45 minutes ago, jbdbow1970 said:

Never understood these "gloat" threads. Just enjoy the game/sim as for what is is and don't worry about whats going on over your shoulder or what has been said in the past. Threads like these have "bait the not so welcome" written all over it.

 

I don't look at it as a "gloat" thread.  I look at it more like analyzing the current situation of the home market flight simulator industry and what is happening.  For example, a lot of financial analysts will analyze the mobile phone market for Q3 of 2021 and write a report on it for their financial clients.  The home flight simulation market is much smaller than the mobile phone market, but nonetheless, if the home flight simulation market were bigger, perhaps there would be financial analysts analyzing what is happening in the home flight simulation market.  A report issued by a financial analyst of the home flight simulation market would look a lot like some of the content of this thread (although perhaps, in more formal wording).

Since this is the MSFS forum, it's on topic when we analyze the situation of how MSFS is doing, especially with respect to the  home market flight simulator industry.  

What you're saying is that the financial analysts that write those financial reports that analyze the mobile phone market are "gloating."  No, they are not gloating.  They are just summarizing what is happening in  that particular market.  And yes, those financial reports will have headlines like "IPhone and Android have gained 97% of the mobile market share, Windows Phone market share decreased to 1% and continues to drop" - if you're a Windows Phone user, that headline may sound depressing, but it's the truth on what is currently happening.

1 hour ago, jbdbow1970 said:

Never understood these "gloat" threads. Just enjoy the game/sim as for what is is and don't worry about whats going on over your shoulder or what has been said in the past. Threads like these have "bait the not so welcome" written all over it.

 

How ironic that the thread was flowing nicely with healthy conversation on the topic until you posted that...

Don't like a thread? Don't post in it, simple.

1 hour ago, Ricardo41 said:

IMHO, no matter how you dice and slice the numbers, it's clear that MSFS is the only flight sim with a healthy commercial future, because:

1) A dedicated development team that actually listens to feedback
2) A terrifically good base simulator - basically, you can enjoy this sim "straight out of the box"
3) A vibrant mod community
4) Relatively modest hardware requirements, i.e., looks good even on lower/low settings
5) Developing more advanced avionics within the sim - e.g., the forthcoming WT G1000 Nxi
6) Will be released for the latest XBox consoles
7) Complex aircraft will be released soon

etc etc.

I also notice a significant decrease in the typical negative threads that we had at the beginning.

I think the number of negative threads are going down because MSFS is gaining serious momentum with more "hard core" flight simmers, who make up much of AVSIM.  Many of the major bugs since the release of MSFS have been fixed.  The FPS for MSFS is already quite decent in its current state, compared its competitors, however, on July 27th, everyone should get a further FPS boost from Sim Update 5. The release of the CRJ and DC-6 has convinced even more "hard core" flight simmers to switch to MSFS.  Working Title's work is starting to make it into the Sim Updates and the G1000/G3000 will be enhanced further.  And then you have the impending Fenix A320 and PMDG 737 coming to MSFS, which is getting the attention of even more "hard core" flight simmers in AVSIM.

My prediction is, if the bugs continued to get fixed, MSFS is continually enhanced, and more high fidelity airliners make their way into MSFS, MSFS will become the "de facto" flight simulator for the next decade, barring some "monumental" improvement in X-Plane 12 or P3D 6 that could shake the home flight simulator market again (unfortunately for X-Plane and P3D, past history has shown it's "incremental" improvement in each major version release, but not "monumental" improvement).

Edited July 16, 20214 yr by abrams_tank

2 minutes ago, abrams_tank said:

My prediction is, if the bugs continued to get fixed, MSFS is continually enhanced, and more high fidelity airliners make their way into MSFS, MSFS will become the "de facto" flight simulator for the next decade, barring some "monumental" improvement in X-Plane 12 or P3D 6 that will shake the home flight simulator market again (unfortunately for X-Plane and P3D, past history has shown it's "incremental" improvement in each major version release, but not "monumental" improvement).

It depends on the level of further enhancement for me.  Aircraft will come in time I'm sure, the AI, well AIG are working on that, I'll need a much better ATC app before I switch completely, and yes Im a dinosaur, but I intensely dislike the UI, and there's not much chance of that changing 😛

Some more substantiated research from 3rd parties... 

Actually, I was way off predicting 1M copies as apparently they are already past 2M copies sold!  The download numbers were clearly a leading indicator into how things were trending. 

 Seriously, 2M copies of MSFS.  That is incredible for a flight sim platform and this was as of the close of last year:  Biggest launch in GamePass history, twice the sales of FSX in it's entire existence.  What a great confirmation as to the initial success and desire for a new sim, let's hope this is only the beginning!  

 

 

Quote

 

Microsoft Flight Simulator could lead to $2.6 billion of hardware sales

Research by Jon Peddie Research (JPR) estimates that $2.6 billion will be spent on PC gaming hardware in the next three yeas, all thanks to the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator. 

In the research, JPR has estimated that 2.27 million copies of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 will sell over the next three years. That's expected to lead to extensive purchases in a bid to get the most out of the game's experience. The $2.6 billion will be spread across Entry-Level, Mid-Range and High-End systems. 

 

 

What does Aerosoft have to say:

Quote

 

New sales update from Mathijs Kok:

“Let me add a quick comment… Sales for the CRJ are crazy, we have not seen this in 15 years. We were expecting some serious sales but every estimate was blown away in the first 3 days. We could not be more happy. It is really like it is 2004 again.”

 

So yeah.  Pretty good showing for MSFS...  

 

 

3 minutes ago, psolk said:

What does Aerosoft have to say:

So yeah.  Pretty good showing for MSFS...  

Aerosoft also mentioned, I think it was last year, that P3D sales had dropped substantially for them, while MSFS sales was very good for them.  This explains why Aerosoft has shifted their focus to MSFS.

On a somewhat related note, Milviz disclosed that their sales of the EVO for P3D have been very poor:

Quote

We sold less than 100 units of the EVO.  P3D is dead in the water unless LM seriously ups their game. 

Because of the poor P3D sales, Milviz implied they are focusing their efforts on MSFS:

Quote

We will, at this time, no longer be making products for P3D with one possible exception that’s under discussion now…

If LM comes out with something amazing, we will reconsider this.  

and this quote by Milviz:

Quote

The ATR is no longer being done for P3D.  It has been ported to MSFS.

 

1 hour ago, kevinfirth said:

It depends on the level of further enhancement for me.  Aircraft will come in time I'm sure, the AI, well AIG are working on that, I'll need a much better ATC app before I switch completely, and yes Im a dinosaur, but I intensely dislike the UI, and there's not much chance of that changing 😛

There are aftermarket ATC programs now that work quite well in MSFS.  No sim on the market has a decent default atc, and most likely , never will. 

25 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

There are aftermarket ATC programs now that work quite well in MSFS.  No sim on the market has a decent default atc, and most likely , never will. 

Agree with the second sentence!

What is currently available for MSFS please?

On 7/15/2021 at 10:04 PM, MDFlier said:

We all know that MSFS has still not reached it's final state. When it gets closer to being "finished", i believe the number of users will increase even more. If Fenix releases the A320 and it turns out to be as good as it appears, and PMDG gets the NGXu into MSFS with the same functionality it currently has in P3d, and companies like A2A get their product line into MSFS, I believe the lid is going to blow off of this thing. Katie bar the door as they say.

The future's so bright, I gotta wear aviators. 😎

 

Yup, I agree.

"2,000,000 number of pilots". I wonder if that means 500,000 copies sold and an average of 4 users have used each installed copy (family members etc.).

On 7/16/2021 at 9:45 PM, kevinfirth said:

Agree with the second sentence!

What is currently available for MSFS please?

been using  pilot2atc   for  pdv4   and  msfs

3 hours ago, Fielder said:

"2,000,000 number of pilots". I wonder if that means 500,000 copies sold and an average of 4 users have used each installed copy (family members etc.).

They have surpassed 2M copies sold already I believe...

Also looks like Milviz has verified the data with their own business decision as well.   

This reminds me of a company I worked for in the early 2000's.  They had the only solution on the market for years and were dominating then Juniper Networks came along and did the same thing with some additional features, ease of use and offered it as a service.  It took about 12 months for our common stock to go underwater.  Now OBVIOUSLY LM is not going underwater LOL, they are a multi billion dollar entity BUT I would guess if P3D was a stand alone organization trying to compete with MSFS/Asobo right now they'd be seriously debating closing up shop.  There is just no revenue left for them. 

Who as a new FS consumer would choose to go to P3D, deal with the licensing, the thousands of $$$ in add-ons required, the affinity mask tweaking, the shaders, EA in its current state, waffle clouds that have to be tweaked out of the sim, the version compatibility issues all while MSFS is just chugging along and all I need is Steam, GamePass or an XBox?   I would say "maybe" 1 in 100 new consumers would choose P3D.  You know, the type that thinks MSFS is still too "arcade" for them and they need "realistic flight procedures."  Again, maybe 1/100 who desire functionality MSFS can't deliver or doesn't deliver to their liking but the revenue stream is dead unless they want to throw massive dev dollars at turning P3D into an MSFS which in all honesty is probably NOT what their commercial customers are asking for.  Who are they going to develop for, consumer market which has dwindled to nearly naught or commercial and when does the commercial dev become so price preventative that the consumer is dropped altogether?   

Edited July 18, 20214 yr by psolk

On 7/16/2021 at 5:29 AM, kevinfirth said:

It depends on the level of further enhancement for me.  Aircraft will come in time I'm sure, the AI, well AIG are working on that, I'll need a much better ATC app before I switch completely, and yes Im a dinosaur, but I intensely dislike the UI, and there's not much chance of that changing 😛

Name me one sim  that has default ATC that works well?

On 7/16/2021 at 7:45 AM, kevinfirth said:

Agree with the second sentence!

What is currently available for MSFS please?

I use PF3 and have for years, both in P3D and now MSFS. Free demo available. There are others, but PF3 already comes with over 100 controller voices included. 

https://www.oncourse-software.co.uk/index.htm

Edited July 18, 20214 yr by Bobsk8

I feel one the of the key reasons is also the sheer ease of installing add-ons in this game: Drop it into the Community folder. 

Done. 

Edited July 18, 20214 yr by ThrottleUp