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Worth investing in P3D addons or wait?

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Instead of asking yourself if it's worth or not buying "any" P3D add-ons now, you should ask yourself a different kind of questions:

1) Which developers have a track record of providing updates to use their existing products on a new sim platform ? Which one of them did it for free, or for a reasonable price ?

2) Which products could possibly become redundant in the new sim ? Which ones are likely to be still required ?

3) Which products are made in ways that would make them easy to port over ? ( nothing it's really "easy", but "not impossible", it's already a start ), for example by trying to stick to standard SDK/Simconnect practices and no strange hacks ?

4) Which products will be *worth* porting over in that brave new world of total photo-realism and full PBR ?

Mind you, I think know the answers to all 4, so this is really a trick question...

 

But let's consider some alternatives:

- if you stop buying products now, some developers might not be able to sustain themselves for what might possibly be a year, or more, without sales from existing AND upcoming products as well.

- Some other developers might be able to barely sustain themselves but, what you think it will happen, as soon they'll have something ready for the new sim ? Do you think they would be willing to let you "upgrade" for a reasonable price, after starving due to low sales for the past year ? Some of them might consider asking for some founding, who's going to pay the interest, if not future customers of future products ?

- instead, by continuing to buy existing products, developers doing stuff that satisfies the first 4 points, will be more likely to offer free/reasonably-price update paths, for something you bought only a few months before.

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The same as buying any game. I don’t not buy games because I won’t play them again in 12 months after I’ve finished them. If you are going to get a good experience and some vfm by buying a new plane, then do it imho. Not everything needs to be a sensible investment (which none of this is, really). 

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40 minutes ago, virtuali said:

Instead of asking yourself if it's worth or not buying "any" P3D add-ons now, you should ask yourself a different kind of questions:

I think this posting makes a lot of sense. Finally, it's everyone's decision and should be, but I for one will go on buying P3D addons as before. Perhaps I will think twice in the case of obscure makers I don't know, but I am pretty sure I'll have a lot of fun with the products to come from ORBX, FB, and - yes FSDT at least for a year. Plus, I am pretty sure these makers will provide a sensible upgrade path to MFS.

Kind regards, Michael

Edited by pmb

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I completely agree with the people saying we need to support the developers we like right now. I'll continue to buy aircraft I want until the new sim is out. I want those developers to make content for the new sim, and it's hard to do that if you were driven into bankruptcy because you didn't sell anything for a year.

The new sim is already going to drive developers out of business. If I were Orbx or any other scenery company I'd be very nervous right now, because if the default global scenery is as good as we're being told, there isn't going to be much reason to buy their stuff even after the new sim comes out.

But there will always be room for plane makers and utility addons, and I'd like to keep the good ones around. I would not like it if only Carenado survived to make planes for the new sim.

 

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1 hour ago, virtuali said:

But let's consider some alternatives:

- if you stop buying products now, some developers might not be able to sustain themselves for what might possibly be a year, or more, without sales from existing AND upcoming products as well.

- Some other developers might be able to barely sustain themselves but, what you think it will happen, as soon they'll have something ready for the new sim ? Do you think they would be willing to let you "upgrade" for a reasonable price, after starving due to low sales for the past year ? Some of them might consider asking for some founding, who's going to pay the interest, if not future customers of future products ?

- instead, by continuing to buy existing products, developers doing stuff that satisfies the first 4 points, will be more likely to offer free/reasonably-price update paths, for something you bought only a few months before.


I found the first 4 points to be quite valid.

But for the rest, i tend to disagree. I earn my money and i spend my money on things that i think will be worth it FOR ME. This is not a charity, and those developers you mentioned have been able to sustain and keep developing their product for two platforms which are very similar and share the same structure for the most part for years. Sometimes we forget about how FSX have been released 13 years ago.

We also saw, during those years, some developers who went and offered the same product for P3D without any rework at a bigger price even, hiding under the fact that P3D is supposed to be a "professional" sim.

Why should i, as a customer, trade a cash outflow with an uncertain promise or even hope that they might offer their products on another simulator for free or at a reasonable price of upgrading?

The point in favour of current developers is the following tho: MSFS is not next door yet, it will take time before it is released and if i enjoy the current simulator and addon offering, i still have months ahead to enjoy products i can buy right now.

Edited by france89
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4 hours ago, MarkW said:

p.s. The thing I am looking forward to the most is the contortions that PMDG, FSL and others will go through to justify their addon pricing at the same level as P3D even though MSFS is not a professional sim but an entertainment sim.  Should be fun!

I can tell you that I won't pay twice for the same product.

I didn't do it when i moved from FSX to P3D and I won't do it moving over to MFS. I just did without and purchased products I didn't have before.

The fact that their products will be able to be used in the new sim is enough compensation for the developers as it sustains their products and sales into the future.

What more could they ask for.

They could have just as easily had to start from scratch for the new sim while the sales of their current product lines died right along with the old sims.

 

 

 

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3 minutes ago, skully said:

I can tell you that I won't pay twice for the same product.

I will, although I don't blame people for feeling this way.  

When I bought the A2A Cherokee I got the bundle with FSX/P3D versions and didn't have to buy anything extra for P3Dv4.  I got the Cessna 172 for FSX but don't intend to buy an upgrade as I don't like the plane that much.  I'm still waiting for the J3 Cub and I have no problems buying it again.  I was using the FSX version in P3D2.5 without problems, although it wasn't supported.

The Carenado 337, on the other hand, when I had to download it for a new computer I discovered that the download had both FSX and P3D versions, including P3Dv4 included.  

If my favorite aircraft become available for MSFS and I have to buy them again, with our without a reduced upgrade pricing, I will.  I don't have a lot of favorite aircraft. 🙂 

Hook


Larry Hookins

 

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

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Personally I'm banking on an entirely new set of developers to shake up the market some. Some fresh blood and stiff competition is sure to do wonders for the stagnated addon market we've had for a decade.

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26 minutes ago, skully said:

I can tell you that I won't pay twice for the same product.

I didn't do it when i moved from FSX to P3D and I won't do it moving over to MFS. I just did without and purchased products I didn't have before.

The fact that their products will be able to be used in the new sim is enough compensation for the developers as it sustains their products and sales into the future.

What more could they ask for.

They could have just as easily had to start from scratch for the new sim while the sales of their current product lines died right along with the old sims.

 

 

 

 I have no problem purchasing an aircraft twice (in my case it may be the third time) if it gets it in to MSFS 2020...even if there are only minor updates to it.  I actually expect to pay and I don't begrudge the developers at all....they need to make a living and this sim is enough of a departure that I expect it will require significant work.  My only issue is if they try to push the P3D pricing levels on us and not the more typical FSX range of pricing.

Edited by MarkW

Mark W   CYYZ      

My Simhttps://goo.gl/photos/oic45LSoaHKEgU8E9

My Concorde Tutorial Videos available here:  https://www.youtube.com/user/UPS1000
 

 

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4 hours ago, F737NG said:


 

Correct!
This is why I'm still willing to spend some money on new P3D add-ons. For me, MFS will be excellent for GA flying and the odd IFR, but unless there's a 737, 787, Dash 8-400, or FSL-level A32x ready at launch, I will still use P3D to get my fix of payware scenery plus complex airliner flying.
When MFS is mature with a range of stable airliners, then will come the time to delete my current sim.

Actually I was just thinking about this further after I posted about how long it will take to get addons into MSFS 2020.  Even if a developer like PMDG could have everything ready to go on the release date it makes no sense for them from a marketing and sales support point of view to release all on day one.  They have to spread it out over some time just to be able to handle the support from what is likely to be many new simmers entering the space and they already know that most people are not in a position to drop $500 or more in one shot on their entire suite of aircraft.  This is going to be a slow burn....but a fun one!


Mark W   CYYZ      

My Simhttps://goo.gl/photos/oic45LSoaHKEgU8E9

My Concorde Tutorial Videos available here:  https://www.youtube.com/user/UPS1000
 

 

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3 minutes ago, MarkW said:

 I have no problem purchasing an aircraft twice (in my case it may be the third time) if it gets it in to MSFS 2020...even if there are only minor updates to it.  I actually expect to pay and I don't begrudge the developers at all....they need to make a living and this sim is enough of a departure that I expect it will require significant work.  My only issue is if they try to push the P3D pricing levels on us and not the more typical FSX range of pricing.

I don't begrudge any develop, i am friends with many of them.

If they had to start from scratch is one thing, a port over is something completely different.

Like I said above- MFS enabling previous legacy products to be ported over is fine compensation as the devs keep the sales of their product lines alive and far into the future.

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5 hours ago, LHookins said:

They've already had years to work on it, depending on when they got the heads-up and documentation.

Hook

Judging by the comments from people like RSR when the first announcement was made it seems like everyone was taken completely off guard and I doubt much preliminary work has been done.  Also keep in mind, under the old ecosystem each iteration of Flight Sim still took many months and years for the addons to be released.

Edited by MarkW

Mark W   CYYZ      

My Simhttps://goo.gl/photos/oic45LSoaHKEgU8E9

My Concorde Tutorial Videos available here:  https://www.youtube.com/user/UPS1000
 

 

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I know PMDG caught a bunch of heat for charging for p3d4 upgrades of their FSX/p3d1/3 planes. But they had to do work in order to make the v4 versions of those products, and the idea that they shouldn't be paid for their work is, honestly, asinine.

 

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3 minutes ago, eslader said:

I know PMDG caught a bunch of heat for charging for p3d4 upgrades of their FSX/p3d1/3 planes. But they had to do work in order to make the v4 versions of those products, and the idea that they shouldn't be paid for their work is, honestly, asinine.

 

They were paid generously for their work by being able to keep the sales of their products into the new simulator.

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