Kevin Firth 114 Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 All, I noticed here http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/60409-uk-airports/?p=549558#entry549558 that John Venema of OrbX stated that they may stop production of UK airfield scenery because sales have been poor. I've added my comments about the lack of compatibility with non OrbX photoscenery and made a suggestion that they create a compatible airfield and then compare sales. (Gloucester) Corporate direction is only ever changed by customer (or potential customer!) feedback so if you have a view on this perhaps you might want to add to the OrbX thread as well? Cheers K Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,315 Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 Good suggestion Kevin. Me thinks they have to much on their plate and to many offerings in a short time span. If they stop offerings for airports in a newly released full country like the FTX England, folks might not be to eager to purchase the next full country for fear of them not offering a large selection of airports for it. Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,498 Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 Hi Kevin, Thanks for the heads up, I have given my view over at Orbx. Cheers, Joe Link to post Share on other sites
Mistwalker 3 Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 As Kevin mentioned. the problem could well be that many UK-centric flyers such as myself have used UK photoreal scenery for a good while now and are most likely reluctant to give that up to use OrbX airfields, great as they are. There are many airfields available for the UK, pay and free, designed to fit the VFR scenery so OrbX would probably need to do the same to grab some of those sales. We're only a small island, remember so it's far easier and cheaper for us to get our whole country in photoreal than huge countries such as Australia who no doubt find OrbX the much more convenient and cheaper way to get their country mapped in FSX. Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,498 Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 My thoughts exactly Steve. Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,315 Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 Steve, I think they have stated that they are trying to get their product to be compatible with the other addons but it is not their main objective as far as the stand alone airports. senem fortuna favet Link to post Share on other sites
britfrog 180 Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 From the outset I thought their policy of making an airport that was only fully working in their own scenery, was a corporate mistake, and I voiced this on the orbyx site only to be ridiculed by JV in his inimitable way, I have also criticised his plans for "world domination" but at least after his recent article I have to say I can now see some sense in this however i wont be buying it, as I like many others, have already invested heavily in buying photoscenery throughout Europe which would not be compatible with Orbyx stuff. However I feel they made their first corporate blunder when they stopped making major airports and a second blunder by opening a UK branch, there would have been a far more cost effective way of attaining the same results. Whilst there is no doubt that their small airports are full of atmosphere and beautifully portrayed it appears that the crisis hit world were happy to make do with their existing wares. I also think the speed that they released airports has a lot to do with their lack of success it was far too much in such a short time span, how many can afford to buy £100 worth of software per month?. The crux of their problem is that they did well where they were innovators like australia, however coming after the likes of horizon and UK2000 and others who already had a good market share was always going to be difficult, even if their offerings were slightly better . Whislt I can see the sense of producing more for NZ there is only again a limited market for those that want to fly there and as for producing anything for South America well you might as well hang yourself now and save the misery, because if they cant sell enough of the uk to make it worthwhile they certainly will not with that region. They have already spread themselves too thinly around the world in an effort to please all, far better to reverse the advance and concentrate on existing regions like PNW but maybe there also sales have not reached expected levels? I think the best thing they could do is to go back to their roots, where they caused such a stir, cut overheads to a minimum, and slowly release products for all the regions they currently do, but without the expenses, like flashy offices and lots of mouths to feed. just my pennies worth. Link to post Share on other sites
ddavid 149 Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 Let's face facts - you put a highly detailed GA airstrip in an anonymous, yet picturesque place, and you get sales. Next, you produce a similarly non-specific scenery set for an area like England and Wales, which isn't anywhere near as exciting as, say, PNW or NZ, and expect to sell the odd add-on airfield? Not really a sensible business plan. Add to that the photoscenery diehards that populate the UK market and you're left with potential customers from Europe, the US and the Antipodes - who aren't all that worked up about our lovely islands, anyway. I guess OrbX will make the most of a bad job... Nothing personal, by the way! Cheers -Dai. Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142 Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 Agreed: nothing personal, but distinct disappointment nonetheless. Sadly, I have to agree with many of the opinions voiced above. Speaking as a non-GA flyer, my concern with Orbx has always been their seemingly overwhelming fixation with grass strips. There are many interesting medium-sized airports in the UK that have no adequate representation in fsx (one thinks immediately of Southampton, Prestwick, Farnborough, and others, all of which would obviously have a wider potential customer base) yet they insist on rolling out more and more GA-only airports which limit their appeal (or, in my case, eliminate it). Small, and no doubt perfectly formed, but...... After producing England, and Wales, I had hoped they were going to redress the balance to some extent, but apparently not. Ah well. The game is called "marketing", I believe? Cheers, Brian Link to post Share on other sites
britfrog 180 Posted June 23, 2013 Report Share Posted June 23, 2013 JV has answered the critical posts on the fsx site with an interesting response Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142 Posted June 23, 2013 Report Share Posted June 23, 2013 I guess you're referring to post #66 on this page: http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/60409-uk-airports/page-4 TBH, I'm relieved that John has recognised that "...$32.95 grass strips covering 20km sq is not a sweet spot for you guys". I'm as pro-Orbx as the next man, so I was concerned that they might catch a financial cold by continuing to go down that road (which obviously, from his comments, would have been the case had they continued). But I'm also a little sad that by the sound of it that also means that we won't now see as many UK airports from Orbx as some of us had hoped. (Have my cake and eat it, I know, I know.....). But John also says "What we want to establish is a good blend of super atmospheric GA airports, Q400 capable regionals, and also NGX ready airports that don't take 12 months to develop." Ahhhh now, that sounds to me like a much healthier marketing strategy, since it will surely appeal to a much broader range of simmers. One question I'm left speculating about — since they made the decision not to take on Gary Summons and UK2000 by duplicating those airports, do we assume that they also won't be going head to head with the Aerosoft empire in Europe, too — and does this therefore mean that they're going to largely retreat back to the U.S.? (PAJN to be released next month, hmm.....). TBH, my personal wish would be that Orbx should do Norway: lots of *very* interesting flying (and interesting airports, and stunning scenery) there, as I know from RW experience. Good luck to John and the team as they figure out how to tackle the various challenges facing everyone in the current difficult financial conditions! @britfrog I really liked your suggestion on the Orbx forum that perhaps they should look at the 'Ryanscare' airports — great idea! Cheers, Brian Link to post Share on other sites
Christopher Low 63 Posted June 25, 2013 Report Share Posted June 25, 2013 This is hardly a surprise. Kevin, myself and many others have been saying for quite some time that their reluctance to make FTX airfields fully compatible with PlayHorizon UK photoscenery was a BIG mistake. I am sure that sales of these airfields would have been healthier if they had done that from the start. Having said that, I am disappointed to hear this news. That's because I was hoping that they would create super detailed versions of regional airports like Oxford, and also important GA airfields like Northampton Sywell (with its new 4000 feet concrete runway). As for Prestwick and Southampton, Gary Summons will be developing Xtreme versions of these airports in the not too distant future. In fact, I suspect that Prestwick Xtreme could be the next one after version 3 of London Heathrow (currently in the very early stages of development). Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Firth 114 Posted June 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2013 I will buy some more airfields from the existing stock as I want to support the development of more UK scenery. Perhaps we can act as a loose lobby group together to make a case for some new additions? I would like to see Blackpool, Wolverhampton, Gloucester, Sywell, Exeter, Barton to start with.... Link to post Share on other sites
britfrog 180 Posted June 25, 2013 Report Share Posted June 25, 2013 I will buy some more airfields from the existing stock as I want to support the development of more UK scenery. Perhaps we can act as a loose lobby group together to make a case for some new additions? I would like to see Blackpool, Wolverhampton, Gloucester, Sywell, Exeter, Barton to start with.... Kevin i think you stand more chance of having a kiss from the pope, judging by what JV wrote, mind you it would be interesting to know roughly what his break even quantity was per airfield. Why not make him an offer? say he build your 6 airports and you buy (for resale) say 1000 copies of each!! How would you feel about that?? ignore the money side for the moment, would you have enough confidence in the product to expect to sell 1000 copies of each airfield?? Now you are stating to see things through JV's eyes, I would like to see Biggin Hill made as that nearly matches his requirement of being both vfr and small liner a/f, however I think we will be very lucky to see another 6 uk products released. Personally I cant see Cardiff being a success Bristol would have been a better choice ,, I hope i am wrong, but IMHO there are better a/fd's to chose from, and you mention one or two. Having said that he has announced an eu a/f ,there are very few French a/f's available in good detail but will people buy them? if you buy a few of FVFR regions especially the alps area there is no doubt that it is a great place to fly around but which airport meets his new requirement of being a small commuter stop plus scenic vfr field???? Or will it be Belgium?? I visited Ostend many times and also Wevelgum both of which are really busy and interesting , but there is no local scenery available other than GEX,. I think in the past people bought into Aussie because we had nothing from there perhaps likewise with NZ (mind you the scenery in NZ is spectacular,) and PNW but coming to a region where there are already many companies producing adequate scenery and expecting penniless simmers to buy at the rate they released stuff was always going to be a big ask. And dare I say it, I have flown around the UK for 30 years, it is a challenge flying there when you have to avoid so much controlled airspace, but do simmers bother with that? I doubt it , so take away controlled airspace and as some others have pointed out it is pretty flat and un-interesting, but a good base from where to fly to farther reaches, and therein you have the problem. There are huge quantities of simmers flying from the UK to abroad, and they live all around the world but they are using tube liners and probably some kind of online atc, but how many foreigners have bought into the UK vfr scene?? not many according to JV. FTX cannot produce airfields for the passion it has to earn a profit, I have tried to look up a few of my threads when JV first proposed making the UK and airfields here, where I voiced quite loudly my doubts as to it being a financially sound idea, and advised him to rethink, my forum threads were deleted and that persona was banned, which is a shame really, So going back to your idea of him making more airports in the UK I don't think you stand an earthly. However maybe you can start being a go between between UK2000 and FTX whereas UK 2000 can up their anti and make ftx style airports, do you think Gary would be interested?? Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Firth 114 Posted June 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2013 Couple of points.. There is a freeware photoscenery for the entirety of Belgium available.. I have it I don't think Gary would be interested in changing his style, I have discussed with him in the past the possibility of increasing the level of detail in his scenaries and his firm response was that it is a flight simulator not a building simulator He has made a decision to make his products as GPS friendly as possible for as many people as possible and I think that very unlikely to change, and to be fair, the market in general seems to be quite happy with his work. I am myself, albeit I would like to see more airports produced more quickly K Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted June 25, 2013 Report Share Posted June 25, 2013 TBH, my personal wish would be that Orbx should do Norway: lots of *very* interesting flying (and interesting airports, and stunning scenery) there, as I know from RW experience. HI Brian, in case you missed it your wish may come true. In one of the FTX Global preview threads over in the FTX forum John mentioned that Norway is planned as a future full region. Can't wait to see what they do with it either considering the area is rather stunning even in default FSX. Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142 Posted June 26, 2013 Report Share Posted June 26, 2013 Hi Mikael! Indeed I had missed that announcement! Thank you — I will very much look forward to it. Many thanks, Brian Link to post Share on other sites
mickrick 0 Posted October 8, 2013 Report Share Posted October 8, 2013 Ahh But will he listen ??? Link to post Share on other sites
britfrog 180 Posted October 8, 2013 Report Share Posted October 8, 2013 Is there any difference between NZ and Norway?? other than their location I cant see the point of producing scenery for both. Also they both only have a handfull of airports i wonder how many meet their criteria of charming , friendly and small etc NZ clearly didnt sell as expected hence no airports produced like the UK Link to post Share on other sites
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