Crowdfunding potential

[vegasjon 39]

I was wondering what the possibility may be for a crowdfunded -developed aircraft, or if you think PMDG would consider it... Lets say us as a community and supporters of PMDG talent could say, choose to have them develop a 787, do you think it would get enough support to get considered? I don't know how much it costs PMDG to do create an air frame, but it would be neat to get a rough estimate of the costs and market potential for something like that. 

I was comparing it to something along the lines of Roberts Space Industries, a space sim that has been in development for some time that stated out with crowd sourced funds..They were able to raise quite a lot of cash for the games development. I see so many of us in here every day talking about how much we love our PMDG fleet, the support I see we provide each other, as well as the input from PMDG that it's quite an impressive community in size and scope. What do you think?

[Hoang 108]

Nope! As much as I hate to admit it, it aint happen. As PMDG stated over and over again. The community here is relatively very small compare to the amount of  PMDG customers.

And I bet lots of people said they support the project, but when it comes to crowdfunding...you will be amazed! People already get frustrated when they have to pay 5$ or so for P3DV4 update on some products, do you think they will pay twice the price for one product? 

Hoang Le

[scandinavian13 5,192]

No.

[PMDG777 231]

31 minutes ago, vegasjon said:

I was wondering what the possibility may be for a crowdfunded -developed aircraft, or if you think PMDG would consider it... Lets say us as a community and supporters of PMDG talent could say, choose to have them develop a 787, do you think it would get enough support to get considered? I don't know how much it costs PMDG to do create an air frame, but it would be neat to get a rough estimate of the costs and market potential for something like that. 

I was comparing it to something along the lines of Roberts Space Industries, a space sim that has been in development for some time that stated out with crowd sourced funds..They were able to raise quite a lot of cash for the games development. I see so many of us in here every day talking about how much we love our PMDG fleet, the support I see we provide each other, as well as the input from PMDG that it's quite an impressive community in size and scope. What do you think?

The problem with crowd funding is that people start trying to control PMDG and force them to do this that and the next thing, the list of wants gets bigger and people get upset when they get told no. Not to mention everyone who has crowd-funded will automatically expect to be a beta tester and get early access to the product (when in reality a tiny handful of these people will actually provide useful feedback). They'll also be expecting the product for free because they funded it.

Plus, what happens if it takes too long or never reaches the required goal (or if the goal is actually way more than we think, say like $1,000,000)? Does the project get cancelled? Then there's the issue of trying to refund everyone what they chipped in and so on and so forth.

TLDR; more trouble than it's worth and whatever PMDG announces next will be fantastic and we'll all buy it and love it.

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Gents,

You guys already crowd-fund our projects, by purchasing them when we are finished.

I realize that crowd funding is the sexy new thing currently, just like pay-to-beta was a sexy new thing ten years ago.  A TON of people in this community got screwed out of their money by unscrupulous developers who wanted the money up-front in exchange for work they promised would happen later- and never did.

I am personally very uncomfortable with holding money that we haven't earned.  I think it is a dangerous slope.

I MUCH prefer that we put a product on the market that we have put our heart and soul into developing so that you can buy it on release day, without being concerned about poor product quality, shortcuts or disappointment.

Call me old fashioned, but that is my view of the world.  It has worked very well for PMDG thus far, and I hope it continues to benefit all of us for many years to come.

 

[anden145 2,273]

+1 Robert... Crowd funding can be good for certain projects. But it's indeed a dangerous slope.

[Avantime 81]

Crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo are great at judging consumer preferences, as the customer is quite literally paying from his/her own wallet. If the developer is reputable and has a good track record of timely development & cost control, I can potentially see this as a great way of getting stuff made, and not end up with more difficult-to-sell products like the MD-11. 

I've seen Chinese factories do nothing but rip off successful Kickstarter projects, simply because they see it as proof that there's a market out there.

[Ioan92 63]

What if some millionaire bought a 787 and shipped it to PMDG's hometown?

Would that work?

[icemarkom 59]

It would probably have to be a billionaire, since millionaire most likely can't afford a 787. #trescomas