Payware Add-Ons: The Reason I'm Leaving The Hobby

By Douglas Falshaw

I have arrived at a point that I did not think I would ever come to. After years of flying my computer around the world, starting with FSFW95, I have decided to hang up my wings. I have sold my copy of FS2002 Pro, and uninstalled it from my computer. I will not be buying FS2004. I am not doing this because I like the game less. In fact, I like it much more now than I did when I first started to "fly".

The reason I am leaving the hobby is simple: money. Flight Simulator and its world of over-priced add-ons has simply become too expensive for me to afford. It's bad enough that Microsoft insists on bringing out a new version every two years. Add to that the demise of freeware, and things go from bad to worse.

I do not begrudge people making a profit. However, I don't think that Microsoft's profit margin would be seriously hurt by going three years between versions, like they used to. I know this may seem unthinkable to many bean counters, but perhaps they could even allow upgrades to the next version for a reduced price. Please, don't anyone hold your breath: this is not going to happen. A two-year cycle results in more profit, and most flight simmers are just too eager to line up like lemmings to buy the new version.

I might be more amenable to a two-year cycle if it did not mean that I had to rush out and upgrade my computer each time a new version of FlightSim hit the market. My current system will only run FS2002 if I have most of the sliders turned down, and my system simply will not support AI traffic and ATC, no matter where I put the slider. But I will be damned if I am going to go out and spend $1500 on a new system just so that I can play a game.

The greatest disappointment to me, however, is the decline of freeware. I am aware that developing planes, scenery, utilities, etc. is very time consuming: I have done some of this myself for my own use. What I don't understand is why the payware add-ons have to cost so much. I only paid about $60 US for the entire FS2002 Pro package. How is it that an add-on plane costs $30 US? Adding three planes to the game at this price means I will spend more on the add-ons than I spent on the game, and it comes with 15 aircraft. Something seems just a little out of proportion here. Are the add-on developers getting a little greedy? I'm beginning to wonder. As it is, I have no proof, so I can make no accusations.

Be that as it may, I am still not going to buy their payware. It is getting to the point that a simmer could spend a thousand dollars a year just to stay up-to-date in the hobby (an exaggeration, admittedly, but definitely in the high hundreds). As for me, I'm hanging up the wings. This is getting ridiculous.