26 minutes ago, Lorby_SI said:

Which one of the two would you choose if your income depended on it

The one that gives the required tools for my product. There is no reason to stop using one or another.

But right now I cannot commit, take decisions and make promises to anybody until I see what this new platform SDK will allow me to do.

Until then all we have is hope. You never do business decisions based on hope, that is like gambling.

S.

20 hours ago, Skywolf said:

what is "u" anyway

"u" stand for U pay for it again.  

1 hour ago, Lorby_SI said:

From my point of view that doesn't make any difference. An addon company with failing sales has to make a decision now, not at some arbitrary point in the future that may or may not come to pass.

In any case, even if there is a V5, we are looking at two new platforms then: MSFS with millions of potential users, marketed directly and in force at the end users by Microsoft itself, and P3D V5 with a fraction of that user base, hidden away behind license restrictions and general, intentional lack of publicity. Which one of the two would you choose if your income depended on it?

Best regards

 

From your point of view I understand it completely.

And I will be amongst the first people to buy MSFS

7 hours ago, bbain1187 said:

Let's be real here. We all love and support P3D but there is a 0% chance of that happening. 

LM has a strong know-how in AI including imagery analysis, access to a huge library of sat imagery (Maxxar etc.), wide intellectual expertise in aeronautics. If they want to mobilize their resources, I have no doubt that they can do  as well as Asobo. But do they ? What do they feel their main markets expect ? 

7 hours ago, GSalden said:

P3D has left the building ....

Just kidding...😀

LM is continuing with the development of P3D and it may well be that V5 looks as good as MSFS will. 
About V5 I know nothing yet but that they are investing in the sim I do know as they are asking for a multi media design professional in the UK.

http://www.prepar3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6305&t=135063

So if the “PMDG is going to MSFS”  dust is gone we can go back to our daily Flightsimming ...

As far as I know, LM provided betas early on, even more if version 5 is about to excel with a host of new features. Of course I wouldn't expect anyone of the beta team to spill the beans on it. However, I am sure Mr. Randazzo would have a beta and would at least have stated he'll develop for Prepar3d in the future, if this would be an option.

The fact he didn, can either mean there isn't a beta available (to him) yet or it's not convincing enough compared to MFS. In the first case there is a chance it will come after MFS. In both cases the mass of "Academic" users will migrate to MFS.

I said this in another thread and was told Prepar3d and MFS are apples an peaches. They may be, but I still stand to my argument.

Kind regards, Michael

4 minutes ago, pmb said:

Mr. Randazzo would have a beta and would at least have stated he'll develop for Prepar3d in the future, if this would be an option

They are not part of LM beta as far as I am aware. Never seen them inside the beta forums.

S.

3 minutes ago, simbol said:

They are not part of LM beta as far as I am aware. Never seen them inside the beta forums.

S.

This negates my argument indeed. Thanks for the hint, Simbol,

Kind regards,. Michael

 

PMDG, like other developers do not exist by not earning any money..

So MSFS = new sales

P3D = the same as it is now

As I said elsewhere, PMDG does a strategic review twice a year and is now most probably in negociation with MS. Whatever T. Randazzo says these days about their focus on FS20 is to be taken with precaution. 

Reading the job specs and looking at the LM unit involved, I wouldn't draw any conclusion either from the recruiting of a "multimedia professional".  

As for the Academic users fleeing en masse to FS20,  we dont know anything about v5 and really not much about FS20 (price, hardware requirements, ability to deliver a fluid and bug-free experience etc.). The teasers are extremely promising, thats all.  

11 minutes ago, GSalden said:

PMDG, like other developers do not exist by not earning any money..

So MSFS = new sales

P3D = the same as it is now

And "now" IMHO isn't good. Since the announcement of MSFS my own sales have gone down by 90%. Even if PMDG is not affected the same way, I am willing to bet that they are affected somehow - and that their current move is a strategic one to keep the cash flowing. They cannot wait and see what happens, their employees want their money every month either way. All developers need to decide if they continue their current projects, throwing costly effort at products with uncertain market potential, or if they close shop, do something else, re-tool for a different platform, carry on and hope, ... whatever. Pretending that MSFS doesn't exist and denying its market potential is not the ideal approach IMO.

Best regards

Yep, very, very, difficult times.

Specially when the next platform is only on Alpha and you have no tools or proper visibility to be certain you will be able to work with it.

But for the reason above it would be also wrong to promise customers that you can port software to it as It would be irresponsible. It doesn't mean we are ignoring the potential, what it means is, we don't know what we can do. Simple put, it is too early. This is why most 3rd party developers are silent.

We can only wait.

Simbol 

10 minutes ago, simbol said:

Yep, very, very, difficult times.

Specially when the next platform is only on Alpha and you have no tools or proper visibility to be certain you will be able to work with it.

But for the reason above it would be also wrong to promise customers that you can port software to it as It would be irresponsible. It doesn't mean we are ignoring the potential, what it means is, we don't know what we can do. Simple put, it is too early. This is why most 3rd party developers are silent.

We can only wait.

Simbol 

And meanwhile PMDG has shown us how you do it. Take your current development state and release it as an intermediate product for the current platform, with the promise to honor the price paid when the new platform and product is ready. An announcement can easily be revoked should there be "technical difficulties".

But that is relatively easy only for them, they make aircraft, those are always needed, For all of us who made products that are very specific to the target platform and tightly integrated with the SDK/API, we can't make that move. Nevertheless, the simple truth is, that if not enough money is earned, and there is no alternative, all you can do is give up. A year is a long time. Only developers who don't depend on their sales can afford to sit back and watch.

Best regards

I suspect that the shadow of the new Microsoft Flight Simulator is also why ORBx are going to release TrueEarth GB Central and GB North for P3D at the same time. Normally, I would expect them to split the release of products like this to maximise sales, but they may be thinking that sales of GB North will suffer if they leave it any longer. It will be interesting to see if ORBx offer a small discount to customers if they purchase both at the same time...

Edited November 9, 20196 yr by Christopher Low

5 minutes ago, Lorby_SI said:

And meanwhile PMDG has shown us how you do it. Take your current development state and release it as an intermediate product for the current platform, with the promise to honor the price paid when the new platform and product is ready. An announcement can easily be revoked should there be "technical difficulties".

But that is relatively easy only for them, they make aircraft, those are always needed, For all of us who made products that are very specific to the target platform and tightly integrated with the SDK/API, we can't make that move. Nevertheless, the simple truth is, that if not enough money is earned, and there is no alternative, all you can do is give up. A year is a long time. Only developers who don't depend on their sales can afford to sit back and watch.

Best regards

Well I can't promise such things without knowing the platform and having the SDK ready for it.

In my PMDG did a bold move. Is the SDK is lacking then what?  Hard position to be. I think they did that just to get some sales now and hope for the best.

Developers like you and me are in worse position because the type of tools we do.. I agree with you regarding the overall situation.

But I am not giving up. Too much passion in my heart I guess 😉.

Regards,

Simbol 

MSFS 2020 will be entertainment license and P3D will always cater to commercial/ education market - lot of simmers keep forgetting that.  

If a customer is buying Lockheed's aviation projects (jets etc) - P3D is probably thrown in with scenario training etc.  Same goes for GA pilots schools who need to use official Garmin trainers etc - will want to use Prepar3d based on license.  Entertainment license are big no.

Both will exist and I am grateful to all the developers who making products on both.  It will be fun, entertaining and educational at the same time.

PMDG is excellent in hedging their bets.  Yes, I do know a thing or two about what hedging really is (outside sim world lol)  - I am super impressed on how they adapting to changing landscape.

Edited November 9, 20196 yr by Skywolf