6 minutes ago, rjfry said:

This is why I think it will be streamed and need a game pass the development income will come from that and not third party`s, third party`s will sell direct to the users and your PC will link to the sim.

Well, since they are planning to deliver this to XBOX too in the future, it means the only way forward to deliver 3rd party content must be via the Windows store as otherwise you would be unable to provide add-on's for any XBOX user in the future.

S.

2 minutes ago, simbol said:

Well, since they are planning to deliver this to XBOX too in the future, it means the only way forward to deliver 3rd party content must be via the Windows store as otherwise you would be unable to provide add-on's for any XBOX user in the future.

S.

In the XBOX case they may well take a cut like steam do for flight sim addons.

I for one would really appreciate if MS would restrict third party addons to a centralized platform, even if that means that some might not want to develop for the new sim at all. Of course they should charge a reasonable percentage which wouldn't hold off too many developers.

If there's one thing I hate about our current widespread addon ecosystem, it's the fact that I constantly have to check developer homepages, forums, discords, facebook, twitter, FS news sites etc. just to keep informed about updates and new addons.

 

Edited June 26, 20196 yr by Airboeing

13 minutes ago, Airboeing said:

Understandable, but I think that many people prefer to purchase from one place in order to easily manage downloads, updates etc. I would rather buy from "my" main store than directly from the developer, even if the addon might cost 5% more there.

In my experience I'm not the only one with this preference, so if we assume that for every addon sold on your website, you could sell two through Simmarket, you might still make more money at the end of the month.

I know and this is true, however if you really like a add-on and it is not available anywhere else you would probably end up buying it. IE: ORBX sells all using their own FTX Central, PRO-ATC only sells via their own website, Radar Contact sells only via their own website, etc.

So you are right, if you are building airports or highly competitive add-on's you need to use SimmMarket as otherwise your sales figures would probably not be as good, and perhaps this is the reason why Simmarket put their cut share so high as they know how the system works and somehow I feel bullied by the situation as all sim stores are pushing their commission levels way too high for what they offer in exchange.

Having said all that, one of the most promising things of MS2020 for developers is that we all could sell our products using a single platform with a much higher user base and a much simpler delivering process. The only caveat / concerns at the moment is how much cut they will ask for it.

S.

Edited June 26, 20196 yr by simbol

24 minutes ago, Airboeing said:

I for one would really appreciate if MS would restrict third party addons to a centralized platform, even if that means that some might not want to develop for the new sim at all. Of course they should charge a reasonable percentage which wouldn't hold off too many developers.

If there's one thing I hate about our current widespread addon ecosystem, it's the fact that I constantly have to check developer homepages, forums, discords, facebook, twitter, FS news sites etc. just to keep informed about updates and new addons.

 

The problem who is going to support the addons on XBOX not Microsoft , they are not going to have customers ranting at them for a addon that does not measure up to the customers expectations. 

Even SimMarket do not support the product they sell.

Edited June 26, 20196 yr by rjfry

23 minutes ago, Airboeing said:

I for one would really appreciate if MS would restrict third party addons to a centralized platform, even if that means that some might not want to develop for the new sim at all. Of course they should charge a reasonable percentage which wouldn't hold off too many developers.

If there's one thing I hate about our current widespread addon ecosystem, it's the fact that I constantly have to check developer homepages, forums, discords, facebook, twitter, FS news sites etc. just to keep informed about updates and new addons.

 

Sorry, what a dumb idea. We need to have choices of what we want to buy, & where. You seem to have forgotten about freeware developers. Not everyone can afford payware, & there are plenty of freeware developers that have add-ons better than payware (Milton, Shessi etc.), not forgetting scenery developers. Methinks that the guys advocating a centralized add-on platform are payware developers that want a closed shop.

Dont be lazy in looking for info. Thank goodness we have a choice in perusing the various forums out there. Each offer different ideas & thoughts. As, I'm sure you are aware, there are also 'foreign' sites that offer forums & downloads that do not appear anywhere else. 

So, no, I, for one, would appreciate an open market, & freedom of choice!

 

8 minutes ago, Wobbie said:

Dont be lazy in looking for info.

Well, I'd love to, but I only have very limited time for my hobbies. I can usually fly one or two hours a week, and not even every week. And this already includes flight planing, "maintaining" the sim and addons etc., so I really appreciate every minute that I don't have to hunt for news and info.

It's the same for games. If it's not available on Steam, I'll usually not buy it.

Also, freeware addons and a centralized platform are not mutually exclusive. The Steam Workshop shows how it can be done.

Edited June 26, 20196 yr by Airboeing

1 minute ago, Airboeing said:

 

Well, I'd love to, but I only have very limited time for my hobbies. I can usually fly one or two hours a week, and not even every week. And this already includes flight planing, "maintaining" the sim and addons etc., so I really appreciate every minute that I don't have to hunt for news and info.

It's the same for games. If it's not available on Steam, I'll usually not buy it.

There are, I'm sure, quite a few of us, that actually do have time to read the forums & read whats going on within their hobby, as well as even connecting with like minded simmers. I, for one, have become a beta tester (aircraft & scenery) for quite a few guys, just by chatting on forums, & by being part of different simming communities.  

I don't think freeware developers will have much interest in the new sim I don't see Microsoft allowing it near the XBOX without security checks.  

1 minute ago, Wobbie said:

There are, I'm sure, quite a few of us, that actually do have time to read the forums & read whats going on within their hobby, as well as even connecting with like minded simmers. I, for one, have become a beta tester (aircraft & scenery) for quite a few guys, just by chatting on forums, & by being part of different simming communities.   

I see no reason why news, information, forums etc. should cease to be available elsewhere. I just would like a central place to go for purchases, downloads, updates, check for new releases etc.

38 minutes ago, simbol said:

So you are right, if you are building airports or highly competitive add-on's you need to use SimmMarket as otherwise your sales figures would probably not be as good, and perhaps this is the reason why Simmarket put their cut share so high as they know how the system works and somehow I feel bullied by the situation as all sim stores are pushing their commission levels way too high for what they offer in exchange.

Having said all that, one of the most promising things of MS2020 for developers is that we all could sell our products using a single platform with a much higher user base and a much simpler delivering process. The only caveat / concerns at the moment is how much cut they will ask for it.

It's understandable why developers are concerned about commission levels, no-one knows what demand there will be for their product and are using current sales levels as the basis of their judgement.

If your product is good enough and cheap enough, the sheer volume of gamers *should* bring you a profit well in excess of what you currently can make from your own site or from the resellers - even if Microsoft charge crazy commission figures.

It's still guesswork time, but hopefully being on Microsoft's store will be a paradigm shift for all interested developers.

Its got nothing to do with Xbox, Add-ins are normally downloaded, then added into the sim that is normally on your PC. Does Google really care what gets side-loaded onto Android phones? Also, you actually cannot speak for freeware developers, or their interests, at this (unknown) stage of the game.

You are right Google don't really care what gets side loaded that why I wound not touch one running on Android, and its also why Google are having problems with data collecting, and the use of with some country's and the EU  

The XBOX version will be a different version PC users get. Probably a cut down and trimmed action adventure. This is not unusual but common. 

Lets take for example Cities Skylines - a game that really shines through mods. And there are millions of them. I alone have 50+ mods and 3000+!!! assets subscribed through steam workshop.

None of these are available for the console versions.

And MS knows that somebody who buys MSFS on XBOX will not do flightplanning for an hour, fly SID/STARS or simulate a 8hr flight. The XBOX kids will want to start the game fly a round above a city, maybe crash into a skyscraper, and then go back to Call of Duty.

No the availabilty of the XBOX version does not mean anything for the freeware creators.

 

1 minute ago, DaWu said:

The XBOX version will be a different version PC users get. Probably a cut down and trimmed action adventure. This is not unusual but common. 

Lets take for example Cities Skylines - a game that really shines through mods. And there are millions of them. I alone have 50+ mods and 3000+!!! assets subscribed through steam workshop.

None of these are available for the console versions.

And MS knows that somebody who buys MSFS on XBOX will not do flightplanning for an hour, fly SID/STARS or simulate a 8hr flight. The XBOX kids will want to start the game fly a round above a city, maybe crash into a skyscraper, and then go back to Call of Duty.

No the availabilty of the XBOX version does not mean anything for the freeware creators.

 

Again, huge generalisations. You know that many, many people own both pcs and xboxes/ playstations right? If the performance on Xbox ends up being better on Xbox than my pc (unless I feel like dropping a couple of grand on upgrades), and the game is the same, I may well end up buying it on Xbox. Does that mean I’m just going forget what I enjoy doing on a pc flight simulator (which includes flight planning), just because of the system it’s on?