When to buy PMDG in view of P3d V5

[barramundilure 152]

57 minutes ago, Chock said:

To be brutally honest, I think even the most ardent PMDG fan would have to admit that, at least compared to a lot of other developers, they aren't exactly the most philanthropic bunch out there. It's not helped by a rather arrogant attitude which prevails on their support forums.

 

You are speaking gospel right there Chock, be careful the PMDG watchmen will berate you for sure.

[abandoned account 171]

3 hours ago, JoeFackel said:

A very blunt statement, ignoring that the NGXu is a complete new product and not just an upcycled NGX.

When I first saw PMDG's marketing about the NGXu being "a completely new product", I compared the feature list and screenshots with those from the classic NGX and saw two pretty much identical products.

Personally I think of the NGXu as a hotfix to slightly modify the cockpit geometry. If they can make people pay for the same product a 3rd (!!!) time I must give it to them that they must be marketing geniuses.

 

[Ricardo41 5,958]

Because of their outrageous pricing policies PMDG lost me as a customer a long time ago. Seems to me the ifly 737 can hold its own against the PMDG product at about one third the cost. 

[Ricardo41 5,958]

2 minutes ago, tolip2 said:

 

Personally I think of the NGXu as a hotfix to slightly modify the cockpit geometry. If they can make people pay for the same product a 3rd (!!!) time I must give it to them that they must be marketing geniuses.

 

This right here. Pay full price for a patch!

[vc10man 732]

1 hour ago, Chock said:

they started charging what I thought was prohibitively large amounts for products which I'd already bought from them for other platforms. I was prepared to pay for the conversion work they had to do for sure, but not the full price all over again.

Spot-on, Alan.👍

[MaDDogz 242]

The arrogance.

the worst thing they ever done to damage their company face was to have Kyle as customer support.

[rob169 23]

Thanks all for the many replies, looks like PMDG have a long way to go with their public relations!

Given all the above, and given that most of you are suggesting that the 777 won't work in P3DV5 for a while (and that I don't have P3DV4, only FSX:SE / X plane11), would you advise buying the PMDG 777 for FSX on sale for $67.5 / £55 currently to tide me over until the new release in V5 or when FS2020 comes out? This would be much cheaper than the outlay of $160 for the cost of the current P3D and 777 on sale.

Helpfully, this PMDG sale ends by the day that P3DV5 releases (14th April) 🙄

[Boomer 1,619]

Let's see, price of the new P3D, hopefully the same for the student license, and then to convert my 748 to it?  Dunno, a small charge from PMDG, say $25 would be fine but not a complete repurchase.  PMDG's argument in the past about their FSX>P3D being a new product and therefore warranted a full repurchase was garbage and factually untrue.  SO they have some bad faith.

Edited April 10, 2020 by Boomer

[Alan_A 1,650]

6 hours ago, Chock said:

Their stuff is undeniably good, but they lost me as a customer when they started charging what I thought was prohibitively large amounts for products which I'd already bought from them for other platforms. I was prepared to pay for the conversion work they had to do for sure, but not the full price all over again. And I don't think I'm the only one that is true for either.

A2A does the same, but never seems to take the same heat for it.  Do you feel the same way about them?  Not aiming for snark here - it's a genuine question.

[Chock 17,769]

3 minutes ago, Alan_A said:

A2A does the same, but never seems to take the same heat for it.  Do you feel the same way about them?  Not aiming for snark here - it's a genuine question.

A couple of differences with A2A (or at least ones I can talk about without causing trouble, some people will know what I'm referring to here) is that A2A are not horrible and arrogant in their support forums, and they were one of the companies which gave away a good product which is still viable for sales as part of the Covid 19 wave of support for people at home along with a few other companies including Flight 1, Aeroplane Heaven, Aerosoft and others.

[kingm56 1,031]

25 minutes ago, Chock said:

A couple of differences with A2A (or at least ones I can talk about without causing trouble, some people will know what I'm referring to here) is that A2A are not horrible and arrogant in their support forums, and they were one of the companies which gave away a good product which is still viable for sales as part of the Covid 19 wave of support for people at home along with a few other companies including Flight 1, Aeroplane Heaven, Aerosoft and others.

Moreover, A2A does/did not go out of their way to spread misinformation about new/competing simulators that threaten the current eco system.  Im really hoping MSFS ends the current simulation paradigm and returns sanity to the add-on market.  When MS left, we saw PMDG increase their prices by 287%.  Think about it, the MD-11 was $59.99 when it was first released; the 737 NGX was $69.99; today, the 777 and 747 cost $200+.  That’s absurd! Clearly, PMDG has a vested interest in sustaining the current simulation environment, which is why they tried to purchase the ESP base code. When they were outbid by Dovetail, the owner embarked on a deliberate campaign to thwart FSW development.  Also, the collusion that exist in the flight sim world is unacceptable! Currently, the largest add-on developers refuse to build competing products, which allows said developers to charge outrages prices for their products. Friendship and respect are often suggested as the impetus for said collusion; however, those of us with critical thinking abilities can see through the minutia! Without competing products, said developers can continue to charge Premium prices.  Again, I’m hoping MS returns sanity to our eco system and provides the consumer with some leverage.  

[OzWhitey 3,353]

Wow, not much love for PMDG here!

Yes, Kyle is the worst customer service rep on the planet. But PMDG make very good planes. I wish they were cheaper, but I fly them so often that I ultimately get more value out if them than planes that cost 20% as much.

Looking forward to flying the NGXu in v5.

Edited April 10, 2020 by OzWhitey

[rob169 23]

4 hours ago, rob169 said:

Thanks all for the many replies, looks like PMDG have a long way to go with their public relations!

Given all the above, and given that most of you are suggesting that the 777 won't work in P3DV5 for a while (and that I don't have P3DV4, only FSX:SE / X plane11), would you advise buying the PMDG 777 for FSX on sale for $67.5 / £55 currently to tide me over until the new release in V5 or when FS2020 comes out? This would be much cheaper than the outlay of $160 for the cost of the current P3D and 777 on sale.

Helpfully, this PMDG sale ends by the day that P3DV5 releases (14th April) 🙄

I get that everyone's debating PMDG and their customer relations / pricing policy but I would appreciate it if you could kindly offer me some advice in relation to my above question. Many thanks for your help 🙂

[Alan_A 1,650]

@Chock - Thanks for clarifying/expanding.

@kingm56 - I get it.  And yes, that's a big price spike at PMDG. 

The only thing that strikes me is that, however much people prefer A2A's "house style"... if you look only at pricing, you've got A2A requiring a full new purchase for FSX customers who want to move to P3D (granted, with a ten-cents-on-the-dollar loyalty discount for any previous purchases via their points program).  And there's a 60 percent premium for the professional version over the academic version, although the product is exactly the same - no new features or coding for the professional version.  PMDG doesn't make any such distinction or apply different pricing between P3D license versions.

And in terms of givebacks, PMDG is currently offering 25 percent off on three current airplanes.  And they offered a time-limited MSFS credit for people who bought the NGXu. A2A's giveaway of the P-40 was admirable, no question, but there's been some give on PMDG pricing, and on much more recent products.

Look, I'm no fan of current pricing levels or of having to repurchase products when they haven't changed much if at all.  I actually admire Aerosoft's stated policy of "you only pay for new code."

I'm just not sure that the criticisms are being applied totally consistently, and I'd suggest that whether or not you like a developer, separate from any pricing considerations, is a big factor in how these conversations come out.

EDIT: @kingm56 - I'm with you on one more point - I really hope too that the MSFS release helps bring pricing back to sane, consumer-grade levels.

Edited April 10, 2020 by Alan_A

[Nuno Pinto 1,406]

9 hours ago, JoeFackel said:

A very blunt statement, ignoring that the NGXu is a complete new product and not just an upcycled NGX.

It uses a lot of old code most surely and has quite a few tweaks and updates. Doesn't justify full price at all and i voted with my wallet. Heck, the NGX flies so so well...