Just because 65% of Orbx customers use Prepar3D doesn't me they represent the majority of simmers... just the majority of Orbx customers is all.  Statistics are all totally relative and not even remotely definitive because there is always a human factor that wants to skew the data towards favorable results.

22 minutes ago, WarpD said:

Just because 65% of Orbx customers use Prepar3D doesn't me they represent the majority of simmers... just the majority of Orbx customers is all.  Statistics are all totally relative and not even remotely definitive because there is always a human factor that wants to skew the data towards favorable results.

Finally some logic.  At first your brain just reads "oh, 65 % of simmers use P3D."  But then you realize that just 65% of Orbx customers use P3D.  A big difference.  

Now the real question!  Do consumers purchase P3D for use of Orbx sceneries (because let's be frank here - OOM's and Orbx go hand in hand)?  Or maybe that many more Orbx simmers are switching to P3D ?

also I don't think I'm going far out on a limb when I say many hardcore simmers own Orbx sceneries.  So perhaps their results are indicative of hardcore simmers moving to P3D (and likely P3D v4).

finally any poll from a forum imo is only targeting hard core simmers.  There are likely hundreds of thousands who own a copy of FSX or FS steam who never touch a forum

1 hour ago, ryanbatcund said:

There are likely hundreds of thousands who own a copy of FSX or FS steam who never touch a forum

And most of them never touch an add-on. 

Another interesting usage (sales?) statistic, shared in Aerosoft forum last week, as justification of AN-2 being P3DV4 only;

Interesting results from the Aerosoft poll, which I think is more representative of the FS community as a whole. XP platform with almost 20% of the market is quite impressive. Of course, I assume this percentage is even higher, considering that just very recently Aerosoft seems to be focusing more on XP releases.

I am happy overall to upgrade, yet find myself simming a lot less because I have a tight budget, and all my PMDG licenses for all their planes for fsx are not compatible with p3d. I bought one, the 777, for p3d, hoping to buy the 737 sometime early next year. If you have the money, upgrade!

16 hours ago, SmokeDiddy said:

I'd like to see a graph of highest to lowest selling ORBX sceneries...  Just to get a feel what sceneries are more popular.  Of course FTX Global is pretty much a required component to P3D, but I'd like to see how their airport sceneries fall in popularity I guess.

When I look at VATSIM I gotta asume that LOWI is the top airport :-)

2 hours ago, tgcbraun said:

Of course, I assume this percentage is even higher, considering that just very recently Aerosoft seems to be focusing more on XP releases.

This is plainly wrong. Aerosoft has been the one single all-round flightsim company (except a few XP-only makers) targeting on XP before all the others jumped train. They made the XP10/11 tin boxes, provided for e.g. German translations of the manual, integrated some of their addons into the tin box and delivered airport and plane addons. They have been marketing it via their flyer as the "Flight simulator of the future" on the title page and on the first pages, ahead of even FSX, for years.

Aerosoft has been disregarding Prepar3d for several years in relation to XP and even been hostile towards it over the first years. If you don't believe me make a glace through their older forums threads which I have been following closely for years. Only now did they discover it's the market leader.

I would clearly state the Aerosoft results are biased towards XP and not against it.

On the other hand, the ORBX figure is certainly biased towards Prepar3d as they promoted it from the very beginning, providing free upgrades over all versions so far, which has been a high level of support encouraging folks to make the switch.

Kind regards, Michael

Carlo,

 

20 hours ago, carlito777 said:

I would assume that the majority of users of FSX on Steam are not buying add-ons. They use vanilla FSX to play around a little bit. But for payware developers those users who actually buy add-ons are the relevant market. And it seems that based on Aerosoft's and Orbx's data this market is now >50% Prepar3d. In addition, I would assume that the per user spend on add-ons is significantly higher for Prepar3d users than for others. So it absolutly makes sense to focus on this segment of the market.

But I'm sure it won't take long for someone to jump in and claim that FS2004 still has a significant market share... LOL...

Thats me I am afraid. 

I did a survey and the respondents (1) indicated to me that 100 percent of simmers are FS2004.

What makes me wonder is the fact that I have ORBX products for P3Dv4. I do NOT use them because (as I frequently state on this forum and others) I cannot fly using 6 monitors as I can with FS2004. I am therefore automatically contributing to ORBX figures. Not that this matters to me, but, as is frequently stated "statistics can show exactly what someone wants them to show"

What matters is that we individually feel good about what we have purchased. I do not feel badly about paying for ORBX for P3Dv4 as the purchase was an experiment in the first place and that experiment did not really work for me.

I personally believe that (at the moment) there are two really relevant flight sim platforms and they are P3dv4 and Xplane. The others have their devotees and good luck to them. It is all about individual preferences.

There is probably more than one reason for the publication of the ORBX figures but,other than retail advertising, I cannot think of many more. It certainly encourages some people to think that maybe they are on the right or wrong bandwagon and therefore may (or may not) encourage further sales.

I am genuinely feeling that my comments are bordering on trolling here, but everyone has a reason for their preferences.

Mine is monitors and I freely admit that. I would absolutely love to be flying with the big boys on P3Dv4 all the time. FS2004 has some severe disadvantages BUT it does satisfy MY sense of immersion.

Apologies for constant repitition and thanks for listening

Tony

I can deduce that 99% of ORBX customers sim in FSX/FSX Steam/P3D platforms.

They cater to almost everyone.

1 hour ago, himmelhorse said:

I did a survey and the respondents (1) indicated to me that 100 percent of simmers are FS2004.

There are SO MANY flightsimmers who are using FSX-SE (younger, new hobbyists) and FS2004 (more mature, experienced hobbyists) who do not frequent forums, do not buy high end addons, and are not represented in ANY of these polls.

I know FSX-SE users in the MIL subculture, the only add-on they have EVER purchased is the FSX version of VRS Superbug.

10 minutes ago, Henry Street said:

There are SO MANY flightsimmers who are using FSX-SE (younger, new hobbyists) and FS2004 (more mature, experienced hobbyists) who do not frequent forums, do not buy high end addons, and are not represented in ANY of these polls.

I know FSX-SE users in the MIL subculture, the only add-on they have EVER purchased is the FSX version of VRS Superbug.

Hi Folks,

Yep - concur - but honestly - if they're not buying addons they really don't need to be counted - I think the purpose of most of these polls and stats is to help payware developers decide where to expend their efforts... It seems now - many are choosing to leave FSX giving the same reason given to FS9 users when FSX was king - it's too restrictive developing for older sims...

Regards,

Scott

8 minutes ago, Henry Street said:

There are SO MANY flightsimmers who are using FSX-SE (younger, new hobbyists) and FS2004 (more mature, experienced hobbyists) who do not frequent forums, do not buy high end addons, and are not represented in ANY of these polls.

Emphasis added. And that’s why, if the question is “where are high-end developers going?” it doesn’t make sense to really spend much time looking at that market segment. They’re not an active part of the ongoing add on market.

James

3 hours ago, pmb said:

On the other hand, the ORBX figure is certainly biased towards Prepar3d as they promoted it from the very beginning, providing free upgrades over all versions so far, which has been a high level of support encouraging folks to make the switch.

This was one of the primary justifications (haha...for big mama to let loose some $$) for me switching from FSX-SE to P3Dv4...all my ORBX (tho I do not own that many ORBX sceneries) scenery would be ported over for free.  Not that I'm a cheap scape, but certainly anything that I wouldn't have to re-purchase was just another indicator that the time was right to make the switch.  I believe this is just another reason ORBX has a great following with simmers, not just that they make great scenery products, but they know exactly how to take care of their base and attract customers.

1 hour ago, scottb613 said:

Hi Folks,

Yep - concur - but honestly - if they're not buying addons they really don't need to be counted - I think the purpose of most of these polls and stats is to help payware developers decide where to expend their efforts... It seems now - many are choosing to leave FSX giving the same reason given to FS9 users when FSX was king - it's too restrictive developing for older sims...

Regards,

Scott

I am just trying to continue the emphasis that none of these surveys cannot be taken as good indicators of 1) the total number of simmers out there and 2) a reliable indicator of relative platform adoption among those unknown number of simmers.