PMDG have finally released their MD-11 airliner. It comes as FSX-only for Euro 59,99 (some $80) and as Combo for both FSX/FS2004 for nearly 90 Euros ($120). On their web site you can read “…… PMDG continues our lineage of fine airliner simulations with another popular heavy airliner, the PMDG MD-11! Born out of airline requirements for a “modern new DC-10″ the MD-11 is a superb example of aircraft engineering from the era when modern computer processing power was beginning to bring truly new ideas, safety and capability to the cockpit of transport airplanes…….”.
“….. Highly automated and employing innovative new approaches to the pilot/airplane interface, the MD-11 took the McDonnell Douglas widebody line into the future with fully automated flight modes, aircraft system status pages, failure consequence displays and clearly thought out pilot controls. One of the most advanced airplanes ever produced by Douglas, the MD-11 has been largely missing from desktop simulation… Until Now!…..”.
More information can be found here.
0 Responses
The package is actually that price in euro, and not dollars as stated in this article. That’s €59.99.
Mea Culpa. Changed it, thanks !
F.
WHAT?! $80 for a single add-on?!!? Has the cost of gas really affected PMDG that much?!
I realize that this product has been in develpment for a long time, but the price? $94.89 Canadian at todays exchange rates. That’s way too much for me. $95 for a single add-on aircraft? Forget it!
I was wondering how long that would take. 😉
If you have complaints with respect to the price, is it not more appropriate to direct them at someone who can do something about it – i.e. the developer – rather than shooting the messenger who just told you it had been released?
Ian P.
So what’s the point in having a comment system if you can’t leave a comment Mr Ian P?
I asked a question, I didn’t say you couldn’t post a comment. I’ll ask it again in a different way. What are you and Mark hoping to achieve with your comments?
I would imagine they are trying to add visibility to the flight simming public of the outrageous pricing scheme that PMDG has chosen to adopt. This is a place for comments after all.
Perhaps Ian you have misinterpreted this place to be a developer feedback area? If it was of course, you’re comments would make more sense. However, since it is not…
+1 … quite pricy… puff… i hope they review it as does not make any sense (hope they havent put the finger in the air to get it)
It seems odd that they have released the aircraft for FSX and the FS9 version will come later… is this another industry first for PMDG? 😉
Internet boycotting of PMDG till they lower their prices… duh!
Good luck.
I can’t afford it either, but then I can’t afford the Aston Martin DB9 Volante I’d quite like, either.
Quick! Must organise a boycott of Aston Martin until they lower their prices! 🙂
In the end, not one single add-on for FS is “absolutely necessary” to use the sim, except the umpteen hundred Dollars/Pounds/Euros/Groats you spent on your PC capable of running it. That’s the bottom line, ultimately. Complaining about the cost of an add-on is still, and always will be, utterly pointless. Just don’t buy it! If a developer has overstretched the market, the market will soon make its voice heard.
To be honest? I’ve always been suprised by the ‘low’ prices of quality add-ons like this. 40, 50, 60 dollars for such an advanced piece of software sure was nice, but basically ‘too cheap’ to begin with.
And I second Ian : if you can’t afford it, either fly a freeware version, or find yourself a cheaper version. Don’t forget, this isn’t a game, it’s a simulation. I thinks 60 euros for an advanced simulation is justified. Can I afford it? No, but I bought it anyways…;)
Maaaaaaan i hate that “expesive discussion” that always comes up with flight sim “hobby” people. Do u know what other hobbies cost ???? Do you know how much people spent on fishing / horseback riding ??? Do u know what 2 kids on soccer cost each year ?
In fact this add-on is very cheap !!!!!
I play for hunderds of hours with various add-ons. Most computer games have a 15 hour gameplay average and then you completed the game….. and those games cost 40 euroes a piece !!!!!!!! PS3 or xbox games in fact cost much more then 40 euros !
You get a 80% accurate MD-11 for this price …. just not the movement. Do u happen to know what a real MD-11 sim cost ?
Why is it that so called “flightsim enthiusiasts ” always complain on price ? In fact its the most complaint HOBBY ever is supose.
I am sure i will spent my euros on this add on as soon as the 2004 version is available. And if i can’t afford it once evry couple of hunderd hours …… i will find me a new hobby ….. darn that hobby will cost me money to 🙂 …..
Well at least i feel good about me boycotting ferrari in my last 35 years ….. That will teach em 😉
I agree with PPL and others. If the price is too high, do not buy it. If the MD-11 does not sell as expected, the price will drop. Or not. That’s the effect of the free market enterprise model.
In the meantime i wonder: how good is the MD-11? Does the price justify the quality? That is a question i would like to see answered before i consider a purchase. So, bring on yourt experiences please 🙂
The day that an “addon” costs more than the platform that runs it is the day I stop buying…oops…I guess we are here.
Wow, you guys love hopping on the band wagon! Obviously the boycott comment was a joke. A JOKE, not serious. I realize that typing out one’s comments inevitably take out the sense of humor, but come on people!
Couple things – Aston Martin, well it performs and well, it’s an Aston Martin! This is a as PPL put it 80% simulated aircraft. And it’s not even that. Does it do full motion, or a complete interior virtual cabin, or are all the systems accurate? Nope. So in reality it is less than 80% of a simulated MD-11. How is it different than say Level D’s 767? Wing flex? Yeah, ok, however I don’t understand how prices sky rocketed for a single add-on. Granted, I’m just a humble… well not right now… real life pilot that wants to taste how it would be to fly one of the main line aircraft. I guess I’m just envious that I won’t get to fly it because I can’t afford it. Plus it’s in euros… Perhaps I should review them. Ian, do you get these aircraft for free?
What happened to our forums… are they closed ??
😉
I don’t think you’ll find any bandwagon jumping here, Mark – just differing points of view.
There are plenty of answers around the net for why products now cost so much more than they did for previous versions of FS and it all boils down to one thing – they’re massively more complex than they were (including the LDS B767, which is now a long way behind cutting edge design). That means that they require a lot more time and personnel to produce than they did, which increases costs, which increases the price.
A related comparison I’ve seen on another site regarding this price differential is that between Gmax and 3DStudioMAX – they both do the same job, they both sit on top of Windows. Gmax is free, so costs less than the software it sits on. 3DS costs thousands, well over 100x the cost of the software it sits on. So why don’t people use Gmax to develop top end models? Because 3DS Max can do so much more than Gmax, increasing the quality of the product to the end user… But the price just went up again as a result.
Regarding reviews, I don’t actually write them for simFlight, we just get links in the sidebar for some of them, but yes, often we get a review product at no cost or the purchase cost refunded by the developer.
That does not mean free though – my current review has taken me approximately 30 hours of work so far and it’s still going. Nick hasn’t started yet, and will add a significant amount of hours on top of my work. Think how much an employer would pay for the best part of a week’s employment and then compare it to the cost of the add-on! I know that if I worked 30hrs overtime, I could afford the product I’m reviewing, or the MD-11, several times over.
I don’t know what PMDG’s review policy is, I’ve never reviewed one of their products, but the same as I started by reviewing products I paid for (or freeware) and then finding a publisher, I’m sure if you can produce good quality reviews, simFlight would publish them for you.
Ian,
My comment about the band wagon was for the lack of anyone hoping in my ring and pointing out the dramatic jump in production cost. I’m not comparing the MD-11 to freeware, though I am comparing it to other payware. However, since freeware was brought up the prime candidate that I could think of in terms of being on an equal level, if not better, to PMDG’s visual model and FDE would be POSKY. I think POSKY creates an amazing and accurate visual model that surpasses some, if not most payware products out there. Which leaves systems and panel, in my opinion which would logically represent the dramatic increase in MSRP of PMDG’s product. Is the systems and logic that much different than a Level D 767? I doubt it, though you’re right, I do not know first hand only from what I’ve seen in the screen shots. Which brings me back to the original comment, or question, how could this single add-on be so much more expensive than it’s competition?
As far as 3DS Max and Gmax is concerned, I do concede to your point, and if that is the justification for the cost than so be it. Though if POSKY can create outstanding models (in my opinion) for free, than how is the cost, once again, justified?
Ah, reviewing. 30 hours of bliss I suspect… no probably not, though I recall a saying that goes, “if you do something you enjoy, you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” I wish I had half the talent as you Ian. Both you and Nick do an amazing job and I take your reviews seriously, and, as a matter of fact have purchased add-on’s because of your reviews.
Ultimately I’d just like to see an oversight or outline or better yet a review of why payware has become so exponentially more expensive over the past year or so.
Sorry Francois for taking a forum discussion outside of the forum. Though I really do like the ability to comment on items this way!
Although I didn’t buy it yet, I certainly will. Their previous products, FS9/FSX B744, and FS8/FS9 B737NG, have given me countless hours* of fun. Literally hundreds of hours. For me, although it’s certainly a steep price, still makes it worth it.
…but most people here seem more interested in general aviation, so I totally understand that they wouldn’t want to buy it.
*If I hadn’t forgotten to use some electronic logbook they would not have been countless 😉
I had to jump in on the systems comment earlier – the MD 11 has a significantly more complex set of systems than the Level D. The real plane is significantly more automatic than the B767 and the number of screens available on the Multi Funcation Display is exponentially greater than the on the Level D bird. There is a lot of coding going on to make the systems do what they are supposed to to in all the various flight and failure situations.
I saw the demo at the Seattle AVSIM conference and have been following some of the threads on their forum. The amount of work to get the systems in place had to be huge, really huge. And they were committed to an exceptional level of fidelity.
So, comparisons of the systems with the Level D bird (which hasn’t had a new 2d panel drawn for it since FS2000 and has a less than exciting virtual cockpit) are not really fair or relevant.
Also, the other thing to remember about pricing is that its based on two things: what will the market bear, and, can I make money with my product at that price point. Development costs factor in when calculating how many units do I have to sell to break even and start making a profit at a price that they believe is sustainable.
PMDG markets to a small subset of the sim community. They market to those who will pay a premium for ultra fidelity – a hefty premium. So their target market isn’t that big. They have to charge a big price becuase they won’t sell that many units compared to the sim overall.
And clearly, they know that the price is sustainable because its essentially the same as the 747 – and that enough people will likely buy at that price to drive a profit.
If you really want to complain, it should be about the inflation in prices of low-fidelity add-ons from companies like Abacus and CLR with their “lite” DC-10 and 747. They are the ones trying to pretend that their planes are “pretty close” to the PMDG level – even though in terms of system fidelity, they are playing Single A ball and PMDG is playing in the Show.
Colin in Portland Oregon
All I have to say is:
This product is worth every cent of its price.
Once you use it, you’ll never go back to your prefered plane anymore.
The MD11 will become your favourite airliner.
Much better even than the PMDG74X or 737NGX.
This product is awesome.
I’ve had the chance to fly it on FSX, and can’t wait for the FS9 ver. to be released to
purchase it by paying 89 EUROS. IT’S WORTH THEM TOO!!