More freeware content in the marketplace

I like how the freeware section to the marketplace has been added, but there has been a lack of content in it. I am just wondering why there isn’t much content in it, and if more content will be added in the future?

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Probably because 3rd Party companies want money for their products so they won’t release them as freeware in the in-game marketplace.

However, as I see you are on PC, you can go to https://flightsim.to which has a lot of freeware on it if you are looking for freeware.

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I don’t know that the Marketplace is big on freeware, since no cut (profit) is made by MSFS on it. There is a backlog as it is with regards to not only getting new releases into the Marketplace but also updates.

The latter, is why I steer clear of the Marketplace. If a product has an update, I prefer to have it same day rather than waiting weeks / months for it to trickle into the Marketplace.

That said, if it’s a Carenado product then you have no other choice, but for everything else, I’d be purchasing outside, and as mentioned above, if it’s freeware, check out flightsim.to

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I wasn’t actually aware there was a freeware section in the marketplace yet. Maybe it has been put in as place holder for when it goes live.

Is this actually a new freeware section or is this the section it just says free where the world updates are usually listed?

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The freeware section is the section with the world updates, and has been there for several months but is at the bottom of the list in the marketplace, making it somewhat hidden.

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Freeware hasn’t entered the marketplace. However, it is something on their radar. :slightly_smiling_face:

Free items currently in the Marketplace, are Asobo content and/or controlled.

There is a wishlist on this:
https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/freeware-category-for-msfs-marketplace/240458

A Q&A that brought this up:

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I’m pretty sure it’s been there at least since WU1. But other than the Aerosoft freeware airport (released in 2020 around the time of the first WU) there isn’t really third party freeware on the marketplace, best I have gathered there is a set policy against it. Developers who try to submit freeware simply get ignored.

One potential method would be for developers to submit their content on the marketplace at minimum allowed price, GotFriends appears to be trying this with the Fokker triplane in order to get it on Xbox.

Impulse Simulations have specifically stated on their FB that they were not allowed to submit free liveries and so they submitted them for the lowest price they were allowed.

This in particular leaves a sour feeling against MS, Asobo keep saying they want to encourage freeware but they already have a working mechanism to publish this as several 3rd party library items are there already, there are partnered developers that have freeware ready they wish to publish and yet they are forcing developers to charge a fee.

This is a clear case of actions speak louder than words and the actions are clear as daylight on this one.

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While I totally agree with your last sentence I think there are not only economical concerns preventing them, be it Asobo or MS. FBW attempted to release their A320 as a freeware to the marketplace and were not allowed for legal reasons regarding their freeware license they used. Although I get that MS is a huge corporation and (internal?) rules or even law are not that easily to change or to deal with it would certainly be possible to find a common nominator and release a statement of what is required to be able to add freeware. If they wanted to there would certainly be a way but as there is no money behind it the priority might be comparably low.

I wrote it in anyother thread: The marketplace will hardly ever be a “better” place for customers regarding quality (assurance). If cash flow decreases they will never think of making it more comfortable or safer for the customer but rather to make it simpler and quicker to buy with even less clicks and more ingame notifications/ads. Freeware doesn’t really fit into that theme.

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FBW is different, that is licensed under GPL. Sadly MS is scared of this licence and won’t allow it, without going into detail I think they probably could allow it without any risk, but from a legal POV it’s tricky. I respect that FBW want to use GPL, it’s entirely reasonable for the team to avoid having their work ripped off and so unless MS relax their rules clearly FBW will never be on marketplace.

The liveries are different, they clearly do not have licence incompatibility because they are being included anyway, the price charged does not affect licence terms. To me this is a clear example of them not wanting freeware, because they are doing all of the same work to onboard it for a fee that they’d have to do to onboard it for $0.

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In order to release into the Marketplace, you have to be a registered 3rd party developer and have been accepted into the program. When you release to the Marketplace, you then have to comply with Marketplace policies (ie: no weapons on craft, naming conventions for packages, and the name displayed in Content Manager, etc). And even though it is freeware, since it is in the Marketplace, it will still have to have DRM encryption on it.

So that said, there are obviously a lot of developers who release to flightsim.to. However, the registration process, and the submission process etc for a freeware developer to submit a freeware item is kind of a daunting process just to give content away.

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My example above is for a developer that already has multiple items for sale on marketplace including for xbox, and this developer was not allowed to put an item in for free. So all of what to you describe is already taken care of in this instance. For sure in general all of those hoops would exist, but even getting through them it is still not sufficient.

Well, there ARE products offered by developers for free on the Marketplace. Aerosoft’s Paderborn airport and Beautiful Model of the World has a freeware airport. But they also offer that same addon for free on Orbx Direct and SimMarket too. Offering addons for free is not impossible on the store, but it seems it has to be a library, or it has to be also sold on other Marketplaces for free. I assume the resistance to free is that there is a Microsoft testing effort and DRM effort that isn’t getting paid for product.

Freeware developers on flightsim.to would be able to say “but we offer this for free on flightsim.to”. Thus, it would fall under the “it is offered in other marketplaces free” rule. So while you are saying it is impossible, I’m saying a freeware developer most likely would be able to put products on the marketplace for free if the addon is already in flightsim.to or some other place (like simvol, etc). But this is then when all the hurdles to just get into the marketplace would stop most freeware developers.

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Solution to this topic:

https://flightsim.to/

If only that worked for XBox users.

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Nobody mentioned XBox. :man_shrugging:

Some things come to mind.

Why would a freeware developer who is not using an Xbox on the side care about putting his creatons on the Marketplace.
Obviously, freeware developers use a PC in the first place.

Also from Microsofts perspective…
They would need manpower and hosting space and bandwidth to do that and get nothing in return. Propably even having to answer support tickets for the freeware. Even worse, people might install a freeware instead of buying something similar.

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I mentioned xbox.

That’s delightful, but I wasn’t replying to you.

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I’ll take that as a compliment. At least I’m not Nobody. :grin:

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