21 replies to this topic

[_BD6_]

After flying around for a few - FLIGHT really does have tons of potential. No stuttering, it looks pretty good for a vanilla sim.

I'll say if they somehow manage to pump out good quality aircraft and scenery at a good price, it's got a chance.. It still feels a bit more "gamey" than previous FS's..

[CaptainG37]

I know someone on the Flight dev team, and he has said the SDK is very comfortable to work with.  Please don't ask who the person is.  If I say who it is, he gets in .
Microsoft want a slice of the 3rd party dev pie and exclusive selling rights through the Microsoft store and 3rd party dev's don't want to agree to it.  Flight can be huge, but it all depends on who wants to accept the others terms.

[_BD6_]

CaptainG37, on Jan 20 2012, 01:44 AM, said:

I know someone on the Flight dev team, and he has said the SDK is very comfortable to work with.  Please don't ask who the person is.  If I say who it is, he gets in .
Microsoft want a slice of the 3rd party dev pie and exclusive selling rights through the Microsoft store and 3rd party dev's don't want to agree to it.  Flight can be huge, but it all depends on who wants to accept the others terms.

I know.. it would be so much better if they worked with 3rd party devs 100%

[CaptainG37]

I can see the 3rd party dev side of it.
Take a company like PMDG.  (There is a reason I am using them as an  example.)
Their latest product, the 737, has easily sold more than the average add on.  
Lets say for arguments sake, that it sold 50 000 units...at $80 a unit.  That's $4 million in sales.  Obviously Randazzo has servers to maintain, staff to pay, etc...  They sell it either through their own store or through Aerosoft.  Aerosoft take a fair percentage as a publisher for the boxed version, and the rest they sell, through their own site, is commission free.  Let's say they sell 10 000 boxed copies through Aerosoft and 40 000 units through their own store.  That's $3.2 million in sales through their own site.  Take out the reported (rumored) 30% commission that Microsoft want for publishing their aircraft, and you're looking at $2.24 million remaining.  That's almost $1 million straight to Microsoft that could have stayed with PMDG!
PMDG, safe to say, does not need Microsoft to sell their products.  They have a name and a reputation and the products to back it all up.  But Microsoft, like I said, SEEMS to want a slice of the 3rd party development market.  That's millions of dollars just for publishing 3rd party aircraft in the download store.  Something PMDG can do on their own quite well.
Scary when you put it in perspective.

[ChaoticBeauty]

Did you get the beta?

[CaptainG37]

Yes.

[ChaoticBeauty]

After trying the leaked beta, I really hate Flight. There are so many features missing replaced with arcade .

Where is the ability to taxi in an airport? Why does closing the engine automatically lower the gear? Where's the ability to start from gates or parking? Why is the left/right joystick axis inverted? Where is slew mode? Where is the fabulous learning centre? Where is the flight planner? Where the is ATC and AI???

[-Dexter]

What I fear is that Flight will only come to allow addons via a DLC service.

$9.99 Boeing 747 DLC,  $5.99 Cessna 182 DLC,  $14.99 Kai Tak DLC,  etc...

But time will tell. I like how smooth Flight runs.

[ChaoticBeauty]

-Dexter, on Jan 20 2012, 02:36 PM, said:

$5.99 Cessna 182 DLC

I'd happily buy this.  

[_BD6_]

-Dexter, on Jan 20 2012, 07:36 AM, said:

What I fear is that Flight will only come to allow addons via a DLC service.

$9.99 Boeing 747 DLC,  $5.99 Cessna 182 DLC,  $14.99 Kai Tak DLC,  etc...

But time will tell. I like how smooth Flight runs.

The only concern I have is the simulation aspect of the aircraft.. will there be fully simulated 737's like PMDG's, etc..

[jcovelli]

bl00mfield, on Jan 20 2012, 10:46 AM, said:

The only concern I have is the simulation aspect of the aircraft.. will there be fully simulated 737's like PMDG's, etc..

u think microsoft will spend years to make good full simulated planes or airports... or anything?

you'll be paying for things that should be freeware...

[ncbaseball]

I just got done playing the beta for the first time. My favorite part is being able to skip to next mission point, so I don't have to waist so much time doing that boring flying part....

[n4gix]

CaptainG37, on Jan 20 2012, 03:01 AM, said:

Lets say for arguments sake, that it sold 50 000 units...at $80 a unit.  That's $4 million in sales.

Considering for a moment that if Orbx's published estimate of only 40,000 active "hard core simmers" is anywhere close to accurate, then it's ludicrous to even imagine that PMDG's sales numbers would be so high...

In my own experience in the industry, total sales of >2,000 units of any product over a three year period is considered a "huge hit..."  

[alainneedle1]

n4gix, on Jan 20 2012, 10:24 AM, said:

Considering for a moment that if Orbx's published estimate of only 40,000 active "hard core simmers" is anywhere close to accurate, then it's ludicrous to even imagine that PMDG's sales numbers would be so high...

In my own experience in the industry, total sales of >2,000 units of any product over a three year period is considered a "huge hit..."  

+1, now imagine how many can be reached with MS's store.

The part I don't understand from some folks here is that they were welling to pay $59.00 for FSX more for acceleration but are not welling to pay what ever MS will charge for sceneries or plane because they think they are entitle to have it for free....you already have Flight for free and you can pay for only what you want in it...beats me, easy to understand...MS's product MS's rules like it or not PERIOD.

Like I said in another thread, what ever I said before 01/04/2012 got me crusified here (and that's beside the name calling), I WAS RIGHT...no appology necessary, I tried again to tell you some stuff about Flight (I think my track record speak for itself)...Flight beta is exactly just that, a BETA and not the full version....some of you will have to eat their words again in 6 to 12 months..... PLEASE tell me that the 3PD. worked with MS for over 2 years to put an arcade game on the market (Orbx, PMG, and others who did not came out of the woods yet), if you really beleive that I have a lot of lands to sell you 50 miles west of Boca Raton Florida...real cheap.

-Dexter, on Jan 20 2012, 07:36 AM, said:

What I fear is that Flight will only come to allow addons via a DLC service.

$9.99 Boeing 747 DLC,  $5.99 Cessna 182 DLC,  $14.99 Kai Tak DLC,  etc...

But time will tell. I like how smooth Flight runs.

I told you that several months ago, read some old post from me and you....no newsflash here.

Edited by alainneedle1, 20 January 2012 - 10:55 AM.

[Jetset]

Kaotika, on Jan 20 2012, 12:35 PM, said:

After trying the leaked beta, I really hate Flight. There are so many features missing replaced with arcade .

Where is the ability to taxi in an airport? Why does closing the engine automatically lower the gear? Where's the ability to start from gates or parking? Why is the left/right joystick axis inverted? Where is slew mode? Where is the fabulous learning centre? Where is the flight planner? Where the is ATC and AI???

It's a BETA.  
Seeing as Jeppesen are still supplying airport and nav data, my guess is all that will come.  

[ChaoticBeauty]

Jetset, on Jan 20 2012, 06:38 PM, said:

It's a BETA.  
Seeing as Jeppesen are still supplying airport and nav data, my guess is all that will come.  

Beta is supposed to be feature-complete. That's alpha you're talking about.

[Jetset]

Kaotika, on Jan 20 2012, 04:51 PM, said:

Beta is supposed to be feature-complete. That's alpha you're talking about.

Whatever it is, I have faith and believe that Flight will become FSNext and beyond.  

[CaptainG37]

n4gix, on Jan 21 2012, 02:24 AM, said:

Considering for a moment that if Orbx's published estimate of only 40,000 active "hard core simmers" is anywhere close to accurate, then it's ludicrous to even imagine that PMDG's sales numbers would be so high...

In my own experience in the industry, total sales of >2,000 units of any product over a three year period is considered a "huge hit..."  

"hardcore simmers" is a very subjective term.  So how many simmers in total?  40 000 hardcore simmers, at the full price of what I paid for FSX and Acceleration ($150) is $6 million.  CHUMP CHANGE for Microsoft.  No wonder they fired ACES!
In MY own experience with a particular add on, that was released in FS2002, that sold 25 000 units (downloads and boxed editions) in it's first 2 years, I'd say 50 000 units AT THIS TIME, for PMDG, is far from ludicrous.  Especially considerring top level X Plane add ons (Nothing bigger than a CRJ-200) can sell over 1000 units in the first 6 months, I'm assuming the market is FAR more lucrative in the FSX world.  2000 units in 3 years?  Didn't know it would be THAT low for some of the dev's over there.
X Plane 9 sold WELL into the 6 figure range.  I cannot imagine only 40 000 "hardcore simmers" for FSX.  If that's true, then the market to be in is x plane.
BUT...let's give you the benefit of the doubt.  Can you honestly say that the "hardcore simmers" WON'T buy the 737?  I don't know of ANY hardcore simmer who would forego that thing.  So, when taking all these numbers into account, 40 000 sales isn't so ludicrous after all.

[162db]

Kaotika, on Jan 20 2012, 05:35 AM, said:

After trying the leaked beta, I really hate Flight. There are so many features missing replaced with arcade .

Where is the ability to taxi in an airport? Why does closing the engine automatically lower the gear? Where's the ability to start from gates or parking? Why is the left/right joystick axis inverted? Where is slew mode? Where is the fabulous learning centre? Where is the flight planner? Where the is ATC and AI???

In the DLC that's where.  

-Dexter, on Jan 20 2012, 05:36 AM, said:

What I fear is that Flight will only come to allow addons via a DLC service.

$9.99 Boeing 747 DLC,  $5.99 Cessna 182 DLC,  $14.99 Kai Tak DLC,  etc...

But time will tell. I like how smooth Flight runs.

It's smooth because there's nothing to drag down the fps. No AI, no big cities, no ground traffic, the ground texture resolution is crap, no detailed customization options, etc...

Edited by 162db, 21 January 2012 - 09:13 PM.

[ChaoticBeauty]

Just looked at the Flight CFG. Looks like there will be traffic after all, and it's just disabled for the beta.

[Traffic]
AirlineDensity=0
GADensity=0
RoadDensity=0
ShipsAndFerriesDensity=0
BoatDensity=0
IFROnly=False
AirportDensity=0

I don't know about ATC, but seeing there will be traffic and looking at the Legend menu, it looks like it will be included too.