6 hours ago, Wobbie said:

Using Steam cannot be any sort of benchmark at all, as there are many more out there that simply do not use any of the Steam sims.

I disagree. Using words like "many", "huge" and "vast" with nothing whatsoever to back them up are no benchmarks. There could be 30.000 FS9 enthusiasts, or there could just be 300 as well. In this day and net, a very vocal minority can make it seem like they represent a majority.

Mathematically, a definitive sample from a large and well-known total population is a valid baseline to draw conclusions from. In this case we are looking at a total of 180 million computer owners, and how many of them bought/downloaded a flightsim - both payware and freeware. The numbers and percentages gained from this will hold their own in every marketing conference on this planet. 

Best regards

46 minutes ago, nas123 said:

The listing of FS4 in the OT is a misprint. It should be FS 2004 as this is still used by many.

 

I have no idea how many, but Aerosoft stopped creating scenery for FS9 at one point because the sales were absolutely abysmal.

Ok, then an example could be finding out the total number of Steam users on a particular time period & the total flight simmers on that particular time frame.

That, at least, will give some sort of stats for that particular forum. Remember, there are simmers that got into simming years before the advent of Steam, so Steam stats are pretty much a small representative sample, & cannot be used as a baseline, as it is not representative of the sim market, no matter how.

Also trying to find the amount of simmers from the total PC population, well, ... best of luck there... 

9 minutes ago, Moonwolf said:

I have no idea how many, but Aerosoft stopped creating scenery for FS9 at one point because the sales were absolutely abysmal.

There is still much development in freeware & payware addons for FS2004, virtually on a daily basis. Obviously,  the vendors that stopped producing for FS2004 are following the money trail & their profits.

5 minutes ago, Wobbie said:

Obviously,  the vendors that stopped producing for FS2004 are following the money trail & their profits.

Interesting point.

How does a commercial developer or vendor that does not follow the money trail & their profits survive financially?

Obviously by cutting down on FS2004 products and moving to their other popular brands (FSX, P3D amongst other), where the money is. Just like Microsoft did, at the time, by closing down ACES, & concentrating on their other products.

Question skilfully avoided, well done.

Edited September 3, 20196 yr by Reader

We are legion and our numbers are growing😑

I  say more  than 1