Future Product Range

[WTE_Pharoah 7]

hi guys

 

Was just pondering....will PMDG run out of a/c to make in the not too distant future? Yes I know...development time and all that...but PMDG is a business and, whilst you invest heavily in R&D, you need to keep products rolling out the door for cashflow purposes (which is literally the lifeblood of the company) or you go the way of the dodo.

 

Okay...so PMDG release the 777 this year (yay!)...and say the 747v2 in Mar 13 (say)....then say the Dash8...and the B787....then what? I'm not sure PMDG is into concept aircraft and I know there's lots of a/c out there..but its the old Pareto principle...ie. the 80/20 rule being 80% of flights are done by 20% of a/c (incl types). Once you've been through the 20% ie. boeing jets, Airbus jets....then what? oldies? Military a/c? helicopters? space craft?

 

Are PMDG going to stay the same size company or try to grow their profits? to do so, you need products to make...and people to make it. Its not like the actual boeing company where, once you make it...you try and sell the fk out of it and grow your $$ that way (plus support, addons, etc). Once PMDG release an a/c...they'll invest a bit more in bug fixes and then possibly some DLC...then thats it...hand over to the support team and focus on the next task.

 

I wonder what the strategic, long term vision is....hardware? Prepar3d addons?

 

I'm just interested, thats all.

[ajpongress 467]

CRJ200/700/900

EMB120/135/145/175/195

A319/320/330/340 (sorry, had to throw this in)

B757/767 (if LVLD decides to stop development in the future)

B717

ATR

...and all the Classics possibilities.

 

I think they have more then enough to choose from.

[sky_walker 0]

I hope they enter into the biz jet scene. For example there are no solid hawker jets on flightsim like the 800, 850 900XP or challenger biz jets or even the gulfstream 3,-6 series or maybe even the global express jets.

[EGLL77W 1,508]

The 777 isn't even out..

[MMartinov 48]

....then what?

 

According to the Mayan calendar there will be no more "then" after 21.12.2012, thus making your question pointless.

Meanwhile you can enjoy the NGX and eventually 77X as much as you can...

[Nuno Pinto 1,394]

The DC-6, the 777 then the 747 then *maybe* some other Boeing airliner. I don't see them doing the Dash-8 nor embarking in Airbus stories. As for the Embraer, they're done and quite well by FeelThere, one of their finest products (as opposite to the CRJ which basically... sucks).

 

The 757 and 767 are done by Captain Sim, LevelD and QualityWings. Captain Sim is still updating their 757 and 767, Quality Wings is releasing a SP3 sometime after the AVRO. I don't see the need for more 757/767 and i doubt once again PMDG will pick those up.

 

My guess is that the DC-6 and T7 will see a release this year and the 747 maybe in Spring 2013 along with the release of the 747-8 and all other 777 variants... I don't see anything new from them before last third of 2013.

[flyerboy 114]

You do realise they are working on a Dash 8 but it has been pushed back.. into the hangar.. for a long D check :-)

[ajpongress 467]

I don't see them doing the Dash-8

 

Why not? They said it's something they are still doing, just not right away.

 

And so what if the ERJ series was already done by Feelthere, or the 757/67 is done already...just because someone else made it doesn't stop a competitor from making a better version.

PMDG didn't stop from releasing the NGX even after iFly released their 737 NG.

[Fabo 213]

By the time they are finished with the Dash-8, or whatever comes after DC-6 and 747, they may start doing the 737 again, for Prepar3D 2 Consumer version, XPL10/11, or whatever will be the name of the game by then.

 

Notice how they have done 2 737s already and are doing their 2nd 747? Technology changes over the years, and that means that you have to consider even current planes for the future. No running of planes then, as, in theory, PMDG can just keep doing the same Boeing set over and over, as the 737 will always sell, just need updating every couple years, (+insert MAX for the next cycle), 747 in its iconic appearance is similar, maybe write off 400 in favor of 8 in the next cycle, 777 is also extremely popular these days.

Add maybe one more different airliner into every cycle (787? 767? 717?) and couple smaller sideprojects (JS41, DC6, Dash8?) and unless PMDG grows massively, you dont even need to go to different OEM before cycle is over and they do another NG 3.0 (or MAX 1.0)

[crazy voyager 13]

I think PMDG has a lot of stuff to do still.

 

Just think about it, from what we've heard so far there will be:

777

747 v2

Dash 8

DC-6

 

Those 4 alone will take a while, then they want some small projects to do in between, I have no clue what that will be though but i'ms ure they'll figure something out (and it could be like the JS41, I had never thought of it before but I do love it!).

 

Then you have the other boeings, 757, 767, 787.

If they decide to do an airbus (which I don't think personally but who knows) there are tons of them, 318, 19, 20, 21, 330, 340 (and later on the 350), and also the 380.

 

Then we have the CRJs, AFAIK no models have been made for those.

 

The ERJs would definitly be worthy of a better model than the one offered by FeelThere (I've tried it but I never really liked it).

 

The ATR72 has no naitive FSX model (the flight1 is an FS9 model that has been adapted).

 

Then there are bizjets, as I said above, I have a feeling there are plenty more for PMDG to do in the future!

[LeeL 272]

According to the Mayan calendar there will be no more "then" after 21.12.2012, thus making your question pointless.

Meanwhile you can enjoy the NGX and eventually 77X as much as you can...

 

:LMAO: good point!

[Cras 6]

eh, do the CRJs. I dont think anyone has done a quality addon for those. Well, in my opinion, no one has done a quality addon for the ERJs either....

 

 

or take a crack at a private jet, like a Citation or Gulfstream...although I do recall that Gulfstream doesnt like people making addons of their stuff.

 

At somepoint I would like to think FSX will finally be fully replaced and we will have a new and improved flight sim to fly, and should that new flight sim not be so compatible with FSX stuff, well then they get to start again with new and improved verions of the great airplanes we already have.

[Smasher77th 13]

According to the Mayan calendar there will be no more "then" after 21.12.2012, thus making your question pointless.

Meanwhile you can enjoy the NGX and eventually 77X as much as you can...

 

:LMAO: :LMAO: :LMAO: :LMAO:

[JD396 38]

The arrival of the 777, 747v2, NGX SP2, ER package, Dash 8 eventually - that's enough to keep me occupied for a LONG time.

 

But, if we're using our imaginations, I'd love to see a 717. I have to imagine some of the programming from the MD-11 would port over. I really like that MD glass cockpit. Heck, maybe they could make a whole DC-9 series. That would be cool. I give my existing MD-80 addon a C+ and like most of the rest of my addons it's basically unflyable now that my expectations have been ruined by the NGX.

 

Other things on my wish list: Gulfstream IV or V, Saab 340, BAe 146, CRJ. I'm a Boeing dude myself but I'd buy a good A320 if someone would make one. An A320X would be cool but I don't want to get into that mess.

 

I'd take any mainline jet done to NGX standard. It doesn't matter if it's been done before - they haven't been done to the new standard. What I'm hoping for is the rest of the third party addon community to start catching up. Pretty much every modern mainline jet has been done before, most more than once, but the NGX is a technological advancement that hopefully will be the first of a whole new generation of addons.

 

At somepoint I would like to think FSX will finally be fully replaced and we will have a new and improved flight sim to fly, and should that new flight sim not be so compatible with FSX stuff, well then they get to start again with new and improved verions of the great airplanes we already have.

 

I'm interested to see what comes in the near future as far as the sim platform goes. The MS Flight experiment didn't come from anything related to failure on the part of MSFS - it seems to more have been an attempt at cashing in on the third party market that failed miserably. Having gone through that, I wouldn't be surprised to see Microsoft back in the game at some point considering their brand has near-total market share of our little hobby. And the ESP engine is still out there being developed so regardless of what Lockheed says I imagine at some point we might see something along the lines of an FS11.

 

I'd sure love to get a modern engine though - FSX is a culmination of facelifts over programming that is getting awfully close to 20 years old now.

[klm251 62]

According to the Mayan calendar there will be no more "then" after 21.12.2012, thus making your question pointless.

Meanwhile you can enjoy the NGX and eventually 77X as much as you can...

 

On my birthday that will be one hell of a party hehe