Quote:
Originally Posted by Chivas
Lets face it 39 bucks is nothing and paying a few bucks more for each aircraft or two combined other improvements to the sim is also very very cheap. I know Oleg doesn't see this as a route he wants to follow, but basicly hes doing the same thing. Hes just providing more content, for more money, at longer intervals. While ROF is providing less content, for less money, at shorter intervals.)
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i dont think it would be bad if that concept was true, but it isnt the case here. you could for ex sell RoF initialy at 20$ as it is now in its unfinished late beta stage, then ask 5$ for each extra plane that might be released at one per month, and ask 10$ for the combined winter, autum, spring version of the current maps, and add a few more interesting new map sceneries at the same time for (right now it is a monotonous flat single map landscape that looks the same from one end to the other and you are stuck with permanent daytime summer weather, err they didnt even model night or dawn or dusk)
the problem however is that they ask full price for the hollow shell it is now, and you will pay more like 25$ for each next plane you have to buy (the 2 included planes right now are not competitively matched for online competition)
have a look at these prices from the RoF officially recommended sales point in north america (
http://www.fspilotshop.com/index.php...a5cd2c1a262cc3)
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Aerostudios - ATC Simulator "Pro Edition" $60.00
Aerostudios - ATC Simulator "Standard Edition" $40.00
Condor: The Competition Soaring Sim $49.95
DCS: Black Shark $49.95
Falcon 4: Allied Force $29.95
Flight Simulator X (FSX) Gold Edition $39.95
Flyboys Squadron $29.99
PRE-Flight Standard Edition $24.95
PRE-Flight Super Helicopter Edition $39.95
Rise of Flight: The First Great Air War $44.95
Warbirds 2008 $19.95
Wilco - Tower Simulator $40.00
Wilco - Tower Simulator Download $34.95
X-Plane 9 (PC) $49.95
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as you can see it is full price, same bracket as all the other real sims that are a finished product and completed game (fs-X, black shark, x-plane, etc....)
now the point i made in the OP, is that if you put some of these normal sims on the shelf at walmart next to RoF, and you have only a limited number of people shopping there for flightsims, the people who unknowingly buy RoF without being aware of all its limitations and lacking features could reduce the customer base for other genuine complete product flightsims (since the uninformed customer on the surface cant differentiate between what features and elements a real comprehensive flightsim product has normally, and the boxes will all look very similar), and if they make enough sales to make this sales tactic profitable other game creators could also shift to the same tactic, in which case we are all in serious trouble
regarding a quick follow up release now from RoF with a ww-2 sim based on the same sales model, a good analogy is pioneer discontinuing the manufacturing of its high end plasma tv's last year after on an annual basis being the clear winner in best quality products for large flatscreen displays, because however much better they were then the rest of the flat screen tv's of the same sizes (be it lcd or plasma from other brands), the 30% premium in price they had to ask was cutting out a large part of their sales volume, and most customers just ware not critical enough to make an informed choice, and bought on price alone. similarly, if RoF ww-2 sim is released 6 or 9 months before oleg's BoB, it WILL cut into oleg's sales imo, however bad RoF-ww2 is going to be from our more informed perspective.