I have recently conducted a similar poll on the "Flanker 2" message board. Now, I just read two interesting threads here: "Just how old..." and "Thank you Falcon 4 team...". The latter had some interesting comments started by RP, raising the question about development/publishing and funding.

I guess a lot of you are very concerned about getting the right features in the bugfree sim, and like me, want to see the continous development of your favourite sims. The current marketing model (boxed shelf-ware) has problems bringing them to you, though. It has to cater to the mass market in one static product --- which is very costly and time consuming. Hence less features and longer development times --- which means less customer support, few upgrades and fixes, and short lifespan of products. With todays complex sims we are approaching the complexity barrier (as witnessed by painful patching periods after releases). The developer and publisher don't cope well with the inevitable evolution that comes with complexity (uncertainty and no income stream for the developer --- uncertainty, problems and disappointment for the customer).

Maybe it's time for a change in marketing in this niche? Personally, I would like to see a shift towards magazine-style publishing --- a transition towards providing a service for a fee, rather than static boxed end-products delivered to anonymous customers. The developers could then reserve the latter for releases (simpler, scaled down versions) to the masses at their own pace.

What do you think? I'd love to hear your opinion...

1. Guarantees.

You raise the question "what if it is cancelled?". Let me give you a scenario of how I envisage it: The developers surface with a subscription offer when they release v1.0, a solid base for further development (not necessarily feature-rich) and a future vision. They commit for the next release, and a continious customer service (newsletters, features and stuff). Customers pay for the box, and if they want it, the subscription service. If the project fails after the first year (say), the project and further subscription services are cleanly cancelled. Less risk to developer, no risk to customer. Much better than having to fund a 4 year feature-rich project with no guarantee of sales.

Note: You shouldn't have to sign up for subscription to get bugfixes (show-stoppers). But improvements and new features would have to be reserved for subscribers. Others would have to wait for the next major release --- for a reduced upgrade price (similar to pro software).

2. Prices.

I am not advocating making the developer rich. Just pay for a service and enough to keep a project going. In fact, we would get more options (choose edition, add subscription if you want it). The market would become a little bit more predictable for the developer (they can analyse feature-list from sales of the editions and subscription, and can count their hard-core followers). Enough to survive and provide a service, thats all.

Over the years you would pay more of course, but that's balanced by the continous service. And of course, if you just wanted the major releases, you could still only buy those (possibly for less, since developers get some premium from hard-core followers). If you want to just try out a lot of sims, you could go for the light editions, and upgrade when and if you wanted.

3. Service.

You point to the fact that developers already contribute to forums etc. Ok, but mainly after releases (painful bugfixes etc.), but what about the long silent periods between releases? (Flanker 1.5 -> 2.0, Falcon 3 -> 4.0). During these periods I always have strong envy for beta-testers (at least they get something :-). I envisage getting stuff from the developer/publisher at a regular rate, without having to hunt it down in interest groups etc. on my own accord --- at least they could collect it for me.

Ok, hope that changes your "absolute not" to a "hmm --- maybe things are not so rosy today". Also, I'm just brainstorming here --- nothing absolute about it --- if you have some ideas, please share... :-)