PMDG raises prices for US customers?

[B777ER 2,484]

If anyone hear still has not seen it, PMDG went to the Euro pricing system this past week. In all fairness, they as a company have a right obvioulsy to do it but it just smells of unfairness to the majority USA user base. For example, the PMDG 744 for FS9 which has been out for quite a while now costs 54.95 Euro's which is $74.25 USD at the current excahnge rate of 1.35 USD per 1 Euro. It originally cost me 54.99 USD to purchase. I would like to know why they have raised the price for the FS9 version of the 744 (along with all their other products)? Why a 33% price increase for this product? I posted this in the PMDG forum but wanted to make the general avsim reading member aware of what I think is a wrong play on their part.

[hontzt 14]

WOW!! I didn't notice this before. I would say they are following the trend of going away from the dollar as the standard, oil is doing the same thing as well. This is the begining of big changes economically. Unfortunately Americans are going to face the hard reality that our money is losing its buying power in the new global marketplace. Just my opinion but we have to pay the piper now. Let me know what the folks at PMDG say...I'm teal curious.v/rTodd

[Jim Harnes 13]

As a PMDG member confirmed in a post in their support forum, PMDG pricing is now in Euros. They can, of course, charge what they think the market will bear. And I am perfectly free to never again spend one cent with a U.S. company doing business in a foreign currency.Jim Harnes

[LAdamson 240]

>As a PMDG member confirmed in a post in their support forum,>PMDG pricing is now in Euros. They can, of course, charge>what they think the market will bear. >And of course they can charge the amount that they believe it's worth to continue on with these products. They are the ones who have an idea of what the sales figures will be, and the cost of getting the product to market. Using the term "charging what the market will bare" is sometimes misleading.And 20 extra bucks for a specialized product of this kind, not a big deal, IMO.L.Adamson

[B777ER 2,484]

Well, if they are charging 54.95 Euro's for the FS9 version of the 744 now, what do you think they will charge for the FSX version of the MD11? Even a conservative price of 59.95 Euro's will mean a cost in todays exchange rate of 81 dollars US...that my friend is not what most of us can bear.

[byork 2,258]

I've been thinking about switching to Euros for my upcoming Airbus version, too, but I use the Flight1 Wrapper and its fixed in USD.The US dollar has lost a significant amount of its value over the last couple years for a variety of reasons, and it looks like it'll be going down even more if the analysists are right, so I can see why many dev's are going this route.However, while it represents lost earnings in a sense, dealing in USD can also result in increased sales because pricing your product in USD effectively makes your product more of a bargain for non US customers.So it's a bit complex depending on how you look at it.The other point is that even at $70 USD, the PMDG products are still a phenomenal deal, as are many other high end FS addons.Case in point, I just spend over $300 buying A320 training software. The software is quite 'garbagey' frankly, and if it was being marketed toward a flightsim audience it would go for a fraction that price (and it would be trashed on the forums!)Long story short, flightsim addons are generally speaking way under priced compared to most other (specialized) software out there.My two cents.Bryan

[B777ER 2,484]

You make fair points Bryan. I hope you keep the US pricing system. Its a shame PMDG has chose to delete all threads on their forum about members asking about this...nothing like a company hiding behind the delete button unlike you that put your thoughts out there for us to digest. Thanks.

[Clipper Ocean Spray 189]

That's a strange way to go through with a massive price increase? Replacing a dollar sign with a euro sign seems sort of knee-jerk arbitrary. It makes you wonder, hopefully it was just a mistake on the website. If true, they must not be a U.S. based company, at least effectively, otherwise they would sell in dollars making their product cheaper in foreign markets like Europe thus increasing demand, while holding the line on prices (and demand) in the U.S. market.Probably, most of the talent is in Europe and thus most of the revenue must go there (e.g. wages). If that's the case, selling in dollars would hurt them.

[hontzt 14]

Well, since it seems some companies answer that it is their choice, I guess I will vote with my wallet. I know the PMDG products are great, I own all of them. What made them great was their reasonable cost for what they provided. I can understand a 30% increase in cost if everything else in the market went up 30%. Last time I checked I didn't just get a 30% raise in pay. This relates very well as to why many have not embraced FSX...simply stated there is too much invested in FS9 upwards of 100's of dollars, couple that with a sharp rise in addon prices, I'm curious as to the direction the hobby is going.v/rTodd

[Guest]

Yeah they deleted my post too. On the one hand, PMDG makes good add-ons. On the other hand, they are extremely condescending. Now that they're skyrocketing prices, I don't know if I'm going to buy their MD-11. It better be freaking amazing with great FPS if they're going to charge so much money for it.

[Mike_CFII_MEL 788]

Hello,I will just have to vote with my wallet as well. Guess I just purchased my last PMDG product.

[Guest]

I just think its lame an American company switching to Euros to make more money. What if Wal-Mart or GM did that? Ridiculous...

[Mike_CFII_MEL 788]

Hello,I agree 100%, thats why I will not purchase their MD11 when its released. I just hope that many others in the flightsim community feel the same way, and we as a "community" send a message to add-on companies that enough-is-enough and not purchase.

[B777ER 2,484]

Forget getting an answer from PMDG...Ryan from PMDG keeps deleting posts related to it in their forum. I find it absurd that they jack up FS9 prices 33% (nevermind upcoming FSX sales prices) and when I ask simply why are they doing this to their US customers, they simply delete the posts. They offered no explaination other than Lefteris saying that they went to the Euro price system in a forum post to someone. No announcement, just trying to slip it in under the radar. I find this way of doing business not becoming of the way Avsim promotes itself as being a friendly run operation but more of the way a used car dealer does business. I hope Tom finds at least some substance in this development.

[Tabs 2,790]

I'm sorry guys - we do not allow discussion of our internal business matters in our forum. I did not make the rule and I'm not singling anyone out.