Simply have a look
or
That’s exactly what I have been talking about for weeks and months now!
Edit:
To make it more clearly, because some people don’t like to click on links aiming to Twitter or Facebook:
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Its strange that devs have to wait so long even for an update to their products to get released on the marketplace. Something’s wrong with the whole process.
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We get trash like Captain Sim, Bredok3D, MSCENERY, Deimos and “night lights”…while we have to wait weeks (or months) for better quailty products.
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It’s quite clear that Quality Control of items on the marketplace was never gonna happen, MS want to generate as much revenue as possible through their title and that’s ok by me - after all it’s their title.
But having said that I would’ve much preferred a more stringent process to weed out the rubbish, which is why, I for one, avoid the marketplace as much as I can and buy directly from other vendors (I prefer it that those Devs get more of the monetary share than MS for starters…).
As for delays in updates of products, that is very poor, to go weeks is one thing, for mods not to get updated after months even though trash gets uploaded is quite frankly appalling. That must change, as soon as updates are released by the Devs then it should take no longer than two weeks to push through to marketplace. If MS use the “backlog” excuse then that’s their own fault, it’s their system, they are the ones who need to improve it for the benefit of not just those Devs but themselves.
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The update problem is visible even in regular planes. Many developers have submitted updates to the 40th anniversary planes (inibuilds has stated so and bluemesh I think) but it seems we are stuck waiting for these updates for months, till SU12.
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I agree that there’s still room for improvement regarding lead times, especially for updates. I can see an initial release of a product requiring a bit more time, but once approved any updates should be handled quicker.
I disagree with this whole “quality product” filtering, it’s a dangerous path to follow when you introduce subjective filtering of what is a good and bad product. I rather see written reviews etc being introduced instead.
This is how any app/software marketplace work, products need to follow guidelines and policies but you don’t filter out products based on how good or bad someone thinks they are.
I don’t see an issue with the percentage Microsoft takes either, this is also the same practice as other marketplaces and is what keeps the product going.
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Without a vetting process in place, a shovel-ware quality addon is probably treated the same way as a top tier product with a distinguished pedigree behind it.
I have no idea what the ratio is, but if it was 10 shovel-ware planes to 1 AAA one, to borrow a label from gaming, then its perhaps understandable why we are in the situation we are in.
I would in no way request that there be a tier of submissions, depending on the dev., in much the same way that I would oppose that for general Internet access, which some groups have advocated.
But for sure more resource needs to be assigned to the processing of addons submitted to MS/Asobo for addition to the Marketplace.
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Written reviews have another problem that shows very well in the forums. Too many people complain about an addon not working, having bugs etc while they simply don’t use it correctly. They don’t bother to read instructions, don’t know how it’s supposed to be, don’t realize they have a problem with their computer but immediately call out the devs/the addon for something that’s simply not true. While someone who’s just happy doesn’t care about writing any reviews it’s those who complain for the sake of complaining or because of ignorance who would write reviews to the marketplace products. It’s just no fair outcome.
I think the best thing we can do is to make everyone aware of the good and all above bad aspects of the marketplace and that people really have to research at youtube etc before they purchase something. Shiny screenshots in the MP often hide the truth.
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Hi,
nice thread to hopefully and finally engage the problematic situation on MP!
As this topic has also more or less been around in this forums multiple times and for longer time now, but mostly seen from customer side, it’s very interesting.
As mentioned, this topic isn’t ‘realy’ new,
So why doesn’t Microsobo take a look into the hundreds of posts in this forum according to the MP and may take some ideas for improvement which also have been there for longer time now!
So some of those ideas will work in both ways to the customer as well as to the devs/partners!
Just to mention two of the most common:
-
more transparency on MP releases, so what’s in the pipe and the current status of the products listed for release. To both sides costumers and devs!
(To mention an example: snowrunner’s discord got a own section where it’s very clear, honest and reasonable to see what mods/add ons are in que to release on in-game mod-browser.
Which btw gets refreshed almost every day!) -
‘trusted devs’ or ‘premium devs’ (call it how ever you want, but guess u get what I mean
)
This would more or less address two problems, first is quality checks for products offered on the official MP, as I guess it ‘should’ or ‘supposed’ to be a ‘safe’ marketplace and that wise avoiding chash-cows on MP!
Secondly it would give a kind of structure to what to release ‘automaticly’ and what kind of product-submission would need some more attention in release process.
…and there has been many, many more good ideas from so many other folks in this forum!
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While that is true, written reviews helps to get the context. Is the rating due to people thinking it’s expensive or as you mention that it’s due to technical issues on their end? Such products might still be good and worth getting.
While if it’s due to all the taxiways being incorrect in an airport add-on or lot of important functions not being implemented in a plane, then it gives a different picture.
If I buy something on Steam, I can quite quickly get an understanding what (if any) issues a product has and hence I can make a better decision. External reviews are great, but they are not available for all products etc
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You can also refund Steam purchases you are unhappy with, which I hear is a bit more convoluted on the Marketplace. If they implemented a robust, easy way to do that the situation would resolve itself. Shovel-ware quality products would be found out quickly, and they hopefully wouldn’t be able to turn a profit.
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While that may be true in some cases that wouldn‘t prevent those users to „rage-rate“ a product with a one-star (lowest) rating, trying to pull down the average rating.
I‘d rather read some „This product totally [beep]“ comment to know: „Aha, I can probably ignore this rating altogether“.
If on the other hand I read a couple of well-written short reviews and/or comments - even if not totally favourable to the product - this would help me to better understand why a product „only“ has an average rating of 3 out of 5. And why I might still enjoy it myself.
In fact, most people try to fairly judge a product. At least that‘s my own experience on flightsim.to (but I agree: most products are free there, so the users may be more „forgiving“).
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Thank you for the thread! We will send this to the team for feedback. I think there isn’t anything that would totally surprise them here as they know there is a lot to do in the space, but it will be helpful for them to read through the comments.
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It’s an absolute nightmare…
Once Marketplace finalizes the Steam Credits transaction (has your money) It’s no longer a matter nor potential liability Steam will interfere with. Luckily there are staff like Jummivana who will expedite your Marketplace issue if its been in the Zendesk queue for a certain amount of time. I’m sure these quirks will be ironed out eventually but for the time being I feel it’s best to go in with an open mind that there may be a very high possibility you don’t get to experience and enjoy that one highly anticipated Marketplace only exclusive addon release for up to 24-72 hours using the Steam Credit purchase option.
As for Marketplace vetting and product comparison bias, I feel that isn’t for us to judge who has “worthier” vetted/tested product releases than others. Let the sales decide. The consumers will buy what they like. A product you don’t like doesn’t all of a sudden “clog” up the the test/vetting release pipeline as compared to other products.
@Jummivana you’ve been a life saver through the whole “Marketplace ate my order” fiasco.
Thank you for the timely responses and attention with such!
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I think it does. When one prolific bad developer releases yet another bad airport every two weeks it seems – then that in fact clogs up the pipeline and holds the attention of the product checkers that MS does have and keeps them from doing better things.
I’d love to get refunds for several airports that Ive bought and then landed at and wondered “is this it?”
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That seems pretty biased and down to one’s particular preference.
MS/Asobo having a panel of 12 judges for payware submissions would mean what exactly?
Who would the 12 judges be? Veteran pc simmers? New Xbox users? Other payware developers?
Certain much more seasoned established developers get submission/process priority over others?
Next thing you know the consumer base is complaining about “lack of variety” again or some sort of nepotism/favoritism is involved.What you may deem as horrible payware someone else just may love. Bredok’s 737 relevance and interests even after the PMDG 737 release has proven such, consumers simply like what they like.
As far as airports, most seasoned simmers are very wary and particular of the developer’s history before placing them on the buy list. In 2023 I would not buy an airport without seeing atleast a video or review post if the developer is new.
While some developers are “good money” from years of experience, reputation and expectations. Others may just outright feel like a “pack up and abandon money grab”.
The writing’s pretty much always on the wall to most seasoned payware consumers.
No way would I just go on a Marketplace spending spree judging by pictures alone with an airport scenery developer I’ve never heard of nor have experience with. While yes sometimes it takes getting burned to develop a keen eye for quality payware. We live and we learn!
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Many thanks for your kind words 
Maybe it would be a good idea to put this topic on the agenda of Wednesday’s stream.
There are still 3 working days until then and Jörg can gather enough information to talk about it for let’s say 15 - 20 minutes. But he should give us hard facts, not the usual marketing talking.
I know it would better suit to the yearly Developer stream. But the topic is to important to wait that long.
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I just started the stopwatch!
42HB - Hogsback Ranch just got released on ORBX (Best shop for FS-2020, IMHO)
I will count the days until we have it on the Marketplace.
And I will do this for other stuff as well!
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One thing that i would love to be fixed is the update process, like yesteday pmdg released an update and 2 hrs later sent out an fix. but on the in sim marketplace it takes so long to receive fixes/updates due to the back log. thats why i always go to orbx as any fixes can get pushed instantly
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You can’t expect them to process hotfixes from 3rd-Prty developers so quickly when they themselves take weeks and months for their “hot” fixes.
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