Perhaps the thanks should always be the other way around..."Thanks for buying our products and supporting us." I find it funny how people are saying thank you to FS Developers who charge for their products, which are based on customer demand...has anyone thanked Sony yet for the PS3?? However, before I get shot down in flames by the "kids," let me say that PMDG do make premium products and that makes me more than happy to pay for them...

well, i think that is a bit cynical.True, "customer is King" and there would not be an NGX project without us customers, but the analogy with the playstation or other commercial products goes too far.From the evidence published thusfar i can only conclude that the NGX is made by fanatics that clearly have an enormous passion for what they do. It would seem that instead of building an add-on that resembles an NG they are actually trying to create an identical copy of an NG (apart from issues which serve no purpose in FSX or are impossible to simulate anyway)And for that, I am happy to be living in this day and age.I am not the type of person capable of building a hardware copy cockpit of an NG. There are lots of people that spend loads of cash, time an energy into building something like that. Well, i could only dream to have something like that but now, with this release the concept of the VC, as introduced some 10 years ago i think, has evolved into something that even looks better than a project magenta cockpit and I can only be thankful for that. i can even imagine that some people who have chosen the expensive route of building a hardware version of an NG earlier will have second thoughts and perhaps regret not to have chosen in investing in the virtual reality path.So, even if PMDG is going to make lots of money with this, a big THANK YOU is still what they deserve.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but I'll thank them with my money when they release the product.

I just wanted to say thank you very much to PMDG for all there hard work on the up and coming release of the 737NGX. Yes it has been along time in the making, but remember this, with great power comes great responsibilty. Just look at the video it says it all... Congrats PMDG your way up there at the top of developers..Cheers Stevie .

Good post Steve. I agree. Thank you PMDG!Developing a model like this upcoming NGX, to me shows a passion for flight simulation and customer satisfaction that far surpasses just the desire to create profit.Abacus creates profit without passion (or much work).

I just wanted to say thank you very much to PMDG for all there hard work on the up and coming release of the 737NGX. Yes it has been along time in the making, but remember this, with great power comes great responsibilty. Just look at the video it says it all... Congrats PMDG your way up there at the top of developers..Cheers Stevie .

+1

well, i think that is a bit cynical.True, "customer is King" and there would not be an NGX project without us customers, but the analogy with the playstation or other commercial products goes too far.From the evidence published thusfar i can only conclude that the NGX is made by fanatics that clearly have an enormous passion for what they do. It would seem that instead of building an add-on that resembles an NG they are actually trying to create an identical copy of an NG (apart from issues which serve no purpose in FSX or are impossible to simulate anyway)And for that, I am happy to be living in this day and age.I am not the type of person capable of building a hardware copy cockpit of an NG. There are lots of people that spend loads of cash, time an energy into building something like that. Well, i could only dream to have something like that but now, with this release the concept of the VC, as introduced some 10 years ago i think, has evolved into something that even looks better than a project magenta cockpit and I can only be thankful for that. i can even imagine that some people who have chosen the expensive route of building a hardware version of an NG earlier will have second thoughts and perhaps regret not to have chosen in investing in the virtual reality path.So, even if PMDG is going to make lots of money with this, a big THANK YOU is still what they deserve.

Couldn't have said it better. A big "THHHHHHAAAAANNNNK YYYYYYOOOOOOOOUUUUUUSSS!!!!!' to everyone involved in bringing this dream to reality. This is a dream come true. Other devs are going to try to match this, and while I don't believe a lot of them will even come close, at least they'll do a much better job than they've been doing till now.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but I'll thank them with my money when they release the product.

I have a business myself and, believe me, the "Thank you" and "Good job" means a lot to me. Sure I have to eat and pay the bills, but I enjoy what I do and also love it when others do too.I'm just glad everyone doesn't have your attitude.Bob

I don't mean to sound harsh, but I'll thank them with my money when they release the product.

Although it's basically all about business, people don't work just for money. From time to time, they also like to see others demostrating appreciation for what they're doing. I bet you like too when someone come to you and say a simple: "Hey! Good job on that."

I too wanna say THANK YOU!I know the best to way to say thanks will be buying ur product (which i will) but nevertheless i had to add something more.You guys with your creativity, preserverance and will have made a breakthrough which will probably make your addon something that actual real-world pilots will start using for fun.The detail is so awesome, i cant express by words what i feel when i look at it. Already in FS9 your NG was the plane that i always fly...why... because of the way it handles my commands.. and it's indeed far away from this new FSX Version.You will actually make the final resistents (me, included) move to FSX! :D...About all the ones the constantly complain about the waiting i just wanna say this: If you ever had been a certain ExtendedTeam member in another certain company you would most probably know what WAITING really is!Best regards,Márcio Vasconcelos

I'll say my thanks when it's out.Pete Walsh.

It would seem to me that the NGX is as much a labor of love as it is an attempt to make a few bucks. Speaking from ignorance I have to imagine it will be a long time before the NGX starts turning a profit for PMDG. There's clearly some highly skilled people on the development team. Ryan had a list of 15 or so guy on one of the other threads a day or two ago... and they're obviously spending lots of time on this... time that was NOT spent doing this sort of complex programming earning a salary elsewhere. But I don't really know how the business end of the FS addon industry works, and I'd be curious to find out more about it. I don't even know how to guess how many copies of these addons are sold. 1,000? 10,000? 100,000? 1,000,000? I have no clue, really... how they even fund such projects is beyond me. Whatever the case, it must pay for itself eventually for at least some people or there wouldn't be an addon industry.However the business end works, when the NGX comes out we'll have likely the best FS addon known to man. They don't have to do that. Certainly they could have released something up to the standard you find from lots of other developers... Go look at the sort of absolute GARBAGE out there that you can actually pay $50+ for. That's where PMDG earns thanks... redefining what an FS addon should be. Suffice to say I'll be dropping whatever sum of money they ask for the NGX when it comes out.Oh, and I'll readily admit that PMDG quality made a "a really excited user" out of me, and anyone who doesn't like it can, well, go fly a kite.

It would seem to me that the NGX is as much a labor of love as it is an attempt to make a few bucks. Speaking from ignorance I have to imagine it will be a long time before the NGX starts turning a profit for PMDG. There's clearly some highly skilled people on the development team. Ryan had a list of 15 or so guy on one of the other threads a day or two ago... and they're obviously spending lots of time on this... time that was NOT spent doing this sort of complex programming earning a salary elsewhere. But I don't really know how the business end of the FS addon industry works, and I'd be curious to find out more about it. I don't even know how to guess how many copies of these addons are sold. 1,000? 10,000? 100,000? 1,000,000? I have no clue, really... how they even fund such projects is beyond me. Whatever the case, it must pay for itself eventually for at least some people or there wouldn't be an addon industry.However the business end works, when the NGX comes out we'll have likely the best FS addon known to man. They don't have to do that. Certainly they could have released something up to the standard you find from lots of other developers... Go look at the sort of absolute GARBAGE out there that you can actually pay $50+ for. That's where PMDG earns thanks... redefining what an FS addon should be. Suffice to say I'll be dropping whatever sum of money they ask for the NGX when it comes out.Oh, and I'll readily admit that PMDG quality made a "a really excited user" out of me, and anyone who doesn't like it can, well, go fly a kite.

I don't know about you but I'd certainly pay 100.00+ for this add-on knowing how much work is involved. PMDG are looking to cement their reputation with the utmost quality that far surpasses anything ever created for FS and that has been the main driving force behind RR's vision for this great company. I can't wait after looking at the video - how far things have come boggles my mind. I feel like a kid before X-Mas.....

Well, showing appreciation for someone's high level of skill, talent and knowledge, educational standard and work ethic is a little different to saying, "Thanks." The add-on business works, simply, I presume: need identified, gap revealed, product realised and planned, production, testing, release, promotion, marketing and selling. I believe in most cases those who work for the Developers make little moneycompared to software developers of, say, mass market games like Batman: Arkham City, which will cost US$Millions. If the worldwide market of FS is 170,000 active members, and say only 60% make purchases of add-ons, that'll be 100,000 worldwide sales. Let's cut that by 95% assuming PMDG's market share is 5%; therefore, 5,000 sales @ £60 per sale = £300,000 Turnover per add-on. IF it cost them £200,000 to develop and release the product, that's a potential 33.34% Margin.Using this hypothetical (and in no way am I saying this is accurate), if more people support the business by making purchases, the more profit they will make and potentially the more add-ons can be produced... So say all those people bought three products at£60 each = £900,000 Turnover, perhaps that's £300,060 pre-tax profit???So those who say they'll say "thanks" by purchasing aren't so silly after all...:(

I'll say my thanks when it's out.Pete Walsh.

Roger that.I've been thanking PMDG now for 10 sum odd years. The fact that that the only other add-on airplane I have that isn't PMDG is the LVD 763 should speak volumes.-johnny rodgers

I don't know about you but I'd certainly pay 100.00+ for this add-on knowing how much work is involved. PMDG are looking to cement their reputation with the utmost quality that far surpasses anything ever created for FS and that has been the main driving force behind RR's vision for this great company. I can't wait after looking at the video - how far things have come boggles my mind. I feel like a kid before X-Mas.....

Yes... knowing what I know about PMDG I'd pay $100 for the NGX without hesitation and not because I'm Rich Uncle Pennybags. Buying the 747X because it was essentially the only 747 on the market was one thing... but it led me to buy the MD-11 mostly blind, and that still feels like the best $80 I've ever spent. I've never known more about an addon before buying it than I know about the NGX now so I'm pretty comfortable with whatever price they come up with. I'd be a little surprised if it was $100 but they probably couldn't scare me away with the price if they wanted to. Heck if they made me watch that AOA video again right before purchase they could charge damn near anything.And I know how you feel... watching that AOA video and thinking back to flying on Flight Simulator 5 for the first time... hard to believe, really. And some people around here I'm sure have been FS flying a lot longer than that.

The add-on business works, simply, I presume: need identified, gap revealed, product realised and planned, production, testing, release, promotion, marketing and selling. I believe in most cases those who work for the Developers make little moneycompared to software developers of, say, mass market games like Batman: Arkham City, which will cost US$Millions. If the worldwide market of FS is 170,000 active members, and say only 60% make purchases of add-ons, that'll be 100,000 worldwide sales. Let's cut that by 95% assuming PMDG's market share is 5%; therefore, 5,000 sales @ £60 per sale = £300,000 Turnover per add-on. IF it cost them £200,000 to develop and release the product, that's a potential 33.34% Margin.

I'd really be interested to learn more about the actual business side of the industry. It appears to me that the FS addon industry has matured the past few years. (as the once-vibrant freeware community has kind of fallen apart) For something as niche as "mods" for one particular computer game that's kind of odd... though MS Flight Simulator is essentially an entire genre unto itself.Most FS addons, and essentially all of them when it comes to aircraft, aren't mutually exclusive so it's hard to say what directly competes with what. The NGX obviously competes with the "other" NG... but when it comes out first and it's known as the "other" NG from day one and has been compared against an unreleased product... that says something about where PMDG sits in the market.