2 minutes ago, Dominique_K said:

I had a look on their site at Orbx Direct>About>Investors>AGM FY22> annual report page 8 Profit and loss.  I am not familiar with Australian accounting but the statement for 21 and 22 don't look too good to me.

 813a9f44-orbx-limited-consolidated-financial-report-fy22-final.pdf (orbxdirect.com)

Read the P.S. in my comment above. Nothing unusual of a portfolio company held by a P.E. fund.
Also read the linked P.E. firm's quarterly investment report, page 6.

 

47 minutes ago, F737MAX said:

Read the P.S. in my comment above

Thanks !  What a jargonish prose  !

Interesting bits :  a new online shop upcoming and they bet on their relationship with  MS to continue their growth. The M&A bit  is unclear, do they plan acquisitions or to be acquired 😄.

Yes, it does seem like a case where an equity firm is simply taking out as much as it can each year; their overall revenues are healthy. Regardless, the attachment I used to feel to the ORBX brand is gone. I virtually never go to their website and have only a few of their products in MSFS, and I am generally not inclined to consider what they offer. It is a dramatic shift from my view and feeling toward them in P3D, where I saw them as committed to building excellent airports, often in unique settings, that were almost an experience. They helped pioneer things like people and traffic flow to give the airport a sense of life and I found it engaging. I don't perceive that commitment to innovation and to quality scenery anymore, and to be frank, I don't find much of what they do very appealing. Perhaps they lost the  way in The Big Shift to MSFS.

14 minutes ago, Dominique_K said:

to be acquired

^^This.

I agree with your earlier comment that "the knowledge of the market by the new executive team may be on the light side".
They have technical skills (read the biographies of the exec team in the first few pages of the annual reports). However, they have missed the point regarding what once made Orbx special.

 

As I mentioned earlier, it makes sense in the short-term to reduce headcount:

Quote

The new Havant lease was subsequently surrendered on 1 September 2022 due to a decision to close the Havant office.

Source: Orbx Annual Report 2022 (Page 30)

 

7 minutes ago, Cognita said:

Perhaps they lost the  way in The Big Shift to MSFS

It's more to do with leveraging as much debt finance as possible onto the company, attempting to make it more profitable than when it was acquired, extracting as much value during ownership as possible, then selling the business for as much as possible - Private Equity 101.
No room for fluffy feelings such as striving for excellence in their products, offering unique and highly detailed scenery, or pushing the envelope of what is technically feasible in flight simming.

With my old P.E. head on, it makes complete sense and would have been an interesting investment back in 2020.
As a flight sim enthusiast and customer, it's a disappointing change of direction and emphasis.

On 2/2/2023 at 10:32 AM, slicker55 said:

I have been an Orbx customer for a few years and have accrued 700 Orbs, I have been keeping an eye on the Orb store as they say titles are changed on a regular basis
 Here's a breakdown of what's currently available:

FSX (50)
Prepar3D (50)
Prepar3D v4 (08)
Prepar3D v4+ (02)
X-Plane 11 (15)
Aerofly FS 2 (07)
MSFS (01)

It is very disappointing to see there are no major airports for MSFS (only one GA airfield) compared to a much wider selection for other simulators.I don't know whether you guys will agree but I think Orbx should ensure there is a reasonable number of airports available in the Orb store for all simulators before promoting a product which, I assume, is designed to reward customer loyalty and incentivise potential customers.

Back on topic, it seems that there has been a change for the better, more than one now.

5 hours ago, Reader said:

it seems that there has been a change for the better, more than one now.

Good to see they have listened to customers' feedback.

 

While I'm only currently interested in their upcoming ESSA, I see their new-ish L.A. helipads products have a joint discount. At least they appear to be catering to the low and slow fans (albeit spinning top version) once again.

I never cared about the Orbs before because the rewards were meh whenever I checked. How are you able to afford anything from their staore anyway? I purchased about 60 products from Orbx since MSFS was released, but only have 107 points in my account. 

4 hours ago, petz_e said:

I never cared about the Orbs before because the rewards were meh whenever I checked. How are you able to afford anything from their staore anyway? I purchased about 60 products from Orbx since MSFS was released, but only have 107 points in my account. 

If you use Volanta, there's numerous "Aerocaches" that you can fly around and find, which then reward you with 5 or 10 Orbs I believe.  It's a pretty neat way to see some new parts of the world.

37 minutes ago, TWerner said:

If you use Volanta, there's numerous "Aerocaches" that you can fly around and find, which then reward you with 5 or 10 Orbs I believe.  It's a pretty neat way to see some new parts of the world.

That's another thing I tried once but it didn't work, went to their discord for support and....there was none, so I never did it again!

47 minutes ago, MarcG said:

That's another thing I tried once but it didn't work, went to their discord for support and....there was none, so I never did it again!

Just to set the record straight, not only is there a Discord Channel, there is also a support ticket system dedicated to Volanta.

On 2/2/2023 at 1:08 PM, Greggy_D said:

Their “loyalty” program is a joke. 

I agree. I have been an Orbx customer for 14 years and have about 150+ products and it seems rather measly for supporters of the brand not to be recompensed for their loyalty with a little more generosity. I don't know how many thousands of pounds I've spent with Orbx, and apart from the sales which are accessible for anyone, I can't remember anything being forthcoming for my loyalty. 

Edited February 10, 20233 yr by Rockliffe

 

9 hours ago, Rockliffe said:

I can't remember anything being forthcoming for my loyalty. 

No offence intended Howard but the concept of loyalty to a brand has always seemed a little strange to me . I have bought several tens of products at Orbx not out of any loyalty and because they were great products at a reasonable price. The loyalty was to me 😇.

 

10 hours ago, Rockliffe said:

I agree. I have been an Orbx customer for 14 years and have about 150+ products and it seems rather measly for supporters of the brand not to be recompensed for their loyalty with a little more generosity. I don't know how many thousands of pounds I've spent with Orbx, and apart from the sales which are accessible for anyone, I can't remember anything being forthcoming for my loyalty. 

You can say the same for shopping on Amazon! They don't have to show you any loyalty over the course of many years from your purchase history, it was your decision to purchase from them not them demanding you bought items from their store 😉 

The Orbs "thing" they've got going is some sort of loyalty scheme, but as this thread has shown it's poorly executed and needs a bit more work.

great comments so far... may be useful to cross-reference this thread with a similar discussion taking place here

In case you haven't checked... they've added a few more MSFS airports into the Orbs store 😃