PMDG DC-6 to be released on Friday, June 18th

[honanhal 1,424]

1 hour ago, jbdbow1970 said:

40-50 bucks for a PMDG product is an insult (slap to face) of their company. Maybe some people 'no pun intended' need to stay in the Carenado catalog. Heck even the Just Flight Arrow goes for 45 usd. SMH

The DC6 will be the cream of the crop (true simulated aircraft from systems to flight dynamics) on the MSFS platform for some time until the 737 drops whether people want to except that fact or not.

I've paid full price for nearly the entire PMDG catalogue in two sims. It sounds like you have, too. Almost by definition, that puts us in a niche within a niche. There's a much larger customer base for MSFS who have not, and would not, do that -- but who might still be tempted to buy a PMDG product, depending on what it is and what the price is.

Which is to say, I don't need a lecture about what great value it is, yadda yadda yadda. I get it! I agree!

As I said in my first post: PMDG are probably not looking to price aggressively to simply maximize their revenue here.  PMDG is familiar with the tradeoffs that come with pricing; as Steve points out, to take just one, support costs can be significant, especially with a complex product and a larger staff. Maybe they want to pursue a larger customer base, or maybe they don't. My point is that the price they choose will implicitly answer that question for us. $50 or less? They're looking to tap into a group of new customers. $75 or higher? They're happy to stick with the "hardcore simmer" market. $100 or higher? They're pursuing the "hardcore simmer who loves vintage metal" market.

Choices.

[united001 126]

That PMDG has announced this release in 48 hours at all is stunning to me. Talk about Robert rightfully damping down expectations for any release for MSFS not that long ago, I was all set up to have to wait until October or December 2021 or first quarter of 2022 for anything from them for MSFS and now this? Clever, very clever. Smart. Which should be PMDG's motto, smart.

Here's my thought on PMDG and the price of the impending DC-6. Maybe this isn't the perfect comparison, but since the thread has bantered about names like Ferrari. Many have said that when you buy a Mercedes Benz or BMW vehicle, a part of what you pay for is the "prestige" of owning something expensive with those logos. Same with PMDG, at least in my mind. PMDG doubtlessly over the years is the top of the add-on heap. I adored their FSX add-ons. Loved them, used them all to the max. They are the M. Benz and BMW of our flight sim world. They turn out the best study level aircraft, hands down. I've paid for a lot of stuff between $40 and whatever here lately that just are not that good after I use them and then set them aside. That's fine. Developers have to try and make some bank.

PMDG? They can ask anything they want for their new original aircraft, but it won't be crazy. IMHO, they will start as some have said for whatever they charged P3D and XP customers plus a percentage. I, we will pay for it. Some will complain, always do. The rest of us will pay or I will. Charge me whatever. It's PMDG for goodness sake and my curiosity will be super max. Bring it on! OK, I'll make a guess. We all should guess just for fun before the 18th like on a game show:  $79.95 is my guess.

United001   

Edited June 16, 2021 by united001

[Brandon01110 407]

4 hours ago, captain420 said:

I really hope they bring out the 777 next!

why? Captain sim's version is all you need! 👀

[Brandon01110 407]

4 hours ago, ca_metal said:

Us$ 699.99 is too much in my opinion.

how about $600.00?

[ca_metal 2,033]

2 minutes ago, Brandon01110 said:

how about $600.00?

If it comes with more than 10 liveries, it’s fine.

[abrams_tank 7,445]

4 hours ago, 737_800 said:

Honestly, if they continue their P3D pricing, it will be hard for them. Maybe not hard, because they will still have quite a lot of sales, but I guess they could just get more revenue, when lowering the price. If they continue doing this, I need to be very selective which aircraft I really need and want dive into the systems. If they would just lower the price, I would buy every aircraft they produce, simple as that. I could imagen many other people would do the same.

However, I am not an economist and this is not based on science, just how a normal guy would make his decision when buying products. 70 USD for the DC6 were just too much, IMHO.

I don't disagree with you about the price, if it's $70 USD.  I find that a little expensive too.  But some people find value in it, and PDMG knows their customer base well, so I guess in PDMG's opinion, this is the optimal price if it's set at that price (some PMDG customers say the service and troubleshooting help from PMDG is extremely good so maybe this is a factor in their price).

[ryanbatc 12,972]

Everyone will have their price limit.  Mines around 60 USD.  We're back in the entertainment license arena anyway.

Plane does look intriguing though.  I'm just not sure I've got the time to learn the entire plane.  The virtual FO sounds like a good idea.

[psolk 3,053]

3 hours ago, Carts85 said:

I often see this narrative that if you mention the PMDG pricing model in a negative way then it’s because you can’t afford it. An comparing it to a Ferrari makes no sense. Did you know Ferrari only make around $6000 profit per car. It’s priced high due to the high manufacturing costs not because of this myth of exclusivity of being a Ferrari owner an you should pay more because it’s Ferrari.. if they dropped the price they’d be out of business within a year. 

Never said you couldn't afford it, I said it's out of your budget.  Two very different terms.   Also, where the heck did you get $6,000, last reported earnings were $94,000 per car.   

[Steve Dra 7,601]

14 minutes ago, abrams_tank said:

some PMDG customers say the service and troubleshooting help from PMDG is extremely good so maybe this is a factor in their price

For some that is a big factor, and many who value "service after the sale" will find this part of the rationale for the "premium" price.  

Or you can pay $30 for an airliner shell, have an issue with paints suddenly disappearing from flightsim.to, only to find out that "developer" tried to sue them for having the audacity to freely promote their shell so others might be inclined to buy it if they saw their favorite airline painted. 🙄   That is the kind of support model that gets my credit card out and swiped for sure. 😄

I'm quite sure PMDG won't be trying to sue anyone for freely promoting their product. If they did...I'd have dozens of lawsuits against me. 🙂

Edited June 16, 2021 by Steve Dra
additional comments

[Der Zeitgeist 1,575]

I was a bit surprised about the lack of quality high-res textures in the cabin in the recent stream about the DC-6. Are they still working on that?

Edited June 16, 2021 by Der Zeitgeist

[DAD 2,656]

my price guess? no idea. would expect it to be rather resonable i.e. around 40 bucks to be in line with the mass market and get people hooked to PMDG who never heard about them before. the 737 will be higher then which is ok for me, I flew their 737 for years. enough guessing, in 2 days from now we will know

[abrams_tank 7,445]

26 minutes ago, Der Zeitgeist said:

I was a bit surprised about the lack of quality high-res textures in the cabin in the recent stream about the DC-6. Are they still working on that?

From my understanding, the higher the quality of the textures in the cabin, the lower the FPS.  There is a compromise between how high the quality you want the textures in the cabin to be, and how much FPS you are willing to lose.  I think PMDG chose the best quality of textures that they could use for the cabin, without tanking the FPS.

 

[pmplayer 9,575]

6 hours ago, captain420 said:

I really hope they bring out the 777 next!

They said first the 737NG and after that i guess it will be the 747, could be the 777 is the last off the big  airliners.

But of course I could be wrong.. 🤔

 

cheers 😉

[kaha 205]

FPS are bound to hardware. One set of textures is just not enough. There have to be options to choose from to satisfy simmers with different hardware specs, similar to, let's say, terrain LOD or cloud render quality.

Karl

[orchestra_nl 952]

3 minutes ago, abrams_tank said:

From my understanding, the higher the quality of the textures in the cabin, the lower the FPS.  There is a compromise between how high the quality you want the textures in the cabin to be, and how much FPS you are willing to lose.  I think PMDG chose the best quality of textures that they could use for the cabin, without tanking the FPS.

 

1 minute ago, kaha said:

FPS are bound to hardware. One set of textures is just not enough. There have to be options to choose from to satisfy simmers with different hardware specs, similar to, let's say, terrain LOD or cloud render quality.

Karl

If resources were unlimited, I would also like to see high-res cabin textures. I would go further even and request for animated stewardesses serving coffee and smiles. Especially during a long cruise it might be fun to sit in passenger view for a while.

On the other hand, resources are limited and a highres interior would increase development time, so the price would go up. How much are people going to pay extra for a fancy cabin they might hardly visit?