From Randazzo in the PMDG forum:

Quote

Suddenly keeping up with demand was a real challenge, so in 2018, we moved nearly all of our operational systems to the cloud, at a budget well high of $300,000+ over 18 months. The investment since that move has been even larger- and we now run some industry standard structures supported by Alphabet, Amazon, BigCommerce and four other cloud service providers. It is NOT a small operation and the monthly costs exceed the annual earnings of PMDG back in the early 2000s when we were just getting started.

...

...

Approaching 777 release, I was bound and determined to make this a boring release and we made a significant investment in operations and testing with our cloud providers to ensure we would be in good shape. In our post operational call tonight, they shared some analytic data that was simply astounding- and that had evolved since the earlier calls in the day... but the high level overview is that within minutes of launch, we had exceeded our theoretical high sales rate by an enormous multiple- and this set off the scaling mechanisms that keep our operation running under load.

One of those systems barfed, and it took 3 minutes for it to come back into operation. During that time all orders placed wound up being batched for future processing as load levels permitted. During that three minutes- we batched about 6,000 orders.

 

So PMDG is paying over 300K USD for their cloud server, and they also sold 6000 copies of the 777 within 3 minutes. 6000 x $77.73 USD = $466,380 USD, in 3 minutes. The revenue for the PMDG 777 will probably be several million USD, if I have to guess, especially when it release on XBox (I think it may even sell over $10 million USD).

No wonder why PMDG can afford their own private jet:

 

Edited June 26, 20241 yr by abrams_tank

Where’s the bean counting subforum?

I'm happy to say that I wasn't one of them.  

52 minutes ago, St Mawgan said:

I'm happy to say that I wasn't one of them.  

Neither do I, but it's mostly because I can't bear to learn how to use an FMC, if anyone can give a tip on a simple tutorial video how it works, I'd be grateful.

7 minutes ago, Ixoye said:

Neither do I, but it's mostly because I can't bear to learn how to use an FMC, if anyone can give a tip on a simple tutorial video how it works, I'd be grateful.

There's some fantastic tutorials on YouTube, by Real World pilots that explain in detail how to set up the FMC on just about any aircraft.

1 hour ago, St Mawgan said:

I'm happy to say that I wasn't one of them.  

So I am. I do fly airliners but the 777 is much too large and unwieldy, kind of boring, mass instead of class. Maybe I am one of the few simmer not owning any PMDG addon. I do not need the 737 because I own an (older) 737 home cockpit. Neither the DC—6 which I owned in FSX allready and I was not motivated to buy it once more.
 

But I wish the multibillion buyers of the 777 much fun 🙂

Edited June 26, 20241 yr by PTI139

This is great news. The more profitable flight sim is, the more future-proof it is.

Compared to a helicopter dev that needed months to sell 10K copies, this is massive. 

Now PMDG, it won't hurt to unleash a sale 😄

Edited June 26, 20241 yr by History

25 minutes ago, Ixoye said:

Neither do I, but it's mostly because I can't bear to learn how to use an FMC, if anyone can give a tip on a simple tutorial video how it works, I'd be grateful.

MSFS | TUTORIAL: PMDG Boeing 777 with a Real World 777 Pilot | Full Flight Lesson | Heathrow to SFO (youtube.com)

 

29 minutes ago, Ixoye said:

Neither do I, but it's mostly because I can't bear to learn how to use an FMC, if anyone can give a tip on a simple tutorial video how it works, I'd be grateful.

It's really easy trust me.

I went from GAs to big iron when the 747 was released.

The main issue isn't complexity... it's automation.

I often wonder why I bother when they can fly themselves from 400 ft AGL, to the the runway turnoff at the arrival airport.

Of course you CAN hand fly them... but it is not for everyone.

I now mix it up a bit.

 

 

Some people prefer Helicopters, some Gliders, others like Tactical Fighters, a few dig Seaplanes, heck even that one person who loves Balloons ... everyone can find their favourite air machine and fly it.. That's the beauty of it !

6000 copies  in 3 minutes?  This is an amazing result!  I'm very happy for him. But I don't like counting other people's money.)

Hopefully with that kind of money, they can find someone to create a proper soundset... 

It they would‘ve set the price to 50$ I am sure they would‘ve sold 10000 copies in that time. In the long run even more. 

3 hours ago, ha5mvo said:

Where’s the bean counting subforum?

Wake me up when the competition to MSFS has an add-on over $70 USD that sells 6000 copies in 3 minutes 🤣

Edited June 26, 20241 yr by abrams_tank