NS Flight Marketplace Potential

[Guest jahman]

Simmers, Developers:As to what to expect from a potential MS Flight Marketplace, here's a guide (please scale down as appropriate for flightsim):Apple download store hit 10 billion downloads, with 7 billion apps in its last year alone! (It did in 31 months what it took the iTunes Music Store nearly 10 years to achieve).Says Apple: "The App Store has revolutionized how software is created, distributed, discovered and sold."Cheers,- jahman.

[byork 2,259]

Simmers, Developers:As to what to expect from a potential MS Flight Marketplace, here's a guide (please scale down as appropriate for flightsim):Apple download store hit 10 billion downloads, with 7 billion apps in its last year alone! (It did in 31 months what it took the iTunes Music Store nearly 10 years to achieve).Says Apple: "The App Store has revolutionized how software is created, distributed, discovered and sold."Cheers,- jahman.

What commission does Apple take? Isn't it like 40 or 50 percent or something?I like the idea of an Apple store in some ways, but if they're taking 40 or 50 percent it gets dicey.15 or 20 percent would be maybe do-able if you can make up for it with extra volume.But I have doubts about how much 'extra volume' such a store would provide given the extremely small, and niche market FS addons cater to.Mind you, I think the Scenery guys might get extra volume because the 'average joe' can easily understand scenery and wouldn't be afraid to buy it.But for the add-ons that are highly technical in nature, and which would be bought by the true enthusiast who would already be a member on a site like Avsim, their case is trickier.

[Guest Dog_Is_My_Copilot]

What commission does Apple take? Isn't it like 40 or 50 percent or something?I like the idea of an Apple store in some ways, but if they're taking 40 or 50 percent it gets dicey.15 or 20 percent would be maybe do-able if you can make up for it with extra volume.But I have doubts about how much 'extra volume' such a store would provide given the extremely small, and niche market FS addons cater to.Mind you, I think the Scenery guys might get extra volume because the 'average joe' can easily understand scenery and wouldn't be afraid to buy it.But for the add-ons that are highly technical in nature, and which would be bought by the true enthusiast who would already be a member on a site like Avsim, their case is trickier.

Maybe there is opportunity for some addon providers to rethink their business model? Depends on why they are making addons I suppose.Could someone do a reasonably good aircraft for $10 and sell it to 5 times (or more) as many people than they could if they did a highly detailed aircraft for $50? Perhaps. This is basic marketing research and pricing analysis that I doubt many addon providers could afford to do. Maybe Microsoft will help with this? I suspect that few people on this forum would agree with that scenario as "simmers" but hardcore simmers are a small portion of the total market. We cost the most to support, demand the most in terms of realism and features, complain the most when things aren't "right" (whether or not WE are actually right!), and are willing to spend more on a given addon that we really want (guilty as charged!). That kind of risk/reward ratio might not be appetizing to some addon makers. For others no doubt their motivation is more driven from passion than profit. Some are in it to push the hobby to the extreme instead of just making money and if they can cover their cost they are happy. Some are likely motivated by fame more than fortune (Fr. Bill? :( ).Each will have to figure out their own motivations and apply accordingly. And I hope there is room for both on the Flight Marketplace.Though I would hope that Microsoft will actually govern the quality level somewhat. The millions of apps on Apple's store may sound impressive but a lot of it is just garbage. Does the world really need 300 apps that do fart sounds? Are there a bunch of merry pranksters out there on the edge of their (toilet) seats just thinking "Gosh, maybe FartApp # 301 will be the ultimate! C'mon Apple, let us have more!". For the sake of our world I hope not!So please don't make me wade through the junk to find the gems. Give me some sort of rating system (a la Amazon) so I focus my limited hobby dollars to the best stuff. I will usually try to read reviews (here and other sites) before I plunk down my retirement funds but it would much easier to have these in one place.And hopefully we get a range of addons to pick from from "value" to "premium" so more developers can get into the hobby and make enough money at it to keep going.

[Tierborn 188]

Maybe there is opportunity for some addon providers to rethink their business model?    Depends on why they are making addons I suppose.Could someone do a reasonably good aircraft for $10 and sell it to 5 times (or more) as many people than they could if they did a highly detailed aircraft for $50?     Perhaps.    This is basic marketing research and pricing analysis  that I doubt many addon providers could afford to do.   Maybe Microsoft will help with this?    I suspect that few people on this forum would agree with that scenario as "simmers" but hardcore simmers are a small portion of the total market.     We cost the most to support, demand the most in terms of realism and features, complain the most when things aren't "right" (whether or not WE are actually right!), and are willing to spend more on a given addon that we really want (guilty as charged!).     That kind of risk/reward ratio might not be appetizing to some addon makers.   For others no doubt their motivation is more driven from passion than profit.   Some are in it to push the hobby to the extreme instead of just making money and if they can cover their cost they are happy.  Some are likely motivated by fame more than fortune (Fr. Bill? :( ).Each will have to figure out their own motivations and apply accordingly.    And I hope there is room for both on the Flight Marketplace.Though I would hope that Microsoft will actually govern the quality level somewhat.    The millions of apps on Apple's store may sound impressive but a lot of it is just garbage.     Does the world really need 300 apps that do fart sounds?  Are there a bunch of merry pranksters out there on the edge of their (toilet) seats just thinking "Gosh, maybe FartApp # 301 will be the ultimate!   C'mon Apple, let us have more!".   For the sake of our world I hope not!So please don't make me wade through the junk to find the gems.     Give me some sort of rating system (a la Amazon) so I focus my limited hobby dollars to the best stuff.   I will usually try to read reviews (here and other sites) before I plunk down my retirement funds but it would much easier to have these in one place.And hopefully we get a range of addons to pick from from "value" to "premium" so more developers can get into the hobby and make enough money at it to keep going.

Understand you points .. but most of our community developers .. develop the type plane they would want to fly.  Perhaps this passion will have to change to be a financial decision vs. a heartfelt one.