I think you are clearly missing my point. In reality, it is these "serious simmers" that dictate the add-on market demand. Non-serious simmers (which are included in these stats) mean nothing to the marketplace. As such, if someone says heavies/airliners are more popular, then technically, they are correct given the pool of people that actually PURCHASE add-ons.

 

Forum user perception is not skewed from a marketplace standpoint. Folks are vocal, and I have the stats as a publisher to back it up. Airliners, especially those with simulated systems, win the sales numbers game with zero question.

 

i believe you have more market data insight then me.  I personally see companies like carrenado that pump out planes at an insane rate which atleast for FSX/P3D are regarded subpar to put it nicely, so there must be a market for it aswell aswell as alot of the planes on the .org

 

Sure the big ones are absolute killers in terms of their sale but the interesting question are: Does e.g. 3 released PMDG products outweigh the 15ish realeased carrenado planes? What is the saturation of the study sim market? will there be a market for lets say 10 planes released each year all priced premium ?  I guess some whill never be able to get answered.

Sure the big ones are absolute killers in terms of their sale but the interesting question are: Does e.g. 3 released PMDG products outweigh the 15ish realeased carrenado planes? What is the saturation of the study sim market? will there be a market for lets say 10 planes released each year all priced premium ?  I guess some whill never be able to get answered.

Given the discussions I have had by a very significant publisher in the MSFS market, that is a very easy "yes" to PMDG.

 

Don't get me wrong, '15ish' planes will make you a living. It will NOT come close to a single PMDG release combined. How that will carry over to X-Plane? Unknown since PMDG is not there yet, but if it's anything like we've already seen with airliners then the answer remains the same I believe. The sales stats of PMDG in the MSFS world is staggering. The GA market in X-Plane is also considerably dismal in comparison to airliners.

 

Don't forget...15ish GA planes is far easier to produce. Easy to produce usually indicates lack of systems (sometimes because a Cessna is a Cessna and always will be a Cessna). People will eventually get bored of it. You may be happy with the income stream on it, but it won't get where the airliners are. And, one thing holds very true: Quality over quantity. Quality wins and lasts every time. Quantity ages quickly and becomes a burden for a developer to keep up due to trying to rush products to market in the past and not being able to keep them up to date as they should.

 

Look at PMDG's product stable. There aren't many products, but they live, thrive, and generate cash on quality. Their reputation is upheld, and to many, they are King.

I have no input to give.  Great thread, great reading 

Hopefully for LR, they are monitoring usage, not users.  As mentioned, many younger, less serious simmers are spending time away from flight sims by playing games, killing zombies and shooting terrorists.  They may make a short Cessna run when they load X-Plane, but they don't spend countless hours online with VATSIM or flying multiple-hour commercial routes in the MD-80's.  Additionally, those of us who are older, most likely (on the average) have a bit more disposable income with which to buy the more expensive aircraft, and those are the customers who support the more advanced aircraft.