5 hours ago, WestAir said:

Anyone remember that "study level" 737 NG for FSX that had like a $600 price tag and the devs were super secretive? Ariane I think?

PMDG prevailed with a better product for a lower price. Theres no more Ariana (sp) 737. 😉

The Ariane 737 NG for FS2004 and the one for FSX had a price tag of just over 100 quid. This was at a time when few, if any, add-on aeroplanes for sims went past that psychological 100 quid barrier, so that's why you are recalling it being super-expensive, which is was comparatively, but it wasn't anywhere near 600 Dollars. It was actually pretty good to be fair, and it even featured some functions which the PMDG 737s have never modeled, but Ariane's pricing policy of charging for repaints and options made Captain Sim's pricing model look like the essence of modesty, so you could end up spending a lot with Ariane if you went with all the add-ons.

You may recall that at the time, Ariane did not give out review copies, and since I was a reviewer for Avism, I suggested that I buy it and do a review, which I did. It caused lots of consternation at the time, but I was fair in my review and gave it a pretty good score, because in all honesty, it was a pretty decent add-on 737 in spite of the company's lack of popularity. I think it was myself and Avsim user Signmanbob who did all that malarkey of giving it a bit of exposure and pointing out that it wasn't half bad.

Actually, it's worth also recalling that the iFly 737 also beat PMDG to the draw for getting an NG out for FSX, by about six weeks or so if I recall correctly, and that was another one which put a cat among the pigeons, since it was a lot of bang for your bucks and was a match for the PMDG bird.

5 hours ago, Bigsby said:

So is PMDG if they aren't careful about pricing.

PMDG has an established user base, I serious don't think they are worried (losing sleep) about their pricing because some newbie don't want to pay their prices. They have been in business for 25 years for a reason quality products and there are plenty or folks out there that are willing to pay their prices and for others that don't want to there is a Brdedok 73 Max on simmarket for a lot cheaper if they need a "flyable" 737. No entitlement for lower prices because the market of MSFS. That is IMO "Reality"

Edit: Also I find it kind of odd that people complain about buying aircraft for full price for a newer version of a platform but never hesitate and complain about paying full price of a newer version of P3D i.e. P3D. v1, v2, v3, v4 and now v5 than expect 3pd to upgrade their aeroplanes for free or an substantial discount.

Edited August 15, 20214 yr by jbdbow1970

1 hour ago, Chock said:

Snip

You've got fantastic memory! I remember there were long threads and a lot of fighting about the Ariane, mostly about the audacity of the pricing model. I was a kid back then so $100 must've seemed like $600 to me haha 

And yeah, the ifly 737 was smooth as silk. I flew it a dozen times even after buying the NGX. Good times.

Edited August 15, 20214 yr by WestAir

6 hours ago, Farlis said:

What do you think 100€ are in USD? 😉

I didn't purchase it in USD. 

I purchased it with NOK. And the easiest calculation for me was Euro since its almost precisely 10:1. 😏

 

3 hours ago, Republic3D said:

I didn't purchase it in USD. 

I got that the first time. 😉

My hint was that maybe 100€ is more or less 119 USD. 😉

On 8/15/2021 at 5:05 AM, WestAir said:

Anyone remember that "study level" 737 NG for FSX that had like a $600 price tag and the devs were super secretive? Ariane I think?

PMDG prevailed with a better product for a lower price. Theres no more Ariana (sp) 737. 😉

Your memory is faulty.

I owned the Arianedesign 737 BBJ, and it came in at about $110, the price went up if you bought variants and liveries.

The 737s by Ariane were actually quite good, had a fully modeled 3-day cockpit, and at the very least comparable to what PMDG was offering at the time.

Where Ariane faltered badly was in their customer service.

I think I made a couple of posts about Ariane's BBJ 12-14 years ago here on avsim.

Edited August 16, 20214 yr by Ricardo41

OK, I think this one has run it's course.