Quote:
Originally Posted by GF_Mastiff
I understand the DLC scene, but it's the only way these producers and small flight sim companies are going to make it. Look at Micro-Soft twice they gave it a go, and twice they lost.
If it isn't a big title like (FPS) have become, then they should charge for the nickel and dime code and time to make a map, a plane, a car, a train... if it takes up time and money and resources sure charge, charge, charge.. It's the only way this 100k people game is going to survive..
I'm not saying charge full on game title cost for DLC, look at Train Simulator 3, 10.00 dollars here and there, yes ROF 20.00 for a map a little much,
Yes that's what the sales are showing only 250k plus, people bought flight sims in 2012.
compare that to COD=Black ops2....... over three million...
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There's a number of things I believe you are overlooking.
Comparing our flight sims to CODBO2, BF3, Skyrim, etc for the purposes of budget and sales is way off. Look at the budgets that go into developing those games at the huge, HUGE dev houses, the money that goes into publishing, and even moreso advertising and support, etc etc. You can't watch ESPN these days without seeing ads for AAA game titles all over the place, and those ads aren't cheap, and represent only a fraction of their overall budget. In this day and age, if one uses the right tools, channels, and methods, advertising can be done on a relatively equal scale at a fraction of the cost.
Next, look at all the games picking up help from places like Kickstarter, or *shudder* Green Light on Steam. Minecraft is probably the original success story, and look at how many copies they've sold throughout the years at 5, 10, 20$. One of the best $5 games I ever bought.
Also consider how it's possible to reach a greater number of people by making the game's realism scalable. 1946 already did a great job of that, lots of options for what one can turn on and off. Hell make an "arcade" mode for casual gamers that just want to shoot up things, and give each plane an "arcade" and "realistic" set of characteristics. Casuals whining about balance? Fine, modify the arcade settings. Wrap a layer on top of the "real" game so that the casuals will buy and enjoy it, and we can still have our honest abe, true flight SIM.
Lots of ideas. Good ideas plus the right work can yield far more benefit that the effort it takes to do so. Dozens if not hundreds of small indie games over the past year or two are living proof.