As we have seen some crazy pricing in the history of different simulators, i am asking myself what i would pay for a DC-6 that is
a) flawless optics and believable system depth (e.g.some knobs that are not needed in normal law/flying are non-functional)
b) flawless optics and a system depth with that mythical study level grade (with appropriate documentation)
I am asking if it wouldn’t be a wise strategy on the new platform to price things more decent to get more people into a purchase. At least the potential buyer pool should be much bigger, but i doubt that many that started flight sim with MSFS are willing or able to pay 50-70€ for every BBS (Big Beautiful Study) plane…
Could be a good idea to launch 2 Editions…
a) Kind of LIGHT Version at a lower pricepoint as base version for people that want the beauty, all normal operations and a great flight model
b) A FULL VERSION at a higher price that has added non-normal procedures with documentation, extra features, damage model (?!)
That way many more newbies and simmers could enjoy these aircraft and i am pretty sure that at the end PMDG and any other Developer capable of providing superior quality would make more money if they are supplying their products to both user cases…
Let me know what you think about the suggested pricing models! Which one would you buy? Do you think that 30-50€ for the LIGHT versions and 50-70€ would be a fair pricing? (I use ranges because of different system depth given/Popularity differs…)
Again, always talking BBS (BigBeautyStudy), not the smaller aircraft!
The challenge for a developer is that a light version involves more work - you have to develop the full-featured version and then create workarounds, build a new installer, provide tech support for two separate products. A2A used to do something along the lines you suggest by selling a base aircraft, and then the Accu-Sim module as a separate product. If I recall correctly, they said they stopped doing that because most people bought both anyway, and because supporting all the versions was too much of a burden.
The DC-6 already provide lots of ease-of-use feature like the artificial flight engineer that make it accessible.
Like you, I’d hope that the economics of MSFS, with its very large user base, might push price points lower.
But my short answer to your question is that I’m perfectly willing to pay the asking price for the full-featured version.
My money-saving, budget-keeping strategy for flight simulators is to buy fewer, better airplanes - better in the sense that they’re high quality and also in the sense that they’re airplanes that I’ll really want to fly and will get a lot of use out of. The amount I save by avoiding half-baked products and products that aren’t in my “wheelhouse” more than makes up for premium pricing.
Your mileage, and others’, may vary, of course.
It’s really the latest version of a dilemma that we’ve all struggled with for years.
The problem is PMDG have already made their aircraft friendly to new simmers by spending time and money developing the FE.
A ‘lite’ version would mean more work and money spent making a less capable product. Once the new simmer gets comfortable they will have to pay out again to buy the full version - everyone ends up spending more money.
The new user can gradually take tasks off the FE when they feel ready and eventually learn all they need to know… or they can keep the FE doing everything and just enjoy flying the aircraft.
In terms of cost - if the DC-6 is everything their tutorials show it to be I’d happily pay $120 if needs be. That’s pretty much my entire month’s expendable money at this point in time and I’d happily pay it for the quality, features and hours of enjoyment.
I won’t pay more for the DC-6 than I did for the CRJ. I know it will be more expensive and I understand, that’s just my limit for this particular aircraft. The 737, 747, 777 are TBD whether I will be purchasing them. I’m certainly interested, but it’s just a matter of budget priorities. Trying to buy a house in this market is… really frustrating.
It’s simple. If you want something, only YOU can determine the figure that will change the equation from what I want to what I have. Some people won’t spend a dollar on it. Someone will spend a lot of money on it. It is a personal decision. Just yesterday someone spent $200,000 for a baseball card of an MLB prospect. Not a rookie card of an established star, but a guy who is still in the minors. So that card, which is worthless to me, is worth $200,000 to someone else.
I am sure PMDG will price their MSFS systems such that some people will buy it and be happy, some will buy it and witch and moan, others won’t buy it but wish they did and still others will laugh at the people who bought it while talking about the wonders of default or modded aircraft.
yes I agree, some light eye candy to play around with then a step up to total study level, with huge manuals. I have FlybyWire CRJ CJ4 and the 787 is getting better, but I would trade them all in for One slightly grubby Study level MD11 cargo, with a sound package that I would blast through my speakers at full volume.
25-40€ for GA, 30-50€ for airliners. That’s of course if they are high quality. If this DC-6 is study level, no bugs, sold on marketplace i’d pay 40€. But i don’t trust pmdg, they tend to overprice their products and are way too arrogant.
I’d pay more for a modern aircraft (737, 777) as long as they’re close to perfect and high quality. I would only buy the DC6 at a lower price, since it lacks modern features and wouldn’t be flown as often as the 737 / crj / arrow. Cool vintage aircraft, but more of a niche product IMO.
Hello,
to tell you, I bought the CRJ, at 50 euros, but I don’t know for the moment! I don’t know if I will be ready to buy a PMDG at 130 dollars,
because the simulator is still young and spoils the IFR flight a bit for my taste. I went back on x-plane this morning to make a small flight from Paris Orly to Nantes, with the free addons of ZIBO, in 738.The choice of ILS DME, RNAV, having access to a map with VOR frequencies on the tablet with Avitab, some addons, the real traffic with ALL planes running and flying of represented in live, landing or taking off on the good runways, the weather really in live, with all the metar of any airport in days, the fact of connecting on Live ATC and to hear the same conditions as you see in the game, there is not, certainly of beautiful landscapes, but the immersion is there Frankly, for the moment I can not get hooked on IFR flight with MFS, I do some, but without conviction, and this morning not having done on x plane for a long time, I understood why. So yes I would be willing to pay but not more than 50 dollars with the sim we have now, maybe in 1 or 2 years, more, depending on the progress of the sim, the future will tell. But considering the price of the myriad of airplanes that are not even worth 1 euro and sold at a very high price, I have no illusions about the price of the future Study.
For those who don’t know, here are some videos that are not very derailing, but that show that x-plane has nothing to be ashamed of in terms of aviation. x-plane vs MFS vs Real LFPO to LFRS ZIBO 738x x-plane vs real take off b738
I am quite selective on the planes I buy, because I don’t need many. I am not a fan of having a ton of planes without being able to operate them at a high degree of realism. The only PMDG plane I am interested in is the 737. Thus I am willing to pay 100€ and more for the 737 and the extension packs. If they publish the 737MAX later down the road or even start developing a 757 or 767, I would buy them too.
My biggest wish for the Sim however is a high quality 737-300/-400/-500.
