Drzewiecki Design shares numbers on its P3D userbase makeup

[abrams_tank 7,419]

Hi.  I came across this information from Drzewiecki Design, who gave the actual percentage of its P3D customer base in their forum:

Quote

Hi.
P3D customers currently make about 4% of the total customer base which does not seem promising for any P3D releases/updates in the near future.

This is the first time I have seen numbers shared by a major 3rd party developer on the percentage of users in their customer base.  It would have been nice if Drzewiecki Design also shared the percentage of MSFS users and XP users but unfortunately, I did not see it in that thread.

It would be nice if other 3rd party devs also shared their customer base makeup so we could compare it to Drzewiecki Design.

Disclaimer: I don't own P3D (I own MSFS) - I am not here to antagonize the posters in this forum so if this post does that, the mods can delete it.  I'm just interested in discussing the current PC home user flight simulation market, with objective data.

Edited December 11, 2021 by abrams_tank

[C2615 319]

I's kinda chicken and egg problem, I'm not very watch on the scenery side, but what aircraft we get recently?

I could recall from memory is visual UPDATE of MJQ400 and well... yet another 737 (and sort of update again...)

And many developer announced or suggest they'll stop or slow down P3D development, no wonder people would be hesitate to purchase anything new....

 

My recent big purchases are ini A310, Felis B742 and Toliss A346....all on X-Plane, but it's not like I have give up P3D, if same aircraft available on P3D side, I'll go for P3D instead of XP one....

Edited December 11, 2021 by C2615

[Recognition 91]

Many of us have three sims, and fly one of them the most, and have addon purchases for all three of them, I`m just happy that P3Dv5 is of the quality it is today, and with addons I`m pretty much content.

If 3rd party developers stop supporting P3D then so be it, it wont change my enjoyment in the sim.

[vadriver 248]

1 hour ago, abrams_tank said:

P3D customers currently make about 4%

blimey, that's more than i expected ..... before & after MSFS.

it's just scenery ...... & we all know how "important" that is "flying" from A to B.

 

Edited December 11, 2021 by vadriver

[micstatic 4,319]

The trend is undeniable. But disingenuous when a developer doesn’t release new p3d stuff anymore. Everybody who wants dca/sea etc have already purchased it 

[jaytee73 132]

1 hour ago, vadriver said:

blimey, that's more than i expected ..... before & after MSFS.

it's just scenery ...... & we all know how "important" that is "flying" from A to B.

 

On the other hand !! - the statistic that shattered me from a major P3D producer of aircraft

was the statement by the head of PDMG that --- " they sold more downloads of the DC 6 for MSFS

in the first week of it offered for the sim - than all the total sales - ever -  of the product for P3D"

No one has offered the question to PDMG -- how as it gone since then  ? -  and again - since it went

onto the marketplace in the sim  ??

I just wonder how the same statistic question applies to Carenado and Just Flight aircraft

 

[Ray Proudfoot 8,956]

For me the most important aspect of flight simulation is taking my aircraft from departure to destination making as few mistakes as possible. Whilst taxiing out, taking off and cruise is pretty straight-forward the descent, approach and landing is where the real skill comes into play. Landing especially is the most demanding and nothing gives me greater satisfaction than a real 'greaser'.

None of that demands satellite quality scenery especially if, like me, your 6 miles up and monitoring your aircraft systems. I have UTX for two continents plus FTX Global so from that altitude things look fine for me. And with AIG Ai I have loads of aircraft that bring airports to life - even default ones.

But if you fly below 1500ft in VFR conditions then I can see the attraction of MSFS. But looking at the weather outside my window today with a cloud base of 1000ft or thereabouts it's not exactly ideal weather for VFR either.

I would only use MSFS for pottering around and admiring the great scenery but for serious flying P3D will remain my first choice.

[out 769]

7 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

I would only use MSFS for pottering around and admiring the great scenery but for serious flying P3D will remain my first choice.

As of now I think/feel exactly the same as you, Ray.

It's a bit weird, as I always bought next MS flightsims.I literally can't count how many versions I have used so far.
Though serious simming (paying attention to systems, procedures and navigation plus buying add-ons) started for me with, as far as I remember, FS98.

MSFS2020 is the first one I did not buy and I... don't even have temptation (!) to.
Probably it is so, because for my IFR flying, mostly with FSLabs Airbuses, my current Prepar3Dv5 works almost flawelessly and fits my flying needs.
Yes, if I bought MSFS2020, I would probably take a Cessna and fly over my own roof and my area to enjoy recognizing some places.
It could be fun, but I don't think I would do it more than once or twice.

Additionally, there is, like always, the question of budget. At least for me.
I have spend (too) much to build my P3D world and having high priority real-life needs now, I can't imagine pumping hundreds of euros into another platform.

My two-eurocent worth point of view.

[SimeonWilbury 220]

My question regarding this data is exactly what they are drawing on, is this new purchases within a certain recent period?

If so I imagine P3D will look very bad in comparison to MSFS as I don't believe there have been any new releases from Drzewiecki Design in P3D since RJAA, most of their old P3D Sceneries are quite long in the tooth and well in need of an update. Whereas MSFS is quite new, with a lot of new releases. Same reason why I am somewhat skeptical of the lines devs like Aerosoft are taking.

What I would like to see is data from a dev like FlyTampa that is still actively releasing content for P3D, in terms of the number of 'customers' I'd imagine that could form the basis of a more statistically valid figure to go on. I expect MSFS will still have quite a bit more marketshare but I don't think there's necessarily no money to be made round here.

[psolk 3,040]

5 minutes ago, SimeonWilbury said:

My question regarding this data is exactly what they are drawing on, is this new purchases within a certain recent period?

If so I imagine P3D will look very bad in comparison to MSFS as I don't believe there have been any new releases from Drzewiecki Design in P3D since RJAA, most of their old P3D Sceneries are quite long in the tooth and well in need of an update. Whereas MSFS is quite new, with a lot of new releases. Same reason why I am somewhat skeptical of the lines devs like Aerosoft are taking.

What I would like to see is data from a dev like FlyTampa that is still actively releasing content for P3D, in terms of the number of 'customers' I'd imagine that could form the basis of a more statistically valid figure to go on. I expect MSFS will still have quite a bit more marketshare but I don't think there's necessarily no money to be made round here.

I "believe" PMDG stated they sold more copies of DC-6 in MSFS than all other platforms combined... I believe at one point Kaiii from AIG showed ~ 50,000 new AIG downloads per day opposed to 1/3 of that total for P3D.  So it is 3X per day what P3D has ever produced based on those numbers.  There isn't a business case to be made for a net new P3D release unless they are quite far down the line or have some sort of port or upgrade "or" have commitment from a commercial customer.  

I won't get into the validity of MSFS for flying above 1500 feet or doing anything but pottering about, that's what FS9 simmers with all their add-ons said about FSX and what FSX users said about P3D until they tried it (myself included)  I remember when FSX was a "VFR" only sim if you asked an FS9 user lol.... 

I do completely understand investment and current P3D capabilities not driving a user's "need" for MSFS right now, I stuck with FS9 for years, skipped FSX and went to P3DV3 as my next major platform upgrade but will say some who haven't tried MSFS don't have the most accurate reference for comment other than trying it once or twice at a friends and reading posts here....   Without a true test drive you can't ever understand what something is actually capable of...  

[micstatic 4,319]

I have MSFS.  And I like it.  But we are still waiting for the airliners!  So many of us who still lurk in this forum are probably unlikely to spend too much time in MSFS until they release some higher quality airliners.  

[Joseph29 225]

Maybe Drzewiecki Design has low sale numbers today because everyone has everything he released already? The last scenery I bought from him was Tokyo Narit and I bought that in December 2020 or January 2021.

[chapstick 2,757]

4 minutes ago, Joseph29 said:

Maybe Drzewiecki Design has low sale numbers today because everyone has everything he released already? The last scenery I bought from him was Tokyo Narit and I bought that in December 2020 or January 2021.

This might be the case. Also, I'm betting they would see a good uptick in sales if they focused on a major airport like JFK that really needs an updated rendition in P3D.

[alex86 192]

48 minutes ago, Rafal said:

As of now I think/feel exactly the same as you, Ray.

It's a bit weird, as I always bought next MS flightsims.I literally can't count how many versions I have used so far.
Though serious simming (paying attention to systems, procedures and navigation plus buying add-ons) started for me with, as far as I remember, FS98.

MSFS2020 is the first one I did not buy and I... don't even have temptation (!) to.
Probably it is so, because for my IFR flying, mostly with FSLabs Airbuses, my current Prepar3Dv5 works almost flawelessly and fits my flying needs.
Yes, if I bought MSFS2020, I would probably take a Cessna and fly over my own roof and my area to enjoy recognizing some places.
It could be fun, but I don't think I would do it more than once or twice.

Additionally, there is, like always, the question of budget. At least for me.
I have spend (too) much to build my P3D world and having high priority real-life needs now, I can't imagine pumping hundreds of euros into another platform.

My two-eurocent worth point of view.

I feel the exact same way. MSFS looks great but with FSLabs, there is no reason for me to go to MSFS. If FSLabs can bring a bigger Airbus out for P3D, my sim will definitely be complete!

[SimeonWilbury 220]

19 minutes ago, psolk said:

I "believe" PMDG stated they sold more copies of DC-6 in MSFS than all other platforms combined... I believe at one point Kaiii from AIG showed ~ 50,000 new AIG downloads per day opposed to 1/3 of that total for P3D.  So it is 3X per day what P3D has ever produced based on those numbers.  There isn't a business case to be made for a net new P3D release unless they are quite far down the line or have some sort of port or upgrade "or" have commitment from a commercial customer.  

I won't get into the validity of MSFS for flying above 1500 feet or doing anything but pottering about, that's what FS9 simmers with all their add-ons said about FSX and what FSX users said about P3D until they tried it (myself included)  I remember when FSX was a "VFR" only sim if you asked an FS9 user lol.... 

I do completely understand investment and current P3D capabilities not driving a user's "need" for MSFS right now, I stuck with FS9 for years, skipped FSX and went to P3DV3 as my next major platform upgrade but will say some who haven't tried MSFS don't have the most accurate reference for comment other than trying it once or twice at a friends and reading posts here....   Without a true test drive you can't ever understand what something is actually capable of...  

I'll take your point insofar as not having tried it. I have been tempted to, but with a Student's budget I chose to continue investing in P3D. So yes a sunk-cost issue on my part. But I still feel I have the right to advocate for P3D as a mature platform with a catalogue of Study-Level airliner sims already available.

I do take slight issue with the examples you use - both are definitely fine examples of the scale of MSFS's reach as a platform, but, the DC6 so far remains the only major Aircraft release from PMDG for MSFS. Not to doubt its popularity, but I do think the context of MSFS and P3D and their stages of development are important to consider when reading those statistics. I don't doubt that in time MSFS will have a lot more fine aircraft under its belt, as was the case for FSX as you pointed out. But for now progress is slow and a lot of that is still missing in MSFS.

AIG being freeware may also be skewing things slightly, though the 1/3 figure cited there I'd be willing to believe more than the 4% cited by Drzewiecki Design.

My Main point is that I'm not aiming to slag off MSFS, I think its a great looking sim and will most likely get it at some point in the future. But I also think P3D is still a viable sim in the medium term, and I think some of the statistics being cited about P3D usage are potentially misleading when proper context isn't being provided and/ or taken into account.

Edited December 11, 2021 by SimeonWilbury