Heres the basic fact... If somebody puts out a "product" and charges 50 bucks for it...and somebody is willing to pay it...then the "product" is properly priced to sell ONE UNIT. If the seller wants to sell two units, then he needs to consider a broader value distribution. Thats a macro economic equation that some publishers like Flight1 and others should be able to counsel their clients on. Right now, I feel like a lot of pricing generally is "thumb in the air". Mainly I see no corelation between pricing and value between the various payware companies. Some folks like PMDG and LDS charge premium rates and I can understand where that comes from in some ways. However, I see Zero reason for any of these products to exceed the cost of FS2004. This is the basic platform on which all 3rd party aircraft exist.

I don't understand that logic. The reason microsoft can charge a certain amount (I paid 70 for my copy the day it came out by the way), is because they are a multi-million dollar a day company with more money than they know what to do with. Now you compare the price they can charge for a game versus the price some small time company can charge for an add-on which arguably can be considered to be its own game. The time it takes to develop new complicated add-on aircraft that the community demands is growing, thus prices growing will be the end result. I have no problem even paying 100 dollars because I know that money will go to good use. 100 dollars in todays market will not get you that much, dinner and a movie, hanging at the bar with friends, etc. Well worth it. If you want to complain about the price, enjoy all the simple freeware offerings with no complicated systems and extremely realistic VCs (although there are a few exceptions and I thank these authors and enjoy their free products).

>However, I see Zero reason for any of>these products to exceed the cost of FS2004. This is the basic>platform on which all 3rd party aircraft exist.And frankly I see ZERO logic in above statement since it has no relation to current practice in software industry. The cost of operating system in todays's machines is often a fraction of the cost of many of the application software. See for example how Microsft prices their various software products. Or how much is PhotoShop Pro or some other 'add-ons'.Michael J.

I wonder if what some of us consider high pricing for addons--and I apologize if this has already been mentioned--comes from the fact that a recent poll here at Avsim suggests that the average age of flightsimmers is much higher than that for most other "games." This usually translates into more disposable income and thus the opportunity for the developer to charge more. Yes, I would like lower prices, but if the developer can charge more why wouldn't he? I know some of us refuse to buy something if we consider it priced too high, but I suspect the vast majority of us go ahead anyway. A 12 year old kid is going to have a hard time convincing his dad that he absolutely has to have the freight version of the MD-11, but it's easier for dad himself when the credit card is in his own hip pocket. billg

>>You plant banana seeds, you get banana plants, one should not>>expect rose bushes!>True, but i do believe it is possible to feed a rose with bananasBanana's don't reproduce from seeds. Planting Banana seeds will fetch you nothing. For reproduction only succers like onion bulbs are used ore tissue culture commercially. LOL I just could not resist posting this comment. Keith