MSFS version pricing should be reconsidered

[Eduardo Holanda]

Honestly, I think it's unfair that MSFS users have to pay the same amount for the same addon as P3D users.  No offense, but Prepar3D is a dying platform, losing users every day and it's only going to get worse. In extreme contrast, MSFS, already the most popular simulator, has been maturing nicely and thanks to recent addon releases, has been gaining even more popularity.

The prices of these high quality airliners for MSFS reveals that the strategy that has been consolidated is that, thanks to the popularity of MSFS, it's possible to charge a lower price, sell to a larger audience and thus obtain the same or even a higher profit than selling at a higher price to a smaller, select audience.  Even the current most expensive addon for MSFS (Leonardo Fly the Maddog) costs $20 less than the P3D version.  

Obviously, you've been in the business for years and know more about economics than I do, so take this more as a suggestion. Thanks to the dialogue, Just Flight has reduced the price of Bae 146 by $15, so I hope that MSFS community can get you a price that is fair for both you and the community. It would be embarrassing to release the most expensive airliner to MSFS and maybe in the end, it would be of lower quality and realism than one that costs $30-$45 less.

[Fabio Almeida]

Hi Eduardo,

Firstly, welcome to the forums! We hope you have a good time interacting with us. I'd like to address this post with as much information as I am aware of, I have developed for the MD-11, but I am no longer actively on the project (as I am working on other projects). I may write information that is incorrect or no longer accurate, and if this happens, I will correct myself in a future reply.

To address your first paragraph, Prepar3D is not a "dying" platform. While user count decreased from 2020 to 2021 (as shown in the Navigraph survey), the survey did have 700 more respondents and is likely to have a different group of respondents (as I for example did not personally partake in the survey). We have still seen demand for the MD-11 to come to Prepar3D v4 and v5, just as we have seen demand for the MD-11 to come to Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS).

While MSFS has been maturing, it is still an extremely new simulator with an extremely new source development kit (SDK) which us developers have to learn and get used to. Developing for MSFS has proven a challenge at times, compared to the experience we have from the platforms developers are used to developing for (such as Flight Simulator X, Prepar3D and X-Plane). Other than X-Plane, Flight Simulator X and Prepar3D have been similar platforms and have not caused developers to massively change their methods of creation to develop for these platforms.

The pricing we initially released was provisional and may be subject to change, however, from my knowledge, we do plan to charge the same to Prepar3D users as MSFS users, since the product is the same to the best of our ability, and it wouldn't be fair to charge a lower price to one platform for the same product.

I would also like to say from my personal experience and watching the MD-11 be programmed and from updates in our Discord in the #dev-updates channel, our level of realism is on par for our current price point in my personal opinion.

I hope this explains our perspective and provides some insight into some of the decisions we have made so far. Once again, some information I have written may be inaccurate, but I will reply on this post if it is.

[doorstep]

On 5/18/2022 at 9:22 PM, Eduardo Holanda said:

Honestly, I think it's unfair that MSFS users have to pay the same amount for the same addon as P3D users.  No offense, but Prepar3D is a dying platform, losing users every day and it's only going to get worse. In extreme contrast, MSFS, already the most popular simulator, has been maturing nicely and thanks to recent addon releases, has been gaining even more popularity.

The prices of these high quality airliners for MSFS reveals that the strategy that has been consolidated is that, thanks to the popularity of MSFS, it's possible to charge a lower price, sell to a larger audience and thus obtain the same or even a higher profit than selling at a higher price to a smaller, select audience.  Even the current most expensive addon for MSFS (Leonardo Fly the Maddog) costs $20 less than the P3D version.  

Obviously, you've been in the business for years and know more about economics than I do, so take this more as a suggestion. Thanks to the dialogue, Just Flight has reduced the price of Bae 146 by $15, so I hope that MSFS community can get you a price that is fair for both you and the community. It would be embarrassing to release the most expensive airliner to MSFS and maybe in the end, it would be of lower quality and realism than one that costs $30-$45 less.

I'm rather very surprised, at your attitude to P3D, have also read your post on the FSL forum.

Your biased opinion is not welcome, anywhere. 

Your entitled to your very own opinion but please do not attempt to bribe the dev's on here because they are more mature, than you.

[doorstep]

On 5/18/2022 at 9:22 PM, Eduardo Holanda said:

 No offense, but Prepar3D is a dying platform, losing users every day and it's only going to get worse.

A dying platform, In whose opinion, just your's eh?