REVIEW: UK2000 Glasgow

[Christopher Low 5,359]

Gary has indicated that communication (and the store system itself) is, er.......not very good.

[109Sqn 1,573]

14 minutes ago, omarsmak30 said:

But I thought almost all resellers charge

It wouldn't be a very good business model not to charge!🙂 I think you're probably right about UK2000 not using resellers before, but that in itself is not a good reason to sign up without knowing the consequences and mark-up.

1 minute ago, Christopher Low said:

Gary has indicated that communication (and the store system itself) is, er.......not very good.

I'm quite prepared to believe that - big corporations seem to excel (no pun intended whilst talking about M$) at ambiguous communication - but it still seems odd that Gary, or any other dev - would be unaware of the mark-up in advance. I'm not accusing one side or the other of anything, it just seems a bit odd to an outsider.

[omarsmak30 4,068]

7 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

Gary has indicated that communication (and the store system itself) is, er.......not very good.

What about resellers like ORBX or Aerosoft? The issue is, for some, they have no idea that UK2000 exist and for some (like myself), I would always prefer to buy from the reseller that give me a good application to update my sceneries without hassle just like Aerosoft, ORBX and Marketplace as really due to work and stuff, I have no time to visit every developer website to update.

[Carts85 1,203]

If UK2000 goes under let me tell you now it won’t be because of the rate of commission of the marketplace. That’s for sure. 

[Car147 2,279]

57 minutes ago, omarsmak30 said:

Did you guys see this post?

I bought direct, and have been disappointed with the Glasgow offering, but what i cannot understand is he's saying go direct where the price is £18.99 for any of his offerings ($25.99 usd) Yet the last time i looked the one on the Market Place addon was just over £12 ?

[arsenal82 120]

2 hours ago, omarsmak30 said:

I don't know maybe based on the amount of sale? 

But I thought almost all resellers charge, I think UK2000 never sold on a reseller website? I found simmarket with crappy website charges 30% (https://vendor.simmarket.com/register.php) so I would assume the better resellers e.g ORBX and Aerosoft would definitely charge more than 30%, I would assume no less than 40%

please tell me how 'aerosoft' is a better reseller as they also sell on simmarket ?

and the better reseller - according to you - are those who charge more ??

laughable !!

 

Edited February 4, 2021 by arsenal82

[stefaandk 84]

55 minutes ago, arsenal82 said:

please tell me how 'aerosoft' is a better reseller as they also sell on simmarket ?

and the better reseller - according to you - are those who charge more ??

laughable !!

 

I think 'better' in this context means higher quality scenery in which case I would agree and they are cheaper than UK2000 but that of course is somewhat dependent on exchange rates but I can buy Aerosoft and Orbx airports around the AUD $23 mark and there is some very high quality in those, while UK2000's is just short of AUD $30 so when it comes to quality and price I would also consider them 'better'.

[Chock 17,769]

Probably worth bearing in mind that although the commission MS takes at their store eats into the revenue for a developer, if nobody's heard of the developer, then they wouldn't get a sale at all were it not for the exposure that store gives them. So in that case they'd be getting 100 percent of bugger all as opposed to 50 percent of what would not have been a sale under other circumstances.

Having said that, 50 percent does seem a bit draconian, but part of the reason MS developed the new version of Flight simulator was to tap into the TPD add-on revenue stream. I just hope that in choosing to do that and take such a hefty cut, they aren't biting the hand which feeds them, because the aforementioned point works both ways: They too will be getting 100 percent of bugger all if a developer goes under because their commission policy has made things less viable for the developer. At best, it's likely to force prices up and that in itself might then be self-defeating.

Edited February 4, 2021 by Chock

[omarsmak30 4,068]

6 hours ago, arsenal82 said:

please tell me how 'aerosoft' is a better reseller as they also sell on simmarket ?

and the better reseller - according to you - are those who charge more ??

laughable !!

 

Better for me it means better infrastructure support, that includes an application to update the add-one, a provided infsinfrastructure to support the customers as well as marketing like producing videos, advertise in social media .. etc, these don't come for free.

P/S: Aerosoft is well is a reseller, just like orbx 

Edited February 4, 2021 by omarsmak30

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

2 hours ago, Chock said:

Probably worth bearing in mind that although the commission MS takes at their store eats into the revenue for a developer, if nobody's heard of the developer, then they wouldn't get a sale at all were it not for the exposure that store gives them. So in that case they'd be getting 100 percent of bugger all as opposed to 50 percent of what would not have been a sale under other circumstances.

 

 

Also bearing in mind for a new developer outside the marketplace the only place to get exposure will be forums like this which generally are full of people waiting to pounce like a pack of wolves on any new product for "not being study level" or not up to the standard they are used to in P3D/XPLANE /DCS.  

That said the 30-50% cut taken by MS/Steam/Apple etc is ludicrous considering how little goes into testing of the products sold and how minimal the aftermarket support from the store front usually is, everything gets thrown back on the developer.

Edited February 4, 2021 by Glenn Fitzpatrick

[Christopher Low 5,359]

Whether you agree with his prices or not, it's worth remembering here that Gary does all of the development/management/finances etc. for UK2000 products himself. That being the case, the number of products that he has released over the years is nothing short of outstanding. If he took two years to create every airport that he builds (like some developers), we would still be waiting for 75% of the large UK airports after a decade of work.

I have not seen the MSFS version of Glasgow "in sim", so I am not able to comment on it. However, I am more than happy with the version of UK2000 Glasgow 2020HD that I use in P3Dv4. It is a considerable improvement over the previous Glasgow Xtreme product (particularly with respect to texture quality; and low resolution textures are something that disappoint me every time that I see them). Could the textures be better? Of course they could, but they are now good enough for me to be comfortable (which was not the case with the previous version).

There are other UK2000 Xtreme airports that could do with a "texture upgrade" (my main targets for this are Manchester, Gatwick and Edinburgh), so hopefully Gary can "get back on track" after having to upgrade his existing HD products for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

[Donka 650]

So what’s the current state of this airport? Have there been any notable updates for it or is it still not recommended?

[jarmstro 2,404]

1 hour ago, Donka said:

So what’s the current state of this airport? Have there been any notable updates for it or is it still not recommended?

There's been updates for both. I find them pretty bland and uninteresting. EGGD seems very heavy on frames for what it is. Still, at present, there is no competition and I am hoping there will be better alternatives in the future.

[Donka 650]

Thanks jarmstro. Truth be told, Glasgow isn't a particularly interesting airport in real life imho but I don't want to buy into an airport that is isn't well developed - especially given we have something default that is usable in MSFS.

[spacedyemeerkat 421]

I still haven't bought any of Gary's airports for this iteration of Flight Simulator. For me, the value (in terms of money and quality) just doesn't appear to be there compared to other airports at a not dissimilar price point. Just look at Drzewiecki Design's KDCA, for example. There appears to be a rather astonishing difference. Or, more locally, Macco's EGCC.

I think I said this earlier in the thread but UK2000 needs to move with the times but I've not seen anything yet that indicates they can. I hope I'm wrong, I really do.