I know this quote from Randazzo of PMDG is posted in another thread, but I thought this topic deserved its own separate thread so I am posting Randazzo's quote again.  Randazzo also gives us some good insight on the commission breakdown that Microsoft gets, and that Valve gets:

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Placing a product in Marketplace is expensive. When an MSFS user purchases a product from Marketplace, Microsoft and sometimes Valve gets paid. For MSFS users who purchased MSFS via MS-Store, Microsoft will take a 30% share. For MSFS users who purchased MSFS via Steam, Valve will take 35% and then MS will take 30% of what remains (effective rate of 54% give-or-take.)

Before anyone howls too loudly: MSFS wasn't developed on a shoe-string budget, and it exists because Jorg Neuman was able to convince the corporate hive that it would make money. It is in all of our best interest if it makes money- and Jorg's team, in combination with Asobo have created an environment in which the potential market for products is so significantly larger than the old market that developers like PMDG can be quite healthy if we deliver quality products.

I am less enthusiastic about the value equation of Valve's contribution, but there is an old saying about "you cannot fight City Hall."

So, you will remember that Asobo said MSFS is a 10 year project.  The key line here from Randazzo is that Jorg, who represents Microsoft in the Asobo + Microsoft partnership, was able to convince the higher level execs at Microsoft to go forward with MSFS, because he convinced the higher level execs at Microsoft of the revenue stream for MSFS.  This is the key point and the important part that Randazzo discloses.  The other key point that Randazzo discloses is that Microsoft takes a 30% cut, which is quite fair, IMO.  In fact, Microsoft takes a lower cut than Valve does.  The problem though is if users purchased MSFS via Steam, in which Valve gets their cut, and then Microsoft gets their cut too.  That's unfortunate that Valve eats into the revenue of 3rd party developers, but as Randazzo said, 3rd party developers still get a healthy revenue stream overall because the entire market is larger, with Steam + the Windows Store combined (knowing what Valve gets, I am glad I purchased MSFS via the Windows Store).  

Now on to the part of MSFS being a 10 year project.  The purchases in the MSFS marketplace caught the attention of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently:

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We’re also seeing a vibrant marketplace emerge in Flight Simulator, with partners now able to sell content directly within the game

This is good if we want MSFS to be a 10 year project. And moving forward, I hope that Satya Nadella continues to see decent revenue for MSFS from the marketplace, because then Microsoft will continue to allocate a certain budget to Asobo to keep making MSFS better.

For this reason, I think we should purchase from the MSFS marketplace when possible.  Ok, if a product won't come out in the MSFS marketplace at all, or you have to wait two months for it to show up in the MSFS marketplace, then it's understandable if you have to purchase it outside the MSFS marketplace.  Having said that, if I have a choice to give my cut to Microsoft versus giving a cut to say, SimMarket, I would prefer that Microsoft gets my cut because at least Microsoft getting my cut will help MSFS to become a 10 year project.

Edited June 23, 20214 yr by abrams_tank

Why start another thread on a topic that is already on  the forum? ??

2 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

Why start another thread on a topic that is already on  the forum? ??

Because they are technically separate topics.  The other thread is about when PMDG products will show up on the MSFS marketplace.  This thread is about why we should purchase from the MSFS marketplace.  The intent of the topics are quite different.

Edited June 23, 20214 yr by abrams_tank

I am not normally a negative outlook person, but I firmly believe that MS flight simulator will not be here in 10 years.  I am hoping that it will last 4 years and would be thrilled at 5.  And that will be with the marketplace barely being able to bring in a revenue stream for the last few years.  FSX was still profitable for MS after 4 years but was shut down hard as they looked at console games and the ludacris amounts that could be made from that.  And, no - lets face it, FS2020 is not a console game even though it is available on that platform.

1 minute ago, Mike S KPDX said:

I am not normally a negative outlook person, but I firmly believe that MS flight simulator will not be here in 10 years.  I am hoping that it will last 4 years and would be thrilled at 5.  And that will be with the marketplace barely being able to bring in a revenue stream for the last few years.  FSX was still profitable for MS after 4 years but was shut down hard as they looked at console games and the ludacris amounts that could be made from that.  And, no - lets face it, FS2020 is not a console game even though it is available on that platform.

So I think that there will be a slowdown of MSFS marketplace purchases as the years go by.  After 5 years, of course there will be a reduction in MSFS marketplace purchases, especially when a lot of high fidelity planes have had a chance to come out in MSFS.

However, if there are still MSFS marketplace purchases from years 5 to year 10 but just less purchases, Microsoft will probably simply reduce the budget for Asobo to develop MSFS, but not cut the budget outright.  This means MSFS will still be enhanced from year 5 to year 10, albeit, with a smaller team.

However, if the MSFS marketplace model works well though, then I can see Microsoft planning for MSFS 2, for release around 2030 or so.  MSFS 2 would be a whole new simulator, once again, pushing the flight simulator forward.

For this reason, I think we should support the MSFS marketplace, not only to ensure MSFS is a 10 year project, but to show Microsoft that flight simulation is worth investing in, and that it makes sense to come out with MSFS 2 by 2030. 

6 minutes ago, Mike S KPDX said:

I am not normally a negative outlook person, but I firmly believe that MS flight simulator will not be here in 10 years.  I am hoping that it will last 4 years and would be thrilled at 5.  And that will be with the marketplace barely being able to bring in a revenue stream for the last few years.  FSX was still profitable for MS after 4 years but was shut down hard as they looked at console games and the ludacris amounts that could be made from that.  And, no - lets face it, FS2020 is not a console game even though it is available on that platform.

If FSX survived all these years with inferior tech, why do you think msfs wont?

27 minutes ago, abrams_tank said:

The other key point that Randazzo discloses is that Microsoft takes a 30% cut, which is quite fair, IMO.  In fact, Microsoft takes a lower cut than Valve does.  The problem though is if users purchased MSFS via Steam, in which Valve gets their cut, and then Microsoft gets their cut too.  That's unfortunate that Valve eats into the revenue of 3rd party developers

Fair enough. That's why I intentionally bought the (Premium Deluxe) prerelease version  from the MS Store 14 days in advance of release. When it came to installing the main part, I had nothing but trouble, though. I think my main fault was to install the prerelease to a drive different from C, and when it came to install the main heap 2 weeks later it insisted on C. The short story is somewhere here on AVSIM, the long one on a 3 pages document which I submitted to Zendesk. 

I got money back, bought from Steam and gone were all installation issues. Actually, from a glance through fora I seem to have one of the most stable systems around.

Now I know there are a lot of pilots running the MS Store version without problems, too, but I  see issues with installation coming up over and over again.

MS would do themselves a big favor - and make a jump of revenue - if they would ease Store installations (including getting rid of those ugly hidden directories with cryptic names which no one can access). On the other hand, they certainly choose that way intentionally to make installations as close as possible to the closed X-Box system. Thus, I doubt there's a way out of the dilemma.

Kind regards, Michael

The biggest negative for me in the Market Place is the encryption issue and the delay in getting updates and fixes. I got the JD Arrow 3 and already it has had many updates and fixes. I doubt if that will ever be seen with Market Place purchases, 

What I am worried about with MSFS 2020, is if it two or three years, MS decides to drop MSFS, not only won't you get any more development, but there is a good possibility that server support will be discontinued,which of course will brick the sim. 

Edited June 23, 20214 yr by Bobsk8

33 minutes ago, devgrp said:

If FSX survived all these years with inferior tech, why do you think msfs wont?

MSFS2020 utilizes remote MS servers

32 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

The biggest negative for me in the Market Place is the encryption issue and the delay in getting updates and fixes. I got the JD Arrow 3 and already it has had many updates and fixes. I doubt if that will ever be seen with Market Place purchases, 

What I am worried about with MSFS 2020, is if it two or three years, MS decides to drop MSFS, not only won't you get any more development, but there is a good possibility that server support will be discontinued,which of course will brick the sim. 

This is why we should keep buying from the MSFS marketplace, especially down the road.  I agree with you that updates take too long in the MSFS marketplace.  And it also takes a long time for a new product to make it to the MSFS marketplace.  I have purchased 2 products myself outside of the MSFS marketplace because for one product, the 3rd party developer said they had no plans to release in the MSFS marketplace, and for the other, the 3rd party developer didn't mention when the product would show up on the marketplace (but it eventually did).  Having said that, it's Microsoft that catapulted flight simulation by 10 years.  Without Microsoft, we would be stuck with 10 year old technology from X-Plane and P3D.

After tasting MSFS, I want flight simulation to continue to advance, and especially advance on pace with the available technology.  I don't want to go back to the days of X-Plane and P3D, where each new version was an incremental improvement.  Nothing revolutionary happened in 2010 to 2020 with X-Plane and P3D.  Both X-Plane and P3D got complacent, and let the technology outrun the simulators.  IMO, we lost 10 years worth of time with P3D and X-Plane.  A whole decade lost 😞

For this reason, let's keep buying from the MSFS marketplace.  Let's make sure flight simulation keeps advancing at the same pace as the rest of technology.  If Microsoft sees a nice return on MSFS over 10 years, I am pretty sure MSFS 2 will be coming out in 2030.

Edited June 23, 20214 yr by abrams_tank

1 hour ago, Bobsk8 said:

Why start another thread on a topic that is already on  the forum? ??

Proselytism has no shame 😆

If MSFS won't update products in a tirely and effective manner and won't allow me to edit a purchased model if I wish, I'll take my money elsewhere, otherwise my money is going to supporting anti-consumer practises.

Genuine question (yes, yes, I am a Troll 🙄 - just humor me):

If a third-party product costs 50$... and you buy from the marketplace, then doesn´t the developer get LESS money (50 - Microsoft´s share) than if you buy it from that developer directly (50 - nothing)?

Wouldn´t it be also beneficial (to the add-on market) to make sure that they make as much money as possible - to promote further development of add-ons?

 

Edited June 23, 20214 yr by Janov

11 minutes ago, Dominique_K said:

Proselytism has no shame 😆

🤣

My issue with the Marketplace is the rate of updates. Don't care too much about the encryption (as long as its not the invasive damage your system report home type). If they speed up that process so it appears without unreasonable delay (24 hours after appearing on the developers own website) then im on board with supporting it.

14 minutes ago, Janov said:

Genuine question (yes, yes, I am a Troll 🙄 - just humor me):

If a third-party product costs 50$... and you buy from the marketplace, then doesn´t the developer get LESS money (50 - Microsoft´s share) than if you buy it from that developer directly (50 - nothing)?

Wouldn´t it be also beneficial (to the add-on market) to make sure that they make as much money as possible - to promote further development of add-ons?

 

You missed the quote from Randazzo where he says because of the increase in market seize, 3rd party developers make more money than before, in spite of the cut that Microsoft makes. From Randazzo's quote:

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in combination with Asobo have created an environment in which the potential market for products is so significantly larger than the old market that developers like PMDG can be quite healthy if we deliver quality products

MSFS in effect has enlarged the total home consumer flight sim market, such that 3rd party developers are selling more widgets than before, so they have a higher revenue than before. If Microsoft stops supporting MSFS and the home consumer flight simulation market contracts again (ie. the home consumer flight sim market goes back to the size it was before MSFS), then a lot of 3rd party devs can see a reduction in their total revenue, or worse, go bankrupt.

Edited June 23, 20214 yr by abrams_tank