16 minutes ago, CaptainAddOn said:

My point is that good business dictates to hire someone for $30 an hour to make $31 dollars an hour in a niche market, even though he already is paying 10 people $30 an hour to make $800 an hour in the main market. The notion of “we have to focus our resources on MSFS” does not come right out and say “P3D is not profitable”.

A company’s resources are never unlimited, whether it’s people, time, or financing.  If I had an extra $30 I’d certainly invest in a business where I could make another $80 instead of only $31. Profitable does not equal “profitable enough.”  Everything is a choice, just as with your own personal investments.

Edited July 2, 20232 yr by Gilandred

Allow a word from the peanut gallery. This may or may not be a poor example as applies to sim developers. The company I retired from, (Frito Lay,) is owned by PEPSICO. PEP also at the timed owned Tropicana, Quaker Oats, Gatorade, Rock Star and several restaurant's such as Kentucy Fried Chicken and Taco Bell. It was no secret PEPs' primary cash cow was Frito. They would draw off F.L. to shore up some of the less profitable endeavors. Their primary competitor then was Coke in the soda market but Proctor & Gamble in the world view. So diversity and growth while trying to block competition was the apparent nonsensible reason for drawing cash from the golden egg goose to prop up the other companies in a more competitive market such as Quaker and the cereal wars.

A company is either growing or dying, no such thing as holding your own we were often reminded. So how in my convoluted mind do I apply this to sim developers.? By making small divisions to continue updates for the numerical customer minority platforms such as P3D and XPlane  when the expanding customer base for MSFS reaches critical mass and the expansion slows, (and it will) you have solid footing in other venues for cultivation and growth.

One other point, at Frito Lay the primary volume drivers were of course the big grocery chains with hundreds of stores selling thousands of dollars of our products in each. Nevertheless, we never left the little corner Mom and Pop store, many of which actually cost more to service in resources then revenue received. Why? Name recognition, customer good will, respect for those that made the company possible in the beginning, and not to leave an empty space for competitors to move into and grow.  

I understand sim developers are not publicly traded corporations and this may be a ridicules comaprison; if so I apologies. But myself, I can see some parallels. 

3 hours ago, CaptainAddOn said:

My point is that good business dictates to hire someone for $30 an hour to make $31 dollars an hour in a niche market, even though he already is paying 10 people $30 an hour to make $800 an hour in the main market.

That doesn't make good sense at all, because it never happens in a vacuum (you're competing against other lines of business that have higher revenue potential) and the revenue is by no means guaranteed.

And FWIW, a return of 3.5% is absolutely terrible these days. I can get better returns in a money market account with absolutely zero risk. Considering the infinitely higher risk in a niche small business like flightsim addons, I'd be looking at an initial return north of 20%; I'll need that buffer later.

At this point I consider that v5 will be the product people stay on. If they stay on p3d. I mean to my knowledge we have nothing at all confirmed from the airplane devs. Pmdg out. Fslabs hinting out. Even iFly seems to hint this. The good news is that v5 will remain totally usable 

If it has to be 5.4, it will be.

MSFS20 is totally discarded for me. In due course I will think about 2024.

PS: link

Edited July 2, 20232 yr by Juliet Alpha

18 minutes ago, micstatic said:

At this point I consider that v5 will be the product people stay on. If they stay on p3d. I mean to my knowledge we have nothing at all confirmed from the airplane devs. Pmdg out. Fslabs hinting out. Even iFly seems to hint this. The good news is that v5 will remain totally usable 

Yeah, V6 looking DOA at least for airliner users. 

5 hours ago, Patco Lch said:

A company is either growing or dying, no such thing as holding your own we were often reminded. So how in my convoluted mind do I apply this to sim developers.? By making small divisions to continue updates for the numerical customer minority platforms such as P3D and XPlane  when the expanding customer base for MSFS reaches critical mass and the expansion slows, (and it will) you have solid footing in other venues for cultivation and growth.

Makes good sense. We can stress test that idea. Let's say that next Monday or it may be a Monday 2 years from now when that infamous MS board meeting happens and some meathead says ok let's start shutting down this flight sim game. It is just not keeping up with all the demand we have for oh I don't know AI Mind reading games and clubs. All the 12 year old kids love that. We all know it can happen. Most of us have fallen prey to it at least once or twice with MS. I can tell you for sure I want be spending money with the likes of A2A or or Carenado. Not after I have seen how they operate. It is not personal with me. They have proven to be not trust worthy and I don't spend my money with them. I  think their are a lot of us who do business that way. We have very long memories.

8 hours ago, Krakin said:

The youtuber said he expects MS to leave the industry again because..................MS announced 2024.... I mean, how desperate can you get?

I think there was a Youtube video (or maybe it was a Q&A on FSElite) from the expo and a Lockhead Martin guy said he expects MS to leave the market again in the future.

36 minutes ago, Joseph29 said:

I think there was a Youtube video (or maybe it was a Q&A on FSElite) from the expo and a Lockhead Martin guy said he expects MS to leave the market again in the future.

Yep he did. I heard him say it!!

Hmmm something is very palpable in the air around here, can't quite put my finger on it. Nonetheless, given the sages here (and apparently on the LM team) have said MS will leave the market, it surely must be true and I guess I better prepare for it!

 

Now that v6 has been released, I'll lock this thread and discussion of the actual product can continue in the new thread(s).