Multi-Platform Pricing Policy Expectations FSX/P3D/Xplane

[january 19]

A very wise man advised me (70+) years ago- "Son, try to learn something new, every day."

So, if one is a lifetime student in "The College of Hard Knocks", does that qualify for the academic version of P3D ?

january

[E6BAV8R 88]

Whether or not PMDG is developing for P3D has no effect whatsoever on the licensing of P3D to its end users. P3D is not licensed to be used by the vast majority of those reading this forum. I don't have a second cousin in a scenery company, nor am I legal counsel for anyone. I can, however, read. EULA's are designed to tell end users (that's us) the terms of use in a format that can be understood by people without J.D. in their title. I am also highly confident in my ability to discern the legal definitions of "home entertainment" and "consumer use."

 

A lot of people on the P3D wagon seem to be either forgetting this or want to ignore the EULA and how it actually affects developers.  I think they're going to be quite shocked when they see the sticker price of products for P3D when they have to purchase a commercial license. Also keep in mind that PMDG hasn't (yet) said they are developing anything solely for P3D.  They've only agreed, thus far, to port over two existing FSX aircraft and cross platform the 747 v2.0.  Who knows what may (or may not) come after that.

 

I also don't understand why people are saying FSX is dead.  Who cares if it isn't under active development?  It hasn't been for years nor does it need active development to succeed and grow.  If 'active development' was truly the barrier for a simulator platform being dead than FS9 would be an after-thought and FSX would have died years ago to X-Plane.  There are many third party developers actively developing new products for FSX and I don't know of any developer that has stopped developing for FSX because of P3D.  It is no surprise that Flight1, with the many products they create and sell, has chosen to not develop, cross-platform or sell their products for P3D.

[Brian Doney 127]

I don't know.

 

I guess I don't understand why this is still so much of an issue. Not that discussion of this topic doesn't have every right to exist (unless PMDG say otherwise of course), but what does any of this really matter ?

 

PMDG have made their position quite clear, and not that my opinion matters, I accept it completely. I also, would you believe it, use P3D2 !. It's even installed on the same PC !

 

If the pricing for P3D licensing is too high for me to justify, then I will either continue using FSX with PMDG products or I will stop using PMDG products. Either way, it's a decision I will make for myself, just as we all will, as individuals.

 

So many posts in this thread express such concern for what others may decide to do, and that is the part I don't get. If you have decided what your path will be, great ! Please stop worrying so much about mine.

[E6BAV8R 88]

So many posts in this thread express such concern for what others may decide to do, and that is the part I don't get

 

I think people are expressing concern because people are trying to decide what path to take themselves.  No one wants to dump money into a platform that is going nowhere.  Having said that, it does matter what people think of each platform.  The platform(s) that live and die are effectively decided by the support given by the community and third-party developers.  Sure there are people that will use a simulator platform either way, especially given the massive amount of work that was given to a platform over time (e.g. FS9), but a platform won't be successful without the adoption of it by the community and developers.

[Brian Doney 127]

I understand what your;re getting at but at the same time, and with all due respect, this is a hobby, not a political race. People should not be literally debating the choices of others in this context, not that they can't do so, but it just serves no purpose, and to be frank, it's really no one else's business what I do or you do or whomever, again, in this context.

 

FSX will live or die by the market. It won't happen overnight, but someday it will most certainly fall out of favor. That will either be caused by a replacement product, or we all might just decide we have better things to do and move on.

 

Whenever that is, and whatever it is caused by are actually quite irrelevant. FSX has had, or is having, rather, quite a long run. It has been the primary platform for development longer than any other. So what is the actual worry in the end ? That FSX won't get 7 more years of nearly exclusive development ? I just can't feel much concern or dismay over that, or much sympathy for anyone that does. Even if I end up still using it as my primary sim, with what we already have, and what will be coming to FSX shortly, I just can't understand anyone that isn't satisfied by what FSX has come to be.

 

Further, now that I have been able to lay my dirty, incompetent hands on P3D2, I can tell you this much if nothing else: Developing for both platforms will be much less of an issue than it ever has been between two platforms. LM have changed and added a lot, no doubt, but most of what they have done, is to enable new capability, not invalidate the old. I could certainly see a situation where a P3D product has a few more bells and whistles added. but I really don't see another FS9/FSX cross-platform problem. Licensing, of course, is another matter entirely.

 

I think we are seeing a lot of evidence for a relatively easy transition coming in. A healthy number of FSX add-ons just work in P3D, with no, or only very minor, adjustments. Some of these add-ons are just as complex as our beloved PMDG favorites. That was certainly not the case with FS9->FSX. Not by a long shot.

 

I only say all of that to make the point that even in the worst case, we're still better off than we have ever been, and that all of this angst is for nothing.

 

My unsolicited $1.50

[Vodcoke 14]

I think that PMDG us this forum as a liptus test to see what peoples are thinking and what is acceptable for pricing to upgrade to P3D v2. Why have this topic? It causes upset, speculation and bickerness between fellows simmers. I would pay a small upgrade fee for the NGX and if there is a full upgrade to make use of P3D I would pay a supplement for it.

[WotanUK 289]

 

 

I think that PMDG us this forum as a liptus test to see what peoples are thinking and what is acceptable

 

PMDG have said repeatedly that the majority of their customers don't partake in these forums, seems unlikely they would make business decisions based on feedback they read in a random thread.

 

 

 

Why have this topic?

 

I assume the simple answer is that this topic was to stop speculation...opps.

 

I would speculate (based on no information whatsoever) that any releases in P3D will be squarely aimed at professionals and the cost will be somewhat prohibitive to the majority of us.

[Vodcoke 14]

 

"PMDG have said repeatedly that the majority of their customers don't partake in these forums, seems unlikely they would make business decisions based on feedback they read in a random thread."

 

 

I find this very hard to believe, when I spend 70 odd dollars on a product the first thing I do is join the forum for tips, updates etc. I may not post jebberish every day for the sake of it, but I would read regularly. This forum at least once a week to see what's happening.

 

This is only my thought!!!

 

 

"I assume the simple answer is that this topic was to stop speculation...opps.

 

I would speculate (based on no information whatsoever) that any releases in P3D will be squarely aimed at professionals and the cost will be somewhat prohibitive to the majority of us."

 

Again this proves my point , do you or any other other member of the forum have inside info? It's just a wait and see

[FSX4Life 2]

 

Anyway it's all speculation i'm in no hurry to move, FSX is working great, looks great and has a great selection of aircraft thanks to the many add-on companies.

FSX is a CPU raper though, P3Dv2 makes some use of multicores and GPU's.

 

The rabidity of simmers wanting to drop FSX for P3D is driven by all the addons you reference, photorealistic (ORBX, etc.) if not outright photoscenery, PLUS AI traffic (MyTraffic, etc.) PLUS high fidelity scenery (Flytampa, FSDT, USCities, etc.) PLUS PMDG aircraft ...let's not forget envirments like REX and ActiveSky, can make an Alienware squeal like a pig...because only one core on the CPU is being used.

 

Someone who has invested thousands of dollars into the hobby is reluctant to see that money vanish with no ROI..and having to pay more in for an identical product. FSX in the past few years has been maxed out ( single core barrier and 32bit barrier.) P3Dv2 is the Messiah for these simmers (myself included) as it has to a degree resolved the CPU issue, much improvent still needed, but it is progress.

[WotanUK 289]

 

 

some use of multicores

 

I stand to be corrected here but i didn't think it did.  Are you sure it isn't just defaulting to another core rather than being changed using the Affinity Mask?

 

 

 

The rabidity of simmers wanting to drop FSX for P3D is driven by all the addons you reference

 

...and the reason i'll hold off moving.  I would be happy to move over to P3D tomorrow if PMDG supported it, now we know they are going too i need to see the pricing.  If i have to buy  the 737 / 777 again for the same cost to move i may consider it, if it will cost me $200 to buy each aircraft again, not a chance.

 

 

 

32bit barrier

Which of course P3D has as well and if they change it, say goodbye to all your addons.

 

I would love to support P3D i really would, the cost of the software isn't a worry i want to support LM and much more importantly a simulator that people are actually improving, but until i have some idea of cost and timescales from PMDG i'll be sticking with FSX.

[mgh 89]

If i have to buy the 737 / 777 again for the same cost to move i may consider it, if it will cost me $200 to buy each aircraft again, not a chance.

That puts the position in a nut shell. Any commercial organisation will set its prices based on what the market will bear.

[ivo09 23]

I have the feeling that FSX entertainment licensed aircraft will become the lite versions and the P3D professional/training licenses become the standard versions. That is the impression I'm getting from here. After all, in order to sell a training version for several hundred $ more, it needs to have extra features, better systems or something to warrant the cost. It can't just be the same product branded for training.

 

I just hope I'm wrong about this.

[Groovin_DC-10 50]

I have the feeling that FSX entertainment licensed aircraft will become the lite versions and the P3D professional/training licenses become the standard versions. That is the impression I'm getting from here. After all, in order to sell a training version for several hundred $ more, it needs to have extra features, better systems or something to warrant the cost. It can't just be the same product branded for training.

 

I just hope I'm wrong about this.

 

They should be the exact same thing.  With the P3D version of PMDG, you'll be paying more for re-coding of the aircraft, legal issues, lawyers, license, etc.

As P3D is meant for professional training, expect the prices to reflect what that market will bear, as Gerry said.

 

It costs less money to release an add on for a platform with an entertainment license than to release the exact same thing on a platform with a professional training license.

 

I have a feeling, PMDG prices for their P3D add ons will be a lot more than the $200 price range most people are predicting.  Just my thought.

[Don t moderate me this way 882]

Why don't we just wait and see?!?   B)

[WotanUK 289]

 

 

I have a feeling, PMDG prices for their P3D add ons will be a lot more than the $200 price range most people are predicting.  Just my thought.

 

Wait...was that because of my statement?  If so sorry but i wasn't even predicting the price, i have NO idea how much they will be; i was simply saying that $200 would be a bridge too far for me personally.

 

 

I have the feeling that FSX entertainment licensed aircraft will become the lite versions and the P3D professional/training licenses become the standard versions

 

That scary thought occurred to me as well.  When other companies are offering free P3D versions as well as the versions for FSX; PMDG are going to have to offer something extra for the (one presumes) more expensive versions of there Aircraft from P3D