PMDG 737 RELEASE NEXT WEEK!!

[MDFlier 2,031]

1 hour ago, roi1862 said:

There is only 1 flaw in your calculation. There are at least 3 variants on the way…

2 flaws - part of that massive time investment was also spent learning the new platform and developing the DC-6, which IMO was a 'toe dip' into the pond of MSFS development. Now, they have the base work done for many, many, more products. The development time wasn't spent only on the 737. It was spent getting fully developed into the new platform.

1 hour ago, wlix261 said:

At 17,000 man-hours effort quoted by PMDG as "started in October 2019 until yesterday", One estimates $1M USD development cost. At $140 a license would require selling about 7000 licenses to break even the investment.... before taxes....

I think selling 7,000 copies will be as easy as falling off of a log for them. As long as the price isn't flat out stupid, that is.

[737_800 434]

4 minutes ago, Chock said:

I think Leonardo missed a trick coming in at 90 Euros with their MD-82. I suspect they'd have done much better with overall revenue at a lower price.

Yes, I think the same way. I don't even consider buying the MD-82, because of that price. If aircraft addon would be around 20-50 Euros. I surely would buy much more of them without much thinking and I assume many people would do the same.

[Nyxx 6,993]

I Totally agree  with Alan and MD Flier.

Also it seem for the first time in the NG History with PMDG there is no base model. Each one is stand alone. Implying and i could be wrong, there all going to be the same price? So a price point of $60 fits well. The MD80 was way to much to catch the...I will give it a go buyer.

Edited May 7, 2022 by Nyxx

[abrams_tank 7,426]

2 minutes ago, Chock said:

I think Leonardo missed a trick coming in at 90 Euros with their MD-82. I suspect they'd have done much better with overall revenue at a lower price.

With this in mind, I think it would be more sensible for PMDG to go with somewhere around the sixty quid mark. Psychologically this would be an acceptable price to many of the new users of MSFS who have heard about all the legendary reputation of PMDG's 737 and will wonder what all the fuss is about. They'd be more inclined to take a punt on it for that kind of money, thus letting PMDG benefit from capturing volume sales and more importantly for their longevity, capturing a whole raft of new fans of the brand who have yet to swallow the pill we sim veterans all took a long time ago in regards to acceptable price points for things.

We know those who've known PMDG for years would pay more than sixty quid of course, but the whole point of any developer going for making stuff for MSFS, is to tap into the large market and garner volume sales, then, having captured a whole new bunch of fans, gradually introduce the notion of paying a bit more for their kind of thing, either with different variants or maybe a wide-body aeroplane at a later date. This is not too far off what they have charged in the past if you for example, break down what each one of PMDG's 747 variants costs if viewed individually, where I think each 747 variant worked out at less than 20 quid a pop when viewed in isolation even though the package was over 100 quid.

RSR is nothing if not shrewd, but it remains to be seen how shrewd; I guess we'll find out in a day or two.

Yup, I think the most likely price is between $59 USD to $79 USD (if you have taken a marketing course on pricing, $59 rather than $60, and $79 rather than $80, can have a huge impact on sales).

Also, for those who don't understand that raising prices doesn't necessarily lead to higher total revenue, I explain this in more detail in this post: 

 

I agree with Chock that Leonardo missed out on a lot of sales and they probably lowered their Total Revenue with the expensive price tag of the Maddog.  I don't think PMDG will make the same mistake.  While I said the price of the PMDG 737 is probably between $59 USD to $79 USD, I would bet more money that it's between $59 to $69 USD, than I would that it's between $69 to $79 USD.

[Matchstick 1,888]

2 minutes ago, Nyxx said:

I Totally agree  with Alan and MD Flier.

Also it seem for the first time in the NG History with PMDG there is no base model. Each one is stand alone. Implying and i could be wrong, there all going to be the same price? So a price point of $60 fits well. The MD80 was way to much to catch the...I will give it a go buyer.

The cost to buy all of the 737 versions in P3D is $185. A pricing strategy that expects MSFS owners to pay more than that with the MUCH larger market available (sales of the DC6 are direct evidence of that) would be a problem for me.

[Nyxx 6,993]

13 minutes ago, Matchstick said:

The cost to buy all of the 737 versions in P3D is $185. A pricing strategy that expects MSFS owners to pay more than that with the MUCH larger market available (sales of the DC6 are direct evidence of that) would be a problem for me.

I hear you, but Ive bought the NG to many times FSX and P3D and then the NGXu, frankly thats enough,

I will use my $99 credit and very little else, I am kiding myself if i think I will not buy the 700 becasue I want to get back into the NG but frankly the 800 is the one I want and really is the only one I want, I personly think its why there doing the 700 first knowing that most want the 800......yer make us buy 2......No way i will buy the 600 or 900.

I would not buy the 700 if the 800 came first like it did in FSX and P3D, call me a cynical but why did they bring the 700 out first? yer.... knowing most people first choise would be the 800, get them to buy two!!!!!!

Edited May 7, 2022 by Nyxx

[regis9 4,028]

1 hour ago, Carts85 said:

At this point I don’t understand the need to not release the price.

The fact that people are talking about the price speculation is exactly why.  All part of the PMDG hype machine.

2 hours ago, rjack1282 said:

Since we're doing it I'm guessing $49.99 per variant with the hope most will buy at least two variants.

this is where my brain is too.

Edited May 7, 2022 by regis9

[lwt1971 7,425]

18 minutes ago, Matchstick said:

The cost to buy all of the 737 versions in P3D is $185. A pricing strategy that expects MSFS owners to pay more than that with the MUCH larger market available (sales of the DC6 are direct evidence of that) would be a problem for me.

Well it's about targeting one kind of buyer over another... PMDG probably feels that the buyer who'd only want one variant far outnumber those who'd want all the variants, and given that this new pricing strategy makes sense.

[edpatino 1,970]

A sure buy. The sim is improving a lot with this new addition, plus the already released MD-80 by LSH.

The bad thing is the eternal wait for the first time load, of about 11-13 min for both of these planes.

[JYW 2,985]

20 minutes ago, Nyxx said:

I personly think its why there doing the 700 first knowing that most want the 800......yer make us buy 2

I literally just thought that myself, word for word.

Perhaps I'm being Eurocentric here, but I'm sure a majority of potential users would want the -800 as their mainstay.  (Could be different in the US perhaps, with SWA for the -700s).   So I too only really want the -800 and I think it's a good thing that I won't have to invest some of my cash into the -600 and -900 that I have no interest in.  But it will be nigh on impossible to sit back and not buy the -700, waiting a further 6+ weeks for the -800.  If they are $60ish per version, to be honest, I'll be pretty happy to pay $120 for a -700 and -800 of this quality.

It's all good.

Edited May 7, 2022 by JYW

[WestAir 2,522]

51 minutes ago, Nyxx said:

I Totally agree  with Alan and MD Flier.

Also it seem for the first time in the NG History with PMDG there is no base model. Each one is stand alone. Implying and i could be wrong, there all going to be the same price? So a price point of $60 fits well. The MD80 was way to much to catch the...I will give it a go buyer.

The thing about the MD80 vs 737 pricing is the MD80 is €75 for the MD-82, MD-83, and MD-88. That's €25 per variant.

The 737 could be $240 for the 736, 737, 738, and 739, assuming $60 per variant.

And so all things considered, the MD-80 is cheaper, they're just not charging per variant, which I think is LSH's biggest mistake here. If LSH had let you buy independent variants at €25 each, they'd have made an absolute killing, without even changing the total price for all 3 variants.

Edited May 7, 2022 by WestAir

[Matchstick 1,888]

8 minutes ago, WestAir said:

The thing about the MD80 vs 737 pricing is the MD80 is 80 Euros for the MD-82, MD-83, and MD-88. That's 27 Euro's per variant.

The 737 would be $240 for the 736, 737, 738, and 739, assuming $60 per variant.

And so all things considered, the MD-80 is cheaper, they're just not charging per variant, which I think is LSH's biggest mistake here.

There's just an MD-82 in the current release and everything I've seen has described the 83/88 as an expansion pack to be paid for ?

[Matchstick 1,888]

27 minutes ago, lwt1971 said:

Well it's about targeting one kind of buyer over another... PMDG probably feels that the buyer who'd only want one variant far outnumber those who'd want all the variants, and given that this new pricing strategy makes sense.

I do  agree with that and in itself it's not a terrible idea, but I'd like to see some kind discount system for people who buy multiple versions.

[WestAir 2,522]

1 minute ago, Matchstick said:

There's just an MD-82 in the current release and everything I've seen has described the 83/88 as an expansion pack to be paid for ?

Is that true!?

I feel like I had all 3 aircraft in P3D for one purchase. If what you've said is true, then everything I said was wrong, and LSH is absolutely crazy.

[Farlis 2,289]

1 hour ago, Nyxx said:

I Totally agree  with Alan and MD Flier.

Also it seem for the first time in the NG History with PMDG there is no base model. Each one is stand alone. Implying and i could be wrong, there all going to be the same price? So a price point of $60 fits well. The MD80 was way to much to catch the...I will give it a go buyer.

Indeed. And to top it off the MD80 is an enthusiasts aircraft at this point. I'd say most casually interested people, who think about trying an add-on that has training level system depth, will pick one they have actually flown on in real life and where they can simulate current real world operations.

Those prerequisites are met only by aircraft that are widely in service today. The 737, 777 and 787 on the one hand (the 747 is virtually gone as passenger aircraft and is about to enter the enthusiasts category as well), then the A320 Family, the A350 and the A330 (The 380 and 340 suffering the 747's fate at the moment). And among more regional airliners you have the Dash 8, the CRJ's and the ERJ's and a few ATR's.

That's it. All others are too obscure or already phased out of service. And the MD80 belongs in that category. And as such its price is definately too high for the average simmer.

Edited May 7, 2022 by Farlis