Welcome to the world of free enterprise. Pricing on any item is limited by what the market is willing to pay. It's up to the customer to decide if it's worth the price. I also disagree with the concept of comparing the price of the sim to the price of add-ons. Millions of copies of FS9 will be sold over its lifetime. Even the best add-ons will only move a small fraction of that. Given the number of people involved and the time it takes to do a first class job on a complex aircraft it really seems to me that prices are just coming closer to reflecting the actual cost of putting these things together. There's plenty of freeware out there so if you don't think the commercial work is worth the price, don't buy it.TonyDigital-Flight

>Oh and to michal, I know they are games but so is this. If I>wanted real flying I would put down 50.00 a hour for a 150 at>the local FBO and go flying. The PMDG is complex but it is>still no where near like the real thing so it is a game. It's all relative. I consider the Cessna 152 as a game (horribly underpowered at my airport's altitude) & have no desire whatsoever to fly one. I'll spend more for something with greater horsepower & the fact that I'll enjoy it a whole lot more. Just like flightsimming isn't it? Just cost's a bit additional sometimes for something that's worthwhile.L.Adamson

Duplicated post

Duplicated. Forum was slow. :)

I agree about the price. The really "funny" thing is, if they charged less, they'd sell MORE, and probably make more money. Once the package is complete, people just download it. They don't have to actually build a 737 for every buyer, so comparing it with products like cars, etc., just doesn't make sense.

Randy,I'm (just guessing here) that since you're on the "PMDG Beta Team", you didn't have to pay for yours? :)

Darryl,"They don't have to actually build a 737 for every buyer, so comparing it with products like cars, etc., just doesn't make sense"What absolute nonsense. I'm assuming you arent a programmer? Let's just say it's a pretty skilled job,and with a pretty skilled job comes a higher rate of pay(Lefteris)So that's one programmer,what about the second programmer?(Anthony)Now,lets look at aircraft modelling, add another skilled employee's wages to that.(Vin)Now,add to that 2 employees who paint liveries for free.(John and Pete)Oh yes,we've got webmaster/panel graphics(Marc).Aircraft flight characteristics,which may I add are second to done(Vangelis).Oh yes,don't forget the Customer Support and technical advisor(PAUL).So that's 9 very skilled employee's who are Real good at what they do.Now we've to pay for the bandwidth,credit card processing fees(about 3% of overall transaction each) and the costs keep going up.My point? Car companies charge thousands of dollars for the car. The overall price will More than pay for the overall costs of the car.In PMDG's case,a relatively small and competive market, the $62 will not pay for the overall production of the product.Get a grip guys-if you cant justify the costs,Dont buy it-I dont care and neither does anyone else so stop moaning about it.John http://homepage.eircom.net/~eamonnmca/images/logo_ba.JPGwww.bavirtual.co.uk Senior Captain Simflight.com Staff Reviewer

That wasn't Darryl who wrote that - it was me. "Nonsense"? Whatever you say. Fast remains that they would sell more, if the package was less expensive, and have more satisfied customers. You don't have to pay for materials and labor for every unit purchased.As for getting a grip - It's really funny how so many of you can complain about people "moaning", "whining", etc, but you still take the time to argue against them - although you argued with the wrong person. BTW - I have purchased the PMDG NG's. I was simply agreeing that there could have been a better pricing scheme, that would have sold more of the product, and satisfied more people, and PROBABLY make PMDG more money.Have a quality weekend.

...probably one of the lamest arguments I've ever read!Have you ever bought a full-price music CD by, for example, the Beatles? If so, why? It's not as if the Beatles come over to your place and perform for you personally each time you play the CD.....Toni.

>comparing it with products like cars, etc., just doesn't make>sense.>>>...probably one of the lamest arguments I've ever read!>>Have you ever bought a full-price music CD by, for example,>the Beatles? If so, why? It's not as if the Beatles come over>to your place and perform for you personally each time you>play the CD.....>>Toni.>Yeah, Toni, I have. And how much are those CD's, which have a much higher production and development cost? Talk about lame arguments...You don't think PMDG would make more money by charging less?

Ester Dyson, Vice Chair of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, in her article, "Intellectual Value" [Wired, July 1995] observed: "Intellectual property that can be copied easily likely will be copied. It will be copied so easily and efficiently that much of itwill be distributed FREE in order to attract attention or create desire for follow-up services that can be charged for. The idea that intellectual property in a Net-based economy can lose its value horrifies most owners and creators. They'd better get over it." The Internet makes bits irrelevant. Good software gets copied. Period. You can't stop it -- it's a law of nature. So it's getting harder and harder to collect money for bits alone. But it's not about bits anymore, it's about electronic relationships. Again Ester noted: "There's no value in software. There's value in services that come with software. There's value in having ideas, and communicating those ideas to people and providing a service to people, built around those ideas. Successful companies are adopting business models in which they're rewarded for services rather than for code."So, the bottom line is this: what you really get for your money isn't simply a collection of bits-n-bytes that constitute a complete aircraft model, sounds, panel, etc., but rather the Value Added that comes from the relationship which now exists between the producer and the consumer.If a company provides superior customer service, actually listens to valid complaints, doesn't fly off the handle and insult customers who have self-generated problems - but rather deals with them in a helpful manner (i.e., without insulting their intelligence or making them feel really stupid), and strives constantly to keep their product(s) up to date and in synch with the times, then that company deserves the success and support they receive reflected by customer satisfaction, and will see the results of those efforts through increased sales.

>Yeah, Toni, I have. And how much are those CD's, which have a>much higher production and development cost? Of course the CD hopes for a million or more sales, versus 3000 or so at best for the downloaded airplane. >>Talk about lame arguments...>This argument is lame also..

>You don't think PMDG would make more money by charging less?Maybe not. If it was $30 tops, I probably wouldn't buy it, as I'm not into airliners these days. Prefer GA, bushplanes, and business jets. I'm willing to bet that the market is quite limited & the price has to reflect these limitations.But for whatever reasons, I always read Airliner magazine & follow the PMDG forum. As to why I don't care for airliner simulations ??? Others must think the way I do, regardless of the pricing.L.Adamson

> As to why I don't care for airliner>simulations ??? Others must think the way I do, regardless of>the pricing.>I think exactly the way you do .....Michael J.http://www.reality-xp.com/community/nr/rsc/rxp-higher.jpg

This thread's gonna get locked soon so Im gonna put in my 2 cents. I have the whole PMDG package. And you know what? I am glad I made the purchase.