An add-on should be priced, and set to, the average disposable income of the average consumer.

The problem with this line of reasoning is that FS is not aimed at the average consumer or even the average gamer. FS is a niche market game aimed at a very specific market, not the whole market like Halo or CoD is. Your average gamer is not going to buy FS even for $30 much less the $70 that FSX Deluxe was sold for. While everyone who does buy FS has it for different reasons, it is still entertainment as you stated and thus a luxury. If people want to pay the price for a luxury product that PMDG sells for $70, then that is their choice and apparently, enough people do buy PMDG products at that price point for it to remain there. No one needs an FS add-on to survive as been stated time and again.

Are you a theoretical micro-economics teacher? You are using theoretical reasoning.You see the flight simulation world as being no different from the real world.

My reasoning is not theoretical. Your belief that flight simulation is different to the real world shows it's you who are living in an unreal fantasy world of your own. Any software, even a flight simulator add-on, is a product and like any other product in the real world its price is determined by what people are prepared to pay for it. You have failed to grasp that it isn't the developer who actually determines the selling price - its the purchaser. The prices of other products is totally irrelevant. Products drop in price over time because other "better" ones come onto the market. PMDG can still achieve its higher prices because purchasers believe there are no "better" products and are still willing to pay PMDG's prices.The fact that you aren't prepared to pay PMDG's prices doesn't really matter. No one forces you to buy them any more than anyone else is forced to buy them. Incidentally, what is the average disposable income of the average consumer? A luxury item is one you don't need. No one needs flight simulator - they may want it but that's not the same.

-------------------"You see the flight simulation world as being no different from the real world. Since when did a complex set of computer code made up of 1's and 0's used for entertainment become a luxury item?" -------------------brando

I think you answered your own query- any "entertainment" is a luxury item - by anyones' definition.Alex Reid

You did not answer my question. I asked if you were an econmics teacher, you simply zeroed in on the "theoretical" phrase of my question. In most cases, only a teacher uses supply and demand curves to explain economics.In essence you state that I have failed to grasp how the economy works. Hmmm...Well, the reason I sign my name as, "brando" is because I am in the real aviation market; hence my signature "brando" is an alias. I sell real airplanes. I use forums like these as a laboratory to see how different people think and react within different microcosms. I came to avsim because I was asked by a new developer that I am assisting, at no cost to he and his team, to help bolster his sales at affordable prices to the consumer; a very honest and ethical developer, unlike Randazzo from what I have been told by other posts in different forums such as this. By the way, in the real world it is the developer/seller (owner if plane is used or upcoming slot position holder) who sets the price on a plane, not the purchaser.The average disposable income for an American is approx. 8 to 10%, however in this credit card economy it is actually about 3% - they just don't know it yet.brando

My reasoning is not theoretical.Any software, even a flight simulator add-on, is a product and like any other product in the real world its price is determined by what people are prepared to pay for it. You have failed to grasp that it isn't the developer who actually determines the selling price - its the purchaser. The prices of other products is totally irrelevant. Products drop in price over time because other "better" ones come onto the market. PMDG can still achieve its higher prices because purchasers believe there are no "better" products and are still willing to pay PMDG's prices.The fact that you aren't prepared to pay PMDG's prices doesn't really matter. No one forces you to buy them any more than anyone else is forced to buy them. Incidentally, what is the average disposable income of the average consumer? A luxury item is one you don't need. No one needs flight simulator - they may want it but that's not the same.

That was not my question. I said: Since when...brando

I think you answered your own query- any "entertainment" is a luxury item - by anyones' definition.Alex Reid

You cherry-picked my post, leaving out certain details as a result. Which is interesting because no one has yet to answer my question of: Show me another flight simulation add-on developer who has raised or kept the price static on a 5 or 6 year old add-on that has not been touched/upgraded/patched.By the way: Who owns Boeing Corp.? The US Gov't or stockholders? --- Who owns Airbus (EADS)? Stockholders or the EU?I never mentioned the US Gov't, but my phraseology was intentional because I knew that was the entity (US Gov't, or any gov't) people would jump to conclusion on. I was hoping add-on developers would use ETHICS as one of their price determining factors.Within the Western industrialized world, people/corporations/etc. do need computers and the internet to survive. Take those two items away tomorrow, and what would happen?brando

you answered you own question by using the word entertainmentyes ... as with FS or FS addons, one is not required to have diamonds in order to eat or have shelter.yes, you are getting the point ... people make a choice to make a purchase and those with 'wealth' to buy a luxury item can 'pick his/her poison'.don't get me started on how the US gov't finds ways ot 'bail out' boeing and other 'big business that are to large to fail'. :( it is ... you don't need to have a computer or Internet to eat or have shelter.who says? you? why would a gov't want to control the price of FS addons?it is by definition ... you don't need FS to eat or have shelter.again, brando, you have stated you feel PMDG's price is too high ... so don't use or own the software. save you money for something you feel is appropriately priced. trust me, no one will make you by any FS addon.--

With regard to EADS, the EU doesn't 'bail them out all the time', the various Governments of the major companies that make up the EADS consortium are and always have been guarantors of the consortium, because that is how it was set up, as a Groupement d'Interets Economique and not a Corporation, as Boeing is. This means that the formation of EADS was to some extent state backed, but the GIE status was intended to guarantee its stability as a consortium by means of the international treaty status of a GIE, not to bolster its bank balance. It is therefore not a bottomless pit of state funding, as some might like to imagine.Al

I came to avsim because I was asked by a new developer that I am assisting, at no cost to he and his team, to help bolster his sales at affordable prices to the consumer; a very honest and ethical developer, unlike Randazzo from what I have been told by other posts in different forums such as this.

(emphasis added)at the request of another developer, in order to help their sales, you are badmouthing PMDG?! :( :( --

I was hoping add-on developers would use ETHICS as one of their price determining factors.

you speak of ethics .. but you, "... came to avsim because I was asked by a new developer that I am assisting, at no cost to he and his team, to help bolster his sales at affordable prices to the consumer."(emphasis added)--

Product pricing theories abound by those who use words like should and could.Folks seem to forget that there are both retail and wholesale markets available in the real world....FS Devs generally follow a retail model and to some extent set a retail price for their products based on their costs, tax loads, and a small profit.Once set, consumers have a purchase choice to make if we assume one wishes to have a retail product.That purchase decison really comes down to do I want this product and if so, do I want it at the set price?The retail consumer generally does not set retail price but rather decides whether he likes the item at the set price.In short, an offer to sell at a set price and acceptance of the offer accompanied by due consideration is all that is needed for a transaction to take place... :(

Show me another flight simulation add-on developer who has raised or kept the price static on a 5 or 6 year old add-on that has not been touched/upgraded/patched.brando

Show me another developer that has produced an add-on aircraft that is as "in-demand" as PMDG's 737 series.PMDG will charge whatever they want, and people will pay whatever they want. The FS public apparently puts the 737 series in high demand, and PMDG is providing the supply. Don't like the price? Don't buy it. Simple. On a side note, the fact that you were asked by another developer to come here and "bolster his sales", by apparently bad-mouthing PMDG's pricing practices, is downright unethical at best.

Since economic theory has been mentioned in this thread - you lot should read up on elasticity of demand, particularly about inelastic demand - which pretty much defines the FS aircraft add-on market.

PMDG will charge whatever they want, and people will pay whatever they want. The FS public apparently puts the 737 series in high demand, and PMDG is providing the supply. Don't like the price? Don't buy it. Simple.

And there you go, what a great motto "Don't like our price, don't buy it." Only in the FS world. I concur with Arklight, don't like the price...do NOT buy ! Let me repeat, if you anything other than fondness for the asking price, do NOT buy ! Do NOT buy !!Let's put it this way, if someone were trying to sale you a car and you voice a concerned about the price, but the saleperson responded "don't like the price, don't buy it," I'm pretty sure most people would say, "run, don't walk, out of there." If anyone dares you not to buy their product, you don't. Simple. Be a man.

Since economic theory has been mentioned in this thread - you lot should read up on elasticity of demand, particularly about inelastic demand - which pretty much defines the FS aircraft add-on market.

You are so right. These price debates break out everywhere online, but the FS "high fidelity" addon market has to be the least representative of the lot. And...yes to the previous poster who questioned the basic premise - was there was even a price increase on the 737(s)? I remember paying similar prices all those years ago.

I came to avsim because I was asked by a new developer that I am assisting, at no cost to he and his team, to help bolster his sales at affordable prices to the consumer; a very honest and ethical developer, unlike Randazzo from what I have been told by other posts in different forums such as this.

Well, we now know your motives for your attacks on PMDG and its staff - and you dare talk about ethical behaviour!

By the way, in the real world it is the developer/seller (owner if plane is used or upcoming slot position holder) who sets the price on a plane, not the purchaser.

Wrong again. It's the aircraft owner who sets the asking price. It's the buyer who determines the selling price.

FS Devs generally follow a retail model and to some extent set a retail price for their products based on their costs, tax loads, and a small profit.

But surely from the very beginning any developer must have a good idea of the ultimate asking price based on what the market will bear, as evinced by the prices of other, similar, products. Prices can't sensibly be set in isolation from what the market will bear. If a developer's costs get out of hand, it can't set the asking price well above market price and expect to recover those costs. The best it can hope for is to aim to set a price that maximises revenue.Ultimately, although perhaps indirectly, it is still the buyer who determines the selling price.