Post by Mark McCoy on May 11th, 2011 at 5:32pm
Understand I am not a "young, whiny new FS user" who's complaining that his version isn't being supported. I'm a grown man who has been using flight simulation for well over a decade, and has specialized personally and professionally in the 737-200. I know this aircraft, love this aircraft and am perfectly fine remaining with the Tinmouse II if FS9 support is not provided by CaptainSim for this product.
That said, there's been lots of cursory statements about FS9 support in these forums, most of which are short and of a complaining tone. This is not one of those. Thanks to the AVSIM survey that is live and will be running ALL YEAR LONG through 2011, we have a glimpse at the market for flight simulator use and I thought it wise to share this with you.
Up to the minute data: http://surveys.avsim.net/stats.php?sid=37&st=a&vw=a
While this data is "early" in the sense that it's May and the survey will run until 12/31, we have glimpse at the market of FS use specific to versions. At the time the graph above was created, 897 individuals had responded to the survey.
What does this data tell us? Simply put, FS9 is far from dead. It's no longer the dominant platform, but at nearly 40% market share, it's still around and generating enjoyment for users. Imagine now in terms of dollars what we are talking about here for a software developer. Imagine (since we don't know what the CS737 will cost yet) that the cost per product is an even $50.
Because the survey ran for 897 individuals at the time I posted this, we'll use that data to develop a case. Imagine that 897 people will purchase the CS737 over time. Not entirely unreasonable if the product is popular enough. That's a total of $44,850 in gross revenue at $50 per sale. Using the data above, that's $27,500 in sales to FSX users and $16,600 in sales to FS9 users. However, the net cost of time and investment to make an aircraft function in both FS9 and FSX is negligible.
So in terms of pure dollars an cents, using the scenario above, CaptainSim is willing to forgo added revenues of nearly $17,000 in sales by supporting FSX only on development. As a businessman, I would urge CaptainSim to think of FS9 as a development option following the FSX release. And also as a businessman, I will have no issues remaining with the next best product should they choose not to. ;)
That said, there's been lots of cursory statements about FS9 support in these forums, most of which are short and of a complaining tone. This is not one of those. Thanks to the AVSIM survey that is live and will be running ALL YEAR LONG through 2011, we have a glimpse at the market for flight simulator use and I thought it wise to share this with you.
Up to the minute data: http://surveys.avsim.net/stats.php?sid=37&st=a&vw=a
While this data is "early" in the sense that it's May and the survey will run until 12/31, we have glimpse at the market of FS use specific to versions. At the time the graph above was created, 897 individuals had responded to the survey.
What does this data tell us? Simply put, FS9 is far from dead. It's no longer the dominant platform, but at nearly 40% market share, it's still around and generating enjoyment for users. Imagine now in terms of dollars what we are talking about here for a software developer. Imagine (since we don't know what the CS737 will cost yet) that the cost per product is an even $50.
Because the survey ran for 897 individuals at the time I posted this, we'll use that data to develop a case. Imagine that 897 people will purchase the CS737 over time. Not entirely unreasonable if the product is popular enough. That's a total of $44,850 in gross revenue at $50 per sale. Using the data above, that's $27,500 in sales to FSX users and $16,600 in sales to FS9 users. However, the net cost of time and investment to make an aircraft function in both FS9 and FSX is negligible.
So in terms of pure dollars an cents, using the scenario above, CaptainSim is willing to forgo added revenues of nearly $17,000 in sales by supporting FSX only on development. As a businessman, I would urge CaptainSim to think of FS9 as a development option following the FSX release. And also as a businessman, I will have no issues remaining with the next best product should they choose not to. ;)