To be honest, the thought of spending lots more money on another flight simulator has left me feeling depressed more than anything else...

Edited August 10, 20205 yr by Christopher Low

Looking at EGLC in XP I can see that it is by no means a straight port to MSFS - there seems to be a fair bit of remodelling going on. It looks fantastic in both simulators, in my view 

 

 

Edited August 10, 20205 yr by Nate1

1 hour ago, Nate1 said:

What is just brilliant is the fact that (as first off the block) they are likely to have set a precedent for other developers with regard to the pricing level. These are really sensible prices and I'm sure it will pay off for them massively. Good for them and good for us.

Being the first to have announced prices, doesn't equate to being the first having decided prices.

There's some consent about several other scenery developers that prices on MSFS will likely be lower than they used to be, on the assumption the MS Marketplace will grant a much higher sales volume and ( more importantly ) new users. For scenery/airport designers, the chance to appear on Xbox is very interesting, and it's a first.

I think you'll see similar prices ( and possibly lower ) from everybody else, at least concerning airports.

Of course, the idea of "landmarks" to enhance autogen cities that have no Lidar is fairly obvious, I think we'll see a market for this, but at an even lower price, possibly going to 0.50/1.00$ for single objects or smaller collections.

The only big question mark is what will happen to those 100$+ airplane add-ons that takes years to develop. No, the default 747 and the default A320 are NOT comparable to PMDG or FS Labs, they are not even close, if you care about realism. But to the Xbox kids, not only they don't look that different, it's likely they don't even *want* something that complex to learn. This means those will continue to be priced fairly high, because they don't have that many chances to increase their sales due to the MS-Marketplace/Xbox: they products are simply not for everyone.

Edited August 10, 20205 yr by virtuali

2 minutes ago, virtuali said:

Being the first to have announced prices, doesn't equate to being the first having decided prices.
 

Agreed, but it does contribute to the consumer perception of value over cost in the wider market.

Personally, if HotStart released their TBM 900 for the new sim on day one, I'd buy it again at $64, having seen enough footage of the 930 in MSFS. And I agree that products of this type won't scale as well as (for example) the Orbx London landmarks 

1 minute ago, Nate1 said:

Agreed, but it does contribute to the consumer perception of value over cost in the wider market.

Sure.

I was just saying: let's not spread some kind of urban legend in which, thanks to the generous/smart/business savy Orbx, which just saw the light, prices for add-on became lower, so other developers had to unwilling comply, because they set a "precedent". That's not the case, everybody doing add-on is probably thinking along the same lines.

11 minutes ago, virtuali said:

Sure.

I was just saying: let's not spread some kind of urban legend in which, thanks to the generous/smart/business savy Orbx, which just saw the light, prices for add-on became lower, so other developers had to unwilling comply, because they set a "precedent". That's not the case, everybody doing add-on is probably thinking along the same lines.

Glad to hear it!

10 hours ago, Skywolf said:

Orbx has been involved with MSFS and LM products long before people even knew the releases were upcoming.  Just look at those smashing graphics from Orbx in MSFS.  

Remember how Orbx convinced LM to do cloud shadows for v2 launch.  We all were in FSX and P3D1.4 days.

are you saying orbx knew about msfs before the announcement june last year and have been working on addons since then?

Orbx have stated that they didn't know about MSFS before it was officially announced.

6 minutes ago, JacquesBrel said:

Orbx have stated that they didn't know about MSFS before it was officially announced.

Well, that's the official story, anyway.  JV's surprise at the announcement may have been similar to the testers' surprise at the release date in that it came long before it was expected.

When you get MSFS, be sure to read the credits. 🙂 

Hook

Not sure where I've seen it, but it was officially confirmed that Orbx assisted Asobo with some of the handcrafted airports.

Not for the last time, I wonder just why I have to buy 3d party software to get improved visuals in these sims.

1 minute ago, Boomer said:

Not for the last time, I wonder just why I have to buy 3d party software to get improved visuals in these sims.

Because the world is BIG. 😉

7 minutes ago, Boomer said:

Not for the last time, I wonder just why I have to buy 3d party software to get improved visuals in these sims.

Are you relly thinkink, that is possible to make all of 37000 airports by hand? And many and many thousand of points od interest on whole Earth? No... 😉 But you havn't to buy it, if you don't want it. It isn't mandatory 😉 .

Edited August 10, 20205 yr by ludekbrno

Eh there's no big conspiracy here...why would MS hand model airports for the premium versions of FS2020 when they could sub contract it to someone like Orbx who would have been doing it anyway? MS free up resources to work on other aspects of the Sim and Orbx get a foot in the door on release day with a small % of sales going to them.

 

27 minutes ago, LHookins said:

Well, that's the official story, anyway.  JV's surprise at the announcement may have been similar to the testers' surprise at the release date in that it came long before it was expected.

When you get MSFS, be sure to read the credits. 🙂 

Hook

Ah, a good conspiracy brewing up 🤣  ! Don’t you love it ? 

My take is Orbx didn’t whine in June 1019 as some,
but rolled up their sleeves and started to work with what they had and convinced Asobo they could add value. The SDK saga as a virtuous circle. Same for Carenado and many others. These are small companies, smart and nimble. 

The surprise that some feel today, at the flurry of announcements, comes from the fact  they believed in the disinformation systematically spread in these forum by a consultant having ties with P3D. Add to that a loud group of simmers who deluded themselves and rejoiced in a supposed end of the TPD sector.