£80 - £100 for the latest addons

 

this is too expensive

 

why the expensive price

 

anyone else agree ?

 

 

Depends a lot on which addon you're referring to.

PMDG! Expensive yes, Worth it, Absolutely!

For software, scenery and aircraft, you're talking about the very top of the price range there. Most add-ons are less than half this price (much less, in many cases). You have to remember that PC-based flight simulation is a small, niche market and the developers who make high quality add-ons have to somehow recoup the cost of producing them and still make some profit.

 

There are lots of inexpensive, good quality add-ons available, not to mention the huge amount of freeware out there (some of it up to payware standards). If you want complexity and accuracy, you have to pay the price. If all you want to do is fly about in a reasonably realistic aircraft in reasonably realistic weather, you don't need to add anything.

 

The last aircraft I bought was the A2A Comanche at about £35 which didn't seem at all unreasonable for what I got. No one's forcing you to buy anything, it's up to you.

Well, now you've done it.  :wink:

 

Compared to games, you're absolutely correct, flight simulation is (again, "comparatively") fairly expensive.  This is due to those who over many years have pushed for greater and greater fidelity as a true simulator, something which several developers have thankfully achieved.

 

So as a game?  Yes, but they one doesn't need a $90 aircraft to use as a game (and I'm NOT bashing gamers, welcome aboard and more power to them!).

 

As a high-fidelity simulator?  The cost is probably right.

 

 

Best Wishes and Happy Flights!

I think you should also consider that massive amounts of time can go into creating an add-on for FSX/P3D, yet compared to the gaming community, we are very small.  A part of the price is simple economics.  Say you must invest $100,000 to create a product.  If your product is aimed at gamers and you know you are going to sell 100,000 copies, then your cost for development is $1.00 per copy.  But if that product is going to a limited audience and you are only going to sell 10,000 copies, then your investment per copy is $10.00 per copy; ten times higher than selling to gamers.

If you look at the prices (and compare the quality level) of addons from 5 years ago, you'd find that the price point is nearly the same (maybe a 10-15% increase) but the quality level (and therefore the cost of making them) has all gone up by way more than that 10-15%.   

 

Our costs are way higher these days (inflation, cost of living) but we're still charging you far less than what we should...  really.

I think prices today are generally fair

 

I think Carenado was /is too overpriced for how buggy their stuff is

 

Pmdg - too much for me so I don't buy - doesn't mean their prices aren't fair though

It's a free market. If people continue to purchase addons at high prices, then prices will continue to go up. Prices will only fall when there is competition or nobody is buying. With that said, quality has gone up considerably.

When you think of the amount of hours of work that go into payware products and the hundreds of hours of enjoyment you get from the them plus it's also the niche market they are catering for i think the products are pretty good value. You only have to look at the prices of console titles and after a few plays they generally are put back in the box never to be used again. Where as products I have purchased  from the likes of RealAir or A2A Simulations get used time and time again.

If you think of the $90 a simulation such as the PMDG costs, it's really cheap. Professional certified training software which looks nowhere near as good as what PMDG do costs 100 fold.

 

This software can't be compared to video-game software. Even though on a "legal definition" we are all here considered "gamers", FSX is a "videogame" and so on, it's a completely different thing.

I relly have to laught at people that say "it's pretty cheap"....  I would say the price is what they consider fair for what they put into it and what they need/excpect to make in return.  If you think it's worth it, you get it period. Now saying it's "cheap"... please...

The market sets the price. You soon know if your pricing strategy isn't working. The quality level also reflects the end pricing, too. The better it is then the longer it takes to make and the more it needs to cost. An S Class Mercedes is expensive compared to a Kia Picanto but look at the development time, materials used and what you're getting for the money. It's all relative.

I relly have to laught at people that say "it's pretty cheap"....  I would say the price is what they consider fair for what they put into it and what they need/excpect to make in return.  If you think it's worth it, you get it period. Now saying it's "cheap"... please...

 

Since I feel alluded I'll just add that you have to put things into perspective.

 

What can you buy with 90$ today? A pair of jeans, a dinner for two at a nice restaurant, a Calculus I textbook, an oil change for your car, a tank full of petrol (at least in Europe)...

 

So yes, getting the best possible and most comprehensive simulation of an airliner that will keep you busy for months and for $90 seems really reasonable to me. Now, it's also true that the EULA for this product makes it essentially a "videogame". Get it certified, change that EULA to make it a professional training tool and sell it to the Training Schools for 100 or 1000 times the price.

 

Heck, I use CATIA every day for work and a license of that program costs some $100.000 a year.

 

In German you say "Qualität ist kein Zufall", (quality is no coincidence). And indeed it's not.

It's a free market. If people continue to purchase addons at high prices, then prices will continue to go up. Prices will only fall when there is competition or nobody is buying. With that said, quality has gone up considerably.

It's not a free market, it's a limited market with little options. And developing new airplanes and scenery takes years and many thousands of dollars, so someone cannot just easily jump in.

The q400 i think 3 years in development and still going even after release. Not a bad price considering.