For my part I am a bit tired of paying for 3rd party addons that dont deliver what they promise. Some of them not even close. They look more and more like money traps to me. A subscription model like the op proposes would make much more sense to me. If your addon works, then i’ll keep it for life.
1 Like
Pretty much, yes.
Slightly weird that almost no one has mentioned that unless the developer keeps on top of updates there’s a strong chance their mod will be toast a few sim updates down the line.
Your upfront purchase is effectively renting it until it dies anyway, and it might not be very long until it does.
Subscriptions are a gross idea, but there’s also little to no incentive for a developer to keep an old mod alive unless they have a wider rep they want to maintain.
There’s the paying for V2 idea, but so far what you get for your extra outlay has not been worth it.
I’ve never been much of a gamer but everything else I’ve had in the past was still perfectly usable years later. Not the case here and I didn’t expect it.
There’s also the consideration that keeping the addon relevant and using new SDK features (eg better ground handling) might entice new customers.
That said, I think by far that maintaining the wider rep thing you mentioned is the biggest consideration. Personally, if a dev is slow or fails to update an addon which needs it then I no longer buy from that dev. Once bitten maybe but never again.
if there was a ‘try before you buy’ option then there can be no question of refunds.
This is by far the simplest way to
A) increase the quality and reliability on the Market place
B) Stop any abuse of any kind
C) get rid of bad DEVs.
it is a win win for everybody.
It is so obvious that it would not surprise me if MS where to consider it for 2024.
It is a no brainer surely.
- You download a plane.
- You have a trial period and the clock starts ticking somewhere in the MS server system.
- If you like the plane you will be reminded to pay. If you dont it dissapears from your Hanger
- You may like it but for what ever reason it does not run well on your rig, so you dont buy.
- You like it a lot and you buy.
Folks isnt this the most straight forward way to do this?
No, because of B 
I’m not sure how that is the case?
I’m pretty certain that anyone here with a decent handful of addon planes does not fly most of them more than a few times a month. But nevertheless, it is nice to be able to fly them occasionally. Hell, there is the monthly aircraft poll run by @Baracus250 that has people list 10 planes and most people list 10 payware planes. I dread to think the subscription cost of that over the lifetime of the sim compared to a one off upfront cost (especially when many of us buy our planes during sales).
That, or a no-fuss refund option like Steam (less than 2hrs played, no questions asked refund).
What about subscribing to a developer rather than a particular add on? So for whatever cost you get access to the dev’s entire catalogue a bit like tv streaming services
1 Like
Re: try before you buy. Hypothetically speaking that could only potentially be done via the MS Marketplace as the server checks could take place on boot up.
So for starters it limits buying to the in-game store (which everyone grumbles about for all the reasons grumbles occur). What about other sources of products? It would be impossible to get every 3rd party into this same eco system.
So people would use MS to try the product, refund it if they like it and go buy it elsewhere. So an overhead cost for MS and they don’t even get their cut?
Secondly, can you see MSobo actually implementing a solid working bug-free system for that when they can’t even handle simple downloads without it getting stuck or crawling at 2mb/s? Or planes you’ve bought legit, getting locked again coz of a bug. Support overhead and angry customers.
Thirdly, it just opens up another avenue to piracy. The file structure of addons is really not built with DRM in mind and sure, those inclined to scam developers out of their rightful earnings for their work will find a way regardless, we don’t need another easier way to gain access to products. All I’m saying is it would take exactly 18 hours for that system to be cracked 
And as I said before, I’m quite sure people would buy for a single group flight coz that’s the aircraft being “suggested” then refund it.
What happens if you try, don’t buy, then want to buy in future? You get another try period? If not, what is tracking that you already tried it? The wonderful totally reliable cloud?
At the end of the day, I base my entertainment value on hours per £ . For me £1 or £2/h is break even I guess. That’s way cheaper than going to watch a movie at the cinema (especially when you add the ridiculous price of popcorn, drinks and sweeties = about £25 for 2 hours for a couple)…If an aircraft cost 30 and I fly for 30 hours in total, great. Some purchases I’ve made definitely fall short (some a LOT short), but others make up for it by far. On the whole it balanced out for me I think.
And even on ones that fall short, it was still worth it for a unique experience and to have the option of jumping in to it again at any time. And to see the proper models in multiplayer. Just my thoughts on it 
1 Like
This is a similar discussion to the last one, which suggested ‘renting’ scenery and aircraft for a set period of time. I personally don’t see what’s wrong with just doing your homework and forking out anywhere between £5 and £60 for a decent add-on. If you’ve been diligent, you should be prepared for what you’ve just purchased. When we go shopping we don’t get the opportunity to taste or try before we buy; why would MSFS be any different?
Some of the other acquisition methods seem good, initially — until you realise that you’d just end up spending a heck of a lot more.
If it ain’t broke, and all that…
On a final note, I have NEVER made a MSFS purchase I’ve totally regretted. Even the scenery I consider ‘not great’ has only been a few pounds (in sales) and I’ve eventually managed to get my money’s worth.
There are certain devs I’ve put on my ‘not worth bothering’ list and nothing will change my mind where they’re concerned — including price. Even a couple of quid for an airport I shan’t use more than once is a waste.
I don’t think we should make policy decisions based around the actions of a minority. It’s the same with politics. There will always be those who abuse a system, but that very small minority shouldn’t be the ones to dictate the policy or decisions for everyone else.
Yes people will abuse it, but the vast majority won’t. I’m sure the same happens on Steam too. With people buying a game to try it. Refunding it. Then buying it cheaper elsewhere, such as a key site. But Valve still allow it because they know it’s for a greater good and the lost revenue from abuse isn’t enough to worry about.
And as I said before, I’m quite sure people would buy for a single group flight coz that’s the aircraft being “suggested” then refund it.
If the limit was 2hrs, you might be severely pushing it to get in a decent group flight.
1 Like
Totally done that, but to be fair, that’s covered in their refund policy. The last time I did it I bought a game on sale, waited to see if it’d show up in Humble Bundle which it did… and stated as much in my reason to return. No problems or questions. As much as I dislike some of things Valve does, they have pretty decent customer purchase policies that guarantees you won’t be stuck with junk you don’t like.
Sorry but that makes no sense at all. Why would you?
But yes, this would apply to purchases via the market place. External suppliers can right now implement wharever policy they want.
The reduction in abuse would be in people trying to scam the Market Place.
There are posts about this. Try before you buy is fairly bombproof. And yes, it would be server based.
This doesnt come into it. Easy for MS to ensure that contractually external providers cant offer a lower price ther they offer on the Market Place. They would be stupid if they allowed that. I must assume that there is a benefit to the supplier of being on the Market Place but it isnt mandatory. What respectable supplier would be so stupid as to jeapordise that? Just doesnt make any commercial sense.
The benefit of being on the marketplace is exposure. I don’t believe there are any such restrictions on selling through other means. I have a few items I didn’t get from the marketplace because they were cheaper elsewhere. Or have I misunderstood your point?
Well, the usual complaints.
Unlocked cfg files so you could mod it if that’s your thing. Not glacially slow to push updates. Faster and easier to manage downloads and items outside of the “official” folder. Possible to deactivate items without deleting and re-downloading again (at 2mb/s). Weapons on military aircraft. And yes often can be cheaper or available in a sale elsewhere.
I don’t think many would accept refunds for every “I just don’t like it” request for long. And it’s an added pain for customers to have to ask (compared to the almost automatic way Steam handles it for games played less than 2 hours).
One third party said elsewhere on the forum that the Marketplace accounted for 90 something % of their sales. The Market dwarfs trying to sell on other 3rd parties. That’s the benefit.
You have to factor in what percentage is Xbox sales and also what the pc sales would be if not given the MP option. If a dev were to not use MP because their addon was not for xbox would the sales be that much different. I doubt it.
I have no idea, but it was one of the newer jets and he was saying he decided to do MP only as the other sales were inconsequential comparatively and the benefits outweighed the lost sales to those who don’t want to use the MP. I think it was the Rafale, but don’t quote me. I was just browsing and don’t own it. From what I know of other games though, the in house market is usually a very good way to make money.
Years ago I played Train Simulator a lot. I become friends with one of the third party devs. He didn’t want to go to their market because he didn’t want to hand over 30% of the sales. He eventually did and told me his sales went up by 10x.