premium Product' train of thought are (In my opinion) massaging their own egos, obvious given the number of duplications announced or in development.
There is no need of three (3!) 'Premium' McDD Phantoms competing for space in the market, certainly they are different versions but I can't see all three selling to the same clients.
Some lateral thinking and diversification on subject choice is badly need by the high priced end of the vendor community.

If you take the Automotive industry analogy as a comparison, Honda and Toyota sell far more units than Ferrari.
Good quality at a fair price beats overpriced excess every time.
:173go1:
Click to expand...

As for the developers who charge a premium price for a premium product, the one who comes to mind is A2A. An accusim plane runs about $55. Some products such as Alabeo run about $22.
A2A releases a plane about every 1 1/2 years, alabeo releases a plane every 4 months.
For all the research and quality that goes into an A2A plane, It is very reasonably priced. Along with a first class product, you also get first class support.
Just as a Ferrari costs way more than a Honda or Toyota, you get what you pay for. Your getting a car that takes weeks to build rather than a car that comes off the assembly line at a rate of a thousand a day.
 
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