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Does the recent announcement that SimMarket - a long standing reseller of flight simulator add-ons - is moving into other markets (for example, a fishing game), spell the beginning of the end for the flight simulator add-on market?
That might seem like a drastic question, but let’s take a look at the current state of the add-on market. What could be the reasons for the slow down?
The new simmer and FSX
I think one of the main reasons is that we’ve got utter confusion as far as FSX and add-ons go. The average “non-enthusiast” FSX user, who may have been tempted to buy the occasional add-on, will most likely be put off for the simple reason that they don’t even know if it’ll run on their setup. Imagine, if you will, that you’re not a die-hard sim fan and you’ve just purchased and installed your shiny new copy of FSX on your machine. You’ve done a few flights and you’ve got your eye on that nice new aircraft add-on, when you check the system requirements. Maybe it’ll read something like:
“Requires Flight Simulator X with Service Pack 1 installed. We’re working on a compatibility fix so it’ll work with Service Pack 2 in the near future. There will be an additional charge for this update.”
You read that and think, “What the…?”. Do I have Service Pack 1 installed? Service Pack 2? Will it work? You’re not sure, so you probably think “I’ll save my money and wait until all the problems are sorted out.”.
Like it or not, FSX has fragmented the market. I’ve a feeling it’s only die-hard enthusiasts that are still buying add-ons.
I’ve recently had an email from a reader asking if I could create a new section in the forum where people could post about add-ons known to work with FSX with SP1 and Acceleration installed. This is a great idea, but it’s one that shouldn’t be necessary and indicates the level of confusion out there.
FS9
Add-on developers are actually starting to port products originally developed for FSX back to FS9. This HAS to be a signal that they recognise that, for many, FS9 is their primary simulator and will remain so for some time.
This is an unprecedented move in the history of the Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise. As far as I know, add-ons being developed for the “current” version have never been ported backwards to a previous version.
This only adds to the confusion of the new simmer.
Pricing
Coincidentally, the Just Flight Blog only yesterday posted a lengthy article on basically how price cuts are killing the industry. To be honest, I don’t agree with the author.
He writes that “everything has its value”. Whilst this is true, the actual worth in a free market is what people are prepared to pay for it. If customers are prepared to pay £10 for an add-on, but not £30, then I’d say its value was £10 at that point in time. Again, if I’m honest, I’d say the average add-on is over-priced and has been for years. £30 for an aircraft is a lot of money when you can get the base simulator at a similar price.
The problem as I see it, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, is that, whilst add-on developers are understandably troubled by piracy, they don’t seem to want to lower their prices, which I believe is the single biggest thing they can do to help prevent it. Better to shift 100 units at £10 than 10 units at £20. If it’s priced reasonably, most people who really WANT the add-on will pay for it. I emphasize WANT, as I’m sure a great number of people who download pirated copies only do so because it’s there, not because they really want it.
I can speak from the developers point of view here, as I am a software developer by profession. I know how long it takes to write software. I know that you feel you need to charge enough to make that investment in time worthwhile. But I also know that, if you charge too much, people will go elsewhere. Elsewhere to some people will mean piracy, to others it’ll mean the bargain bin at the local PC store and to others it will mean abandoning the hobby altogether.
So, am I wrong? I hope so! The slow-down in the market is a fact, but is it the beginning of the end, or just a temporary glitch? What I really do believe is that we’re at the beginning of a major shake-up in the industry. I can see prices coming down as add-on developers realise that’s what they need to do to shift more units and survive as a business. And that could actually be a good thing. It’ll be good for simmers, as we’d be getting better value for money. It could also be good for developers in the long-term. Selling more units could lead to a growing dedicated customer base who will come back for more if they see they’re getting value for money.
Are companies like SimMarket doing the right thing? Only time will tell. By moving into non-flight simulator areas, they (and others like them) risk becoming less of an “expert” flight simulator site. By this I mean a site which people will immediately associate them with when thinking about flight simulation products. However, the hard facts speak for themselves and if they’re now selling non-flight simulator products, they must have a pretty good reason. This reason can only be that they’re not selling enough flight sim products to keep the business profitable, or they simply want to grow themselves beyond the flight sim market.
Your thoughts?
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
PieEater 02.29.08 at 11:46 am
In addition to the - “will it work” question for each add-on there are the following questions;
1) Is it a FS9 product patched to work with FSX.
2) Is it a FS9 product patched to work with FSX and reworked with some FSX enhancements
3) Is it a new product designed around FSX.
Most purchasers will be more interested in buying products designed specifically for FSX as they will have upgraded to or purchased the newer simulator because it offers better visuals, better multiplayer features, new missions etc. In a lot of cases it is very difficult to tell from the products advertising / packaging exactly which of the above category’s the product falls into, I’m assuming because it is not in the developers interests to hinder sales of their FS9 products that have been made to run under FSX.
I can understand that developers would rather spend limited resources trying to make their existing catalogue of FS9 products compatible with FSX rather than totally re-working them for FSX but from experience the conversion process rarely seems to be 100% succesfull with the success rate depending on the dedication of the developer. At the end of the day do you really want to fly an aircraft with outdated graphics no matter how good it looked and behaved under FS9?
I assume from the developers perspective a large proportion of the blame for lack of FSX only products is that MS have been pretty inconsistent in the direction they have been taking the new simulator which must make the developers task very difficult if not impossible. With the debacle over DX10 and the significant changes brought about in the service packs I guess it is understandable that developers will be hanging fire until the roadmap is set in stone.
I do find it incredible that developers can charge full price for a FS9 product that has been made to work under FSX and in the process has lost a proportion of it’s functionality, gained a good number of bugs and has no new FSX features. I also find it incredible that they appear to complain when users don’t want to purchase these products.
henk Luf 03.01.08 at 2:42 am
Hi all.
When I upgraded to a new computer which came complete with Vista,I progressed from FS2000 straight into FSX. The amount of trouble I had with combining Visa with FSX was enduring, to put it nicely and I had a ‘raging’ argument with a local (Australian) Microsoft rep that came complete with my intention to have either FSX or Vista banned off the Australian market if the problems with these problems were not fixed within a certain timeframe. I stood by that argument and still do.
As a former professional pilot in both the military as well as the commercial environments and still being involved with the management of airport and airspace activities, I needed reliability as well as a fair amount of realism.
Apart from downloading the various FSX bits and pieces, I have been downloading a substantial number of FS2004 aircraft, utilising FSX and other panels when they fitted in. It worked up to a point (not much good running a Saab340 with a Super King Air panel).
For new recruits to FS, I can see the frustration that people may have with running FSX. It must be very disappointing purchasing a FSX product only to find that the download won’t work, especially when Visa is involved. In such cases the first purchase of add-on add-on aircraft packages may also be the last.
I think that in order to salvage some credibility with FSX consumers, marketer may well have to look at making available product that actually works with both Vista as well as FSX even if that means adapting product off FS2004, and there is some very good FS2004 product available to do that.
I also think that FS is evolving into more realistic scenarios which means that things are becoming more complicated in terms of aircraft operation as well as things such as flight planning, airport opeations, etc.
My final comment would be that I hope that, for the FS buffs, things will continue to evolve while for beginners, things will be simple enough for them to learn the art of flying and for them to evolve into great pilots.
For what it is worth.
Cheers. Happy landings.
Henk Luf
mark.avey 03.01.08 at 12:35 pm
Hi Henk,
All good points. I hadn’t even considered Vista in my argument, but there’s a strong case for doing so.
Mark - FlightSimX
christian 03.02.08 at 10:55 pm
Don’t know Mark. If I look at what simmarket and fspilotshop do, I think it’s no surprise that simmarket is losing shares in the FS market. It looks to me as if fspilotshop grow stronger and stronger every day.
My personal experience is that fs add-ons aren’t overpriced. I sell really expensive add-ons, but they are worth their price (so my customers tell me) and despite the fact they are over three years old I’m selling more and more by the day.
What we’re seeing is a maturing market, that’s what I believe.
Christian
mark.avey 03.02.08 at 11:17 pm
I hope you’re right, Christian. The post was not meant as a “this is the way it is” statement, but rather a “is this the way it’s going?” question.
Please keep the comments coming!
Mark - FlightSimX