Hi! Folks,

 

More news about A320-X P3D version:

 

From  Lefteris Kalamaras:

 

Hello all,

 

once again the simming community has taken us by surprise with the love, support and understanding it has so generously given our A320-X product, which is our first major release after six years of hard work, immense amounts of complexity in coding and several months of putting away everything else important in our lives to get things as smooth as possible in our first RTM release.

For that, our entire team has to say a HUGE thank you!

 

You all are making it worth while!

 

We are getting some tremendous feedback that you are loving our A320-X, reviewers are already asking very esoteric questions and it seems that everyone is very anxious to see what comes next!

As I've already hinted in the past, the FSX version is only the first step in a multi tier release plan. So far, we've managed a very successful EA launch with (lots more than expected) Early Adopters embracing and ensuring installer issues were identified and corrected (where necessary) but also fixed where the installer needed to be fixed, and then an equally (in fact, more) successful launch of the FSX RTM version (v1.0.1.172) followed by another release today (.173) which fixes a few issues that we identified and needed to get done.

 

What comes next?

 

Well- we're still allocating resources into fixing small issues people are identifying - first priority will always be CTDs and "immersion-breaking" issues, but other niggles are getting fixed left and right as well. We anticipate this might take a few more days still and we are possibly looking forward to a Spotlights update which should fix issues identified for a few Win8.1 users and some DX9 problems (mostly in switching from windowed to full screen, or selecting menus etc).

In between those, different members of the team are taking a few deserved days off (not all at the same time) as we've been burning the candle from both ends for what seems like years now.

Once the team has everyone back, we'll be starting the P3D beta testing - the product is in awesome shape as we've been working with P3D in parallel (as Andy explained in his interview with Matt Davies here) but it will require proper beta testing by our incredible beta testing team (they've all volunteered to keep at it - they are great). I anticipate that this should start asap (as soon as our team has caught its breath) but I can't tell how long it will last - it could be a few weeks, or it could be a couple months - this is in flux also because the underlying P3D platform is also a living breathing organism, getting updates frequently as well.

 

P3D versions

 

As explained in my previous updates and posts, the first step in our P3D road map is to release the "equivalent" version to our FSX A320-X product line. I've previously called it the "entertainment" version, but that title is hardly appropriate given the complexity of the current v1.0 status . We're also working on the more advanced "pro-level" versions, but we're not ready to disclose any info on this just yet.

 

Pricing

 

We expect the price of the "first level" P3D A320-X to be approximately US$30-40 more than the FSX one - and this is what all FSX customers will have to pay to upgrade to it, while at the same time maintaining both licenses. FSLabs is not in the business of exchanging or revoking previously purchased licenses. If you owned the FSX version, you'll still own it after buying the upgrade for P3D.

 

When will it come

 

When it's ready and fully beta tested. Not a moment earlier. As I said above, it could be a few weeks or a couple months, but we're not looking into long development cycles here - it's just a matter of ensuring all works OK in P3D as well.

 

I am desperate what do I do in the meantime - I want my A320-X for P3D!

 

Yes, we want to give it to you as well. Want to help us? The final price will be "FSX+upgrade", so if you really want to enjoy it today, buy the FSX version and then upgrade when the time comes, it will not cost you more to buy the standalone P3D version then anyway, so waiting it out makes no difference for you. If you've since deleted FSX, the Steam edition is frequently on sale for 5 Euros (or pounds or dollars) so the cost is negligible.

---

We're here to answer all your questions always so please feel free to post them - just remember, please do not antagonize each other, there's no reason for doing that, we're all hobbyists trying to enjoy the most out of the "most advanced simulator aircraft add-on there is today" (as many of our customers already so eloquently phrased it).

 

Thank you all for reading!

 

Source: http://forums.flightsimlabs.com/index.php?/topic/8097-an-update-what-will-happen-next/

Why not just post the link?

Excellent news for P3D users, and good move by FSL making both licences available for just the upgrade price. I dont doubt the complexity justifies the asking price but for the time I have to invest, that price plus tax is out of my range :( For those who do pick it up, please post lots of screenies and videos so I can enjoy it vicariously!

I only purchased it for FSX because of the upgrade price to P3D means I pay no more extra then if I only got it for P3D Gives me a little time to play around while I wait. Glad I did. She is a real beauty.  

Can they clarify why the P3D version costs so much more? That really bugs me. I can understand having separate licenses because P3D is a differing platform and it's being updated vs. FSX's loooong stagnant code base... but why make the P3D version cost more, especially if they're both the "entertainment" versions?

I believe they've said before that the cost of indemnity insurance for P3D sales is a lot higher.

Wouldn't that be with the assumption that the customers in question are "professional clients" that have much higher support costs associated with them? They're selling it as an entertainment product... I'm sick of developers jumping on the "it's P3D so it must be more expensive because PROFESSIONAL!" bandwagon when we ALL know that 99% of P3D add on sales are just home users.

 

The more we condone this practice, more and more developers will see it as OK and everything developed for P3D will have that higher cost, "just because."

Wouldn't that be with the assumption that the customers in question are "professional clients" that have much higher support costs associated with them? They're selling it as an entertainment product... I'm sick of developers jumping on the "it's P3D so it must be more expensive because PROFESSIONAL!" bandwagon when we ALL know that 99% of P3D add on sales are just home users.

 

The more we condone this practice, more and more developers will see it as OK and everything developed for P3D will have that higher cost, "just because."

+1

Wouldn't that be with the assumption that the customers in question are "professional clients" that have much higher support costs associated with them? They're selling it as an entertainment product... I'm sick of developers jumping on the "it's P3D so it must be more expensive because PROFESSIONAL!" bandwagon when we ALL know that 99% of P3D add on sales are just home users.

 

The more we condone this practice, more and more developers will see it as OK and everything developed for P3D will have that higher cost, "just because."

I don't know why fslabs calls it an entertainment version.

 

However, even though as you say "99% of us use it as entertainment," it's on a platform that is still used for things other than entertainment. This may be the reason for insurance. It doesn't matter how you use it, it matters what platform it's sold under and how that platform is to be used. Which means that because they are using a non entertainment platform, they have to insure it as such. All because p3d isn't and never will be sold or licensed for entertainment. Because that's the case, they may have to insure it as such and pay extra costs. At the end of the day, it's not their problem how you use their product. That's your business. They're only concern is to cover their butts.

 

Having said that, I'm no expert. Just drawing conclusions off of forum talk. Hahaha

 

Another justification of higher pricing is the evolving P3d software. If a business has to continually invest time and money into a product to keep it running on a certain platform, I don't see it as a problem for how they are charging more for that extra continual work. FSX doesn't have that issue.

 

Food for thought...

FSX is static and dead at this point. They can just fix the bugs and be done with it.

 

P3D on the other hand its a moving target. What will happen whn p3d 3.4 goes out if isnt compatible with the airbus? we expect them to fix it. and that will continue with every p3d release. just look at the Q400. nearly every P3D release needs a patch. 

Just thinking out loud here, P3D doesn't have to be an evolving product if you dont want to update.  When you buy a version you can choose to stay on that version and it wont change.  There are plenty of people still using P3D v2 so why not sell it as the same price as FSX version and give people the option to pay for an updated version if they update there sim?

Just thinking out loud here, P3D doesn't have to be an evolving product if you dont want to update.  When you buy a version you can choose to stay on that version and it wont change.  There are plenty of people still using P3D v2 so why not sell it as the same price as FSX version and give people the option to pay for an updated version if they update there sim?

 

The logistics of that would be complicated.  Also, FSLabs is a small team, that have made a significant investment into a product, and they're entitled to charge whatever they feel is fair for their product.

 

I'll be glad to pay the $140 once it's released for P3D as I will have plenty of flights I want to do on the A320.  If it's not fair for you (don't need the features, don't fly it enough, not worth the money to you), then you can always get the Aerosoft version, it's spoken of in very good terms.

The logistics of that would be complicated.  Also, FSLabs is a small team, that have made a significant investment into a product, and they're entitled to charge whatever they feel is fair for their product.

 

I'll be glad to pay the $140 once it's released for P3D as I will have plenty of flights I want to do on the A320.  If it's not fair for you (don't need the features, don't fly it enough, not worth the money to you), then you can always get the Aerosoft version, it's spoken of in very good terms.

and the license is for FSX, FSX-SE and P3D, but it is a question of value for money and what you expect from the program.

For me the Aerosoft is fine, I do not want more complexity.

OK, folks, please, let's not get into another pricing debate here.  That horse has already been beaten into the hereafter in other threads.  The stated topic of this thread is what's ahead for the add-on.

 

Regards

Beat me to it Bob!   :smile:

 

 

Vic