What will become of ORBX?

For me, there are increasing signs that an era is coming to an end.

How do I get it?

It is crucial that many users wait for the FS2020.

ORBX is constantly launching special offers.

The moderators in the ORBX forum no longer report (apparently they are no longer paid)

ORBX products can only be installed via ORBX Central.

ORBX Central is good for a new installation, however

Experienced alt users shoot your FSX or PD3 regularly, so they are often hesitated to use it.

The buying behavior of add-ons for the PD3 V4 + 5 is cautious.

The quality of the FS2020 is outstanding. In particular what is already delivered here as an "out of the box". Compare PD3 V5. It is very reminiscent of the FS9 without ORBX!

 

I compare the new ORBX scenery "TrueEarth US Washington" with the FS2020.

For the PD3 user, certainly a step forward, but FS2020 is much sharper there and photo geometry is used in Seattle. All buildings correspond to reality. ORBX only supplies manual work here. FS2020 Delivers winter textures. ORBX only summer. It seems to be a cost factor for ORBX to use these sources.

Conclusion: the future user of FS2020 no longer needs any additional scenery.

The airports themselves are available in excellent quality as standard.

If anything, the future FS2020 user has little need for add-ons. The various aircraft are an exception here.

Where is ORBX's future field of activity now?

I think that ORBX products will no longer be needed for general world scenery but for airports that may not be the case.  There are many airports that will likely need further detail added from the stock sim released by Microsoft.  I suspect that is where they will focus.

I’ve been thinking about this too. I think ORBX does quality work and I hope they find their footing for FS2020. Just hard to say where at the moment as I haven’t tried FS2020. Airports seem most likely 

Just looking at one example of an Orbx product - Barton Aerodrome - this is currently only available for XPlane and not for FSX or P3D, which is unfortnuate as I would very much like to have it for P3D.  I seriously doubt that the new MS flight sim will have a detailed representation of Barton Aerodrome, in fact I'd be surprised if what it has is very much better than what you'd see in FSX.

There is an entire world of aerodromes similar to Barton for Orbx to have a stab at. I don't think they will struggle to find a place for their skills. We also have to consider that it is not as if every other flight sim manufacturer is simply going to roll over and stop making stuff on the day the new MS flight sim releases. Lots of people seem to imagine that this will be the case; it won't be.

Edited May 24, 20206 yr by Chock

For MSFS, Orbx's efforts are likely to be focussed on GA airfields and mid-sized airports. 
There's an outside chance that we may see CityScenes of non-US cities not covered by photogrammetry in Bing maps / Windows Maps app.

In a few years' time, if there is no further development of offline landclass mode by Asobo, we may see a return of the type of ground products that served Orbx so well with FSX and P3D.

Speaking of which, there will still be a market (albeit smaller) for simmers who do not move from XP or P3D.

Orbx made a big bet on photoscenery for existing sims just before MSFS was revealed. That was a tough break for them (they correctly saw where the market was going but didn't anticipate a black swan event), but they do have good experience and credibility in building small, highly detailed GA airfields that they can always fall back on.

The brutal truth is that their True Earth, vector, landclass, and "full fat" regions businesses are probably mostly toast with the release of MSFS (aside from continuing sales in what I'll call the "legacy sims").

If they're smart, they'll see that the MSFS addon market is going to be very different -- vastly larger but also largely not accustomed to eye-watering flightsim addon prices -- and price accordingly. They can make a lot more, and also build up a larger satisfied customer base and goodwill reservoir, by selling 10 times as many airports for $10 (or less) than they have been at much higher prices.

James

To The OP - I note you are a newcomer to Avsim --Welcome - and maybe a newcomer to simming ?

It would be interesting to know how you can substantiate your statement Re the demise  of moderators !!!!

Might I suggest that somehow you get hold of a copy of the latest PC Pilot - a British publication\

In it is outlined in detail the future plans for Orbyx with interviews with all their senior Staff and they have great plans for the future

including  the opportunities that MS 2020 brings to them. In the article - they talk about increasing the current staff in the UK offices

- possibly to as many as 50 - They have also appointed some very skilful senior management this year - including a new Marketing manager

P3D and XP 11 will still be around for a long time needing Orbyx - as many simmers have large money investments in scenery and Aircraft

- and will still be using them for a long time as an alternative to what MS have to offer. There are too many unknowns at the moment with MSD 2020

Personally - I will be the first to buy MS 2020 on the X Box- and like many of us withy mid range computers - Ms 2020 will be a No - No !!

9 hours ago, Sabinede said:

What will become of ORBX?

For me, there are increasing signs that an era is coming to an end.

Please don't quote long posts. 

What makes you think that ORBX is not already a integral part of MS2020? You are talking about the number 1 developer for FSX/P3D. Heck doubt that they are not #1 for XPlane. I would not even have XPlane 11 installed if it was not for ORBX TE. 

ORBX has a devoted following that will buy anything that they release and they gladly pay full price. The owner is way too smart to let ORBX fall by the wayside.

A negative view would be that ORBX would become just like department stores, but I doubt that. 

Edited May 24, 20206 yr by 188AHC
Pruned quote

Well, honestly I tend to agree with the OP. 

MSFS is coming with a very strong default base, based on photogrammetry. No ORBX scenery will ever beat that. Especially at a price-point. What *might* be possible is that ORBX is working with Asobo to implement and improve the inner workings of the scenery. So it might be some kind of cooperation, but I doubt it's global scenery development. Maybe some kind of scenery-improving based on Bing but for a large(r) areas... What it definitely might be is airport development.

From what I've seen, MSFS beats P3Dv5+ORBX with all it's bells and whistles and at highest settings by a long shot. And it's not even yet done.

In the end, it all depends on how the transition for those who invested a lot in ESP-sims (or X-Plane) is going to be. The availability of the airports, aircraft and utilities addons is going to dictate how fast will flightsimmers be ready to switch.

Global performance will also play a great part. Putting together your sim + high quality aircraft like FSLabs will need to yield some acceptable FPS at high-powered systems (and I do not mean highest-powered).

Everything is playing a big role as a complete package, so it's really very hard to make any kind of forecast.

 

how many of you guys have actually used MSFS alpha as opposed to just seen pics?

Not sure people would be keen to discuss that, being under the NDA.

1) MSFS is not as good as many people seem to think. Especially the third party airport addon business will be just fine after its release. I don’t see any big changes coming there at all. 
 

2) ORBX itself... I used to be a huge fan but am growing increasingly disenchanted with the company. They’ve been releasing quite questionable quality lately, often riddled with bugs and have been very slow to fix issues. 

17 minutes ago, DJJose said:

What makes you think that ORBX is not already a integral part of MS2020? You are talking about the number 1 developer for FSX/P3D. Heck doubt that they are not #1 for XPlane. I would not even have XPlane 11 installed if it was not for ORBX TE. 

ORBX has a devoted following that will buy anything that they release and they gladly pay full price. The owner is way too smart to let ORBX fall by the wayside.

A negative view would be that ORBX would become just like department stores, but I doubt that. 

I second that! I do beleive MS is working with ORBX for a while at least to define their role in future addons... 

The market of flightsim scenery is too great for MSFS to ignore it and not cash on it... And working with ORBX is a way of future proofing their new sim. Like what happened with XP11.

Also the transition to MSFS (if it happens) is likely to be long. I myself will not jump in straight away and wait for it to mature before spending too much money on it.

1 hour ago, Chock said:

Just looking at one example of an Orbx product - Barton Aerodrome - this is currently only available for XPlane and not for FSX or P3D, which is unfortnuate as I would very much like to have it for P3D.  I seriously doubt that the new MS flight sim will have a detailed representation of Barton Aerodrome, in fact I'd be surprised if what it has is very much better than what you'd see in FSX.

There is an entire world of aerodromes similar to Barton for Orbx to have a stab at. I don't think they will struggle to find a place for their skills. We also have to consider that it is not as if every other flight sim manufacturer is simply going to roll over and stop making stuff on the day the new MS flight sim releases. Lots of people seem to imagine that this will be the case; it won't be.

I would also like to have Barton Aerodrome in P3D, both for the airfield itself, and also for the 3D model of the Barton Bridge, which for some strange reason is not included in ORBx TrueEarth GB Central (and for the record, neither is the Thelwall Viaduct) ☹️ For anyone who is not familiar with these bridges, they take the M60 and M6 respectively over the Manchester Ship Canal, and are rather prominent landmarks.

Edited May 24, 20206 yr by Christopher Low

I'm sure ORBX will be just fine.  Do we really think MSFS2020 will be the only iteration of Flight Simulator in the market?  (Similar to what @jaytee73 said)  They simply have to be savvy and develop additional strategies.  Who's to say there isn't an avenue for business within MSFS2020?  Only time will tell.