So what happened to Navigraph survey results?

[GCBraun 2,392]

Most interesting points for me:

• XP11 is now the market leader, which is a HUGE shift just in one year;
• VR has also experienced a dramatic growth. More than 10% of FS users now have a VR headset with XP11 being, by far, the premier VR platform.

And this is coming from a provider (NAVIGRAPH) that is usually associated with tube-liners users that are more inclined, imho, to use P3D. Perhaps the real numbers are even more favorable to XP11?

 

Edited December 19, 2018 by GCBraun

[Ray Proudfoot 8,954]

9 minutes ago, GCBraun said:

Most interesting points for me:

• XP11 is now the market leader, which is a HUGE shift just in one year;

Not quite. It has sold more copies but the number of people using it on a regular basis is significantly fewer than P3D v4.

Edited December 19, 2018 by Ray Proudfoot

[simbol 5,819]

So, when all those FSX users move forward will they buy XP?

I don't think so, they will come to P3D..

This survey was also timed wrong, with P3D 4.4 out now supporting PBR results will shift quite rapidly.

The trick with these surveys us to understand how the market can be in the future, no the current or past position..

Regards 

Simbol 

[GCBraun 2,392]

9 minutes ago, simbol said:

So, when all those FSX users move forward will they buy XP?

I don't think so, they will come to P3D..

This survey was also timed wrong, with P3D 4.4 out now supporting PBR results will shift quite rapidly.

The trick with these surveys us to understand how the market can be in the future, no the current or past position..

Regards 

Simbol 

Well, XP11 had a dramatic growth from about 20% to more than 50% this year, so I assume a considerable part of that is from users leaving FSX. Please keep in mind that P3D is not available on Steam and is not directed to the entertainment market, which means that the younger audience is MUCH more inclined to start with XP (or even FSX) than with P3D. 

Even though I still use and love P3D, I believe it is hard to deny that XP11 represents a much better cost-benefit option for newcomers when compared to P3D.

As mentioned by the developer from Chaseplane, if this trend from 2017 and 2018 continues, XP11 will dominate the market soon. I really do hope that Lockheed Martin introduces a new engine in the next releases as currently it is hard coming back to P3D after using XP11/DCS...

Edited December 19, 2018 by GCBraun

[GCBraun 2,392]

34 minutes ago, Rob Ainscough said:

EDIT: what the heck is "Discord"?

Discord is a chatting tool for gamers/simmers where you can form different communities with neat functionalities such as voice-chat. It is similar to Slack, a tool that is more used by professionals.

Personally I use Discord a lot, mostly for DCS as it makes it easier to coordinate battle-plans with other pilots.

Edited December 19, 2018 by GCBraun

[ErichB 3,642]

I think if you had to break down usage, you'll probably find that most hard core users (tubeliner users etc) are by far P3D users (those that buy addons, and hardware etc). 

As you have rightly said, XP is also far more accessible to the casual gamer market via Steam, so it's little wonder that XP has seen significant growth (from those who have responded)

 

 

[GCBraun 2,392]

1 minute ago, ErichB said:

I think if you had to break down usage, you'll probably find that most hard core users (tubeliner users etc) are by far P3D users (those that buy addons, and hardware etc). 

As you have rightly said, XP is also far more accessible to the casual gamer market via Steam, so it's little wonder that XP has seen significant growth (from those who have responded)

 

 

Yes, but you gotta start somewhere. I have started with FS5.1 as a kid and was not until later in life that I could actually afford expensive add-ons. As the XP11 add-on market matures, I think those newcomers will, over the years, start to spend on the platform they know and love! That was the case with me with FSX/P3D. It was only recently that I have discovered XP10/11 and now am spending about 50% of what I buy there.

[ErichB 3,642]

6 minutes ago, GCBraun said:

Yes, but you gotta start somewhere. I have started with FS5.1 as a kid and was not until later in life that I could actually afford expensive add-ons. As the XP11 add-on market matures, I think those newcomers will, over the years, start to spend on the platform they know and love! That was the case with me with FSX/P3D. It was only recently that I have discovered XP10/11 and now am spending about 50% of what I buy there.

I agree with you.  .  Out of interest, what type of aircraft do you fly most in XP?  In my opinion, XP is a great GA sim but a horrid airliner sim.  I really do not like flying airliners in XP for a number of reasons.

I think many have been caught up in Zibo mod mania for the 737 so alot of new folks are cutting their teeth on the Zibo 737 - which makes sense.  

 

[GCBraun 2,392]

4 minutes ago, ErichB said:

I agree with you.  .  Out of interest, what type of aircraft do you fly most in XP?  In my opinion, XP is a great GA sim but a horrid airliner sim.  I really do not like flying airliners in XP for a number of reasons.

I think many have been caught up in Zibo mod mania for the 737 so alot of new folks are cutting their teeth on the Zibo 737 - which makes sense.

 

I agree, XP11 is still lacking in airliners. The FFA320 is pretty good, I would position it between the FSLabs and the Aerosoft, but it seems that development is halted and it does not fully support VR, so I am not using it that much. The IXEG is still the best airliner on XP11 for me and it is fully VR compatible.

The biggest advantage of XP11 in VR is, in my eyes, to allow the usage of the touch controllers to interact with the knobs and switches. It is really like having a home-cockpit for every single aircraft that I own. Therefore I only fly airplanes that have that functionality. Currently the TBM900 is, in my opinion, the best GA aircraft for any platform and it is the one add-on that I use the most in XP11.

I would also agree that the Zibo 737 is indeed one of the main reasons why XP11 is gaining traction. I mean, it is not on par with the NGX systems-wise, but it looks great, has a good flight-model and it is free!

[pracines 823]

9 hours ago, HighTowers said:

Seems rather low but put it to use in combo with other surveys from Aerosoft and Avsims very own, plus whoever else has micro surveys and it should give a bigger true picture.

Good point, excellent perspective.

Thanks Dave!🙂

[Guest]

28 minutes ago, GCBraun said:

Well, XP11 had a dramatic growth from about 20% to more than 50% this year, so I assume a considerable part of that is from users leaving FSX.

I agree with the XP11 growth but I wouldn't assume that is coming from users leaving FSX ... many of us are multi-platform.  Also keep in mind this survey was done before P3D V4.4 released that had significant updates with PBR and higher resolution PR and further draw distances.  If you look at 2.7.1 "most of the time" was P3D 40% XP11 30% ... but definitely some big changes from 2017 results.

There is more VR functionality in P3D at higher FPS, but I'm going to "guess" VR is higher on XP11 because of OrthoXP and "at the time" better resolution PR scenery so more a fit for VR flying.

The big concern for me is the annual software spending of $200 ... which doesn't seem to add up to what I know users say they have/use ... hmmm ... 

15,000 isn't bad for a survey, it provides enough of a snapshot.

Cheers, Rob.

Edited December 19, 2018 by Guest

[GCBraun 2,392]

Just now, Rob Ainscough said:

The big concern for me is the annual software spending of $200 ... which doesn't seem to add up to what I know users say the have/use ... hmmm ... 

Yes, that seems like a very low number, especially because it is a Navigraph survey and I assume that most users have their subscription. That costs around 90 EUR per year already...

[simbol 5,819]

26 minutes ago, GCBraun said:

Well, XP11 had a dramatic growth from about 20% to more than 50% this year, so I assume a considerable part of that is from users leaving FSX. Please keep in mind that P3D is not available on Steam and is not directed to the entertainment market, which means that the younger audience is MUCH more inclined to start with XP (or even FSX) than with P3D. 

Even though I still use and love P3D, I believe it is hard to deny that XP11 represents a much better cost-benefit option for newcomers when compared to P3D.

As mentioned by the developer from Chaseplane, if this trend from 2017 and 2018 continues, XP11 will dominate the market soon. I really do hope that Lockheed Martin introduces a new engine in the next releases as currently it is hard coming back to P3D after using XP11/DCS...

I am giving my opinion of what I see from being a developer for Flying Simulation.

Since the release of P3D 4.4 my freeware downloads increased by 30 new users a day, all of which are coming from FSX.

Oddly enough, I get around 1 to 3 XP users a month which email me asking if I can develop my tools for XP, which after explaining to them it is not possible as the SDK provided for XPLANE is too weak, they end up using PD3 instead just to enjoy my effects.

So, I am using my facts and this survey information in predicting that most of FSX users will continue to shift towards P3D, specially when Lockheed Martin just keep making their platform and SDK much better and stronger every day.

Best wishes,

Simbol 

[dmarques69 316]

53 minutes ago, GCBraun said:

Most interesting points for me:

• XP11 is now the market leader, which is a HUGE shift just in one year;

 

Not yet, but is going to, no doubt about that, this year was awesome for x-plane and the future is very promising.

[GCBraun 2,392]

3 minutes ago, simbol said:

I am giving my opinion of what I see from being a developer for Flying Simulation.

Since the release of P3D 4.4 my freeware downloads increased by 30 new users a day, all of which are coming from FSX.

Oddly enough, I get around 1 to 3 XP users a month which email me asking if I can develop my tools for XP, which after explaining to them it is not possible as the SDK provided for XPLANE is too weak, they end up using PD3 instead just to enjoy my effects.

So, I am using my facts and this survey information in predicting that most of FSX users will continue to shift towards P3D, specially when Lockheed Martin just keep making their platform and SDK much better and stronger every day.

Best wishes,

Simbol 

That is great! As I mentioned earlier, I do enjoy competition and I am an user of both platforms, so having a 50/50 market division is perfect for me. 😄