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Originally Posted by Mylander
As has been pointed out, you are getting a lot of work, expertise, expense, etc... from Ubi to provide a sim such as SH IV for 50 bucks US, or thereabouts. We subsimmers are a very small niche market. If the Ubis of the world don't see some ability to turn a profit by producing sub sims, there just won't be any more sub sims. It's just that simple. 15 years from now, you'll be trying to find a computer you can still play SH IV on. Keep whining, don't support these companies, (which actually do listen to our ideas and constructive criticism) and see what the natural consequences are. (read: No more sub sims.) Just my $.02
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Indeed. Let's, for a moment, count the game studios that have come !and gone! because people didn't buy enough of their games:
- Jane's Combat Simulations (that gave us 'Fleet Command', '688i', and a bucket of great flight sims)
- Microprose (Microprose! "Silent Service II" is a genre CLASSIC! And, again, buckets of flight sims. Who can forget the awesome news of the layoff of the entire Falcon 4.0 staff right around Christmas, as another patch was supposedly about to come out?)
- Rowan Software. Hello, "Mig Alley" and "Battle of Britain"! And....goodbye, too!
- Dynamix ("Aces of the Pacific", and another great subsim classic - "Aces of the Deep", etc)
- DiD ("EF2000", "Total Air War", etc.)
- Heck, even Sonalysts ("Dangerous Waters", "Sub Command") are largely allocating resources to other, 'more profitable' ventures.
You can go on and on and on. Simulations are really QUITE a niche market. A company has to deliver damn near perfectly, and consistently (and be based in a lower-cost-of-living foreign country
) to even break even anymore (see: the IL2 series, the Flanker series, etc).
For a 'mainstream' product (say, anything in the 'Battlefield', 'Quake', or 'Unreal' series), sure, I'm all for "voting with your wallet" and not buying a title if it doesn't perfectly meet every expectation you have.
For sims? Ummm...no. QUITE a bit more lenient, there. Holding on to your principles and driving every one of the companies out of business is hardly a good long-term solution.