NZFF

Thought this short article might be interesting to some. See here. It sums up the transition to FSX from FS 9 and the FS market been fragmented as a result.

I think this is spot-on, and exactly what I've seen here at Godzone. It was unfortunate that for me the 'disastrous year business-wise' coincided with my second year of business -- traditionally the tough year, mainly because of the need to pay two year's tax.
However, I suspect that many developers, like me, consider that the worst is behind us, and that the market will settle back, if not to days of FS2004, then at least to a steady, and hopefully profitable, level.
The suggestion that those who chose to stick with FS2004 will not spend as much in the future is right on as well -- those who are prepared to spend the money on the hardware to cope with FSX are the same folk who are prepared to pay for addons -- that's a fact of life.

As much as I love fsx I have decided to stick with fs9 because a lot of the addons are now reduced in price and are becoming quite affordable. Because of this I have bought more addons in the last couple of months than I have for the last year. So in my experience I am now spending more money on FS products.

If you can get your mind around the concept that older technology is not so bad and you do not need to have the latest you can become quite satisfied with what you have.

Another benifit of buying products that have been released for a while is that they have been tested on the market and patches have been released so you can have a trouble free experience. Not to mention all the support on forums for the specific product.

It's a good insight into the problems created by the FSX release(s).
FSX in effect has resulted in reduced options for flight simmers, and reduced opportunities for developers...
I see this as a very bad thing and I wish they'd got it right in the first place.
They didn't, it is still broken (SP2 is the end of it), and flightsim software is being left way behind in the gaming stakes.
The "instant gratification" users will simpy move on.
The remainder (I read somewhere) is split 50/50 between FS9 and FSX.
This means everyone will get half as much, or less, users and developers both.

I couldn't agree more
I have come to a bit of a halt on my home cockpit build for some of these very reasons
if I buy simkits gear will it work in FSX as well as FS9? - is the software compatible? - if I buy the advertised book on building my own instruments etc will the coding work only in FS9 ? etc etc etc and on it goes.
Too hard for now - not buying much at all - have gone back to playing Medieval totalwar2 for a while instead.

Great article, and pretty much sums it up doesn't it. Thanks for sharing. Maybe one day MS will listen to their hardcore users before they release a new version.

towerguy wrote:

QUOTE (towerguy @ Dec 23 2007, 10:50 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

if I buy simkits gear will it work in FSX as well as FS9? - is the software compatible? - i

I hope so -- I'm about to order some myself! Not found anyone who makes an HSI kit though...