There's a lot of 50% products out there Elaine, it's not worth your $5

Lol Jeff, me thinks I said that wrong. Meant to say 50$

Well, I had explained a lot of this before. I also gave a broad outline of the NDA wording quite some time ago. The above post summarises everything into one post. Thanks for your patience.

 

I would like to thank you for the post above, because yeah, it gives a general all around view of what is going on for some developers.

 

It really makes me wonder what they promised to Carenado and why they accepted. Because it sounds really weird. Maybe it's something about releasing content that doesn't have appeal anymore on "our" market, such as really old addons. in that case, making a profit is better than not making a profit at all. Of course it doesn't apply to developers that have a smaller selection of addons or that have more recent addons.

I would like to thank you for the post above, because yeah, it gives a general all around view of what is going on for some developers.

 

..... in that case, making a profit is better than not making a profit at all. Of course it doesn't apply to developers that have a smaller selection of addons or that have more recent addons.

 

There is another problem here though: support. The only way anyone can make a gross profit on such small margins is to sell lots, because the per unit revenue is tiny. BUT, you still have to offer support on the same level as though it was an ordinary, not bargain-basement, product. When you are offering the same level of support on a product for which your net profit is peanuts, you are effectively making a loss if your support is decent and timely.

There is another problem here though: support. The only way anyone can make a gross profit on such small margins is to sell lots, because the per unit revenue is tiny. BUT, you still have to offer support on the same level as though it was an ordinary, not bargain-basement, product. When you are offering the same level of support on a product for which your net profit is peanuts, you are effectively making a loss if your support is decent and timely.

 

I know from experience that support can be the killer in any business model.

 

That puts the developer in a tough spot... their reputation is on the line, and the ever changing FSX-SE environment and lots of newbie users adds to up to increased support calls...  :unsure:

There is another problem here though: support. The only way anyone can make a gross profit on such small margins is to sell lots, because the per unit revenue is tiny. BUT, you still have to offer support on the same level as though it was an ordinary, not bargain-basement, product. When you are offering the same level of support on a product for which your net profit is peanuts, you are effectively making a loss if your support is decent and timely.

 

Yes, what I said earlier. 

 

Steam has no vested interest in providing support for anything bought through their sight, other than what they actually own/license and MUST provide support for.  I had a problem with a Dovetail product a while back.  Steam support said not their problem, contact Dovetail.  I contacted Dovetail.  Dovetail said not their problem, contact Steam.  Guess who ended up on the the short end of that stick.

 

There is no way to sell heavily discounted products AND provide high quality support.  You lose every time as a seller.  Not a problem as long as the consumer is aware of that.  Problem is, most consumers expect to get the same level of service through Steam that they have gotten over the years buying directly from software providers.  Not going to happen, at least for very long.