We’ve been selling our software and books in retail stores since our founding in 1978. Along the way, we’ve slowly built and maintained ties to many of the nation’s largest retailers where our products are offered to end users. With so many years behind us, we’ve been through several business cycles in which sales through our retail partners have varied widely as customers’ pocketbooks have grown and shrunk in response to the health of the economy.
Since late 2008, these same retailers have changed their purchasing behavior regarding our products. Our shipments to national retailers have dropped drastically. Purchasing agents give multiple explanations for the huge decrease in order volume:
- significant falloff of consumer purchases in response to the recession
- consumer movement away from PC software in favor of game consoles
- Microsoft’s decision to withdraw resources from Flight Simulator
Worldwide PC software sales through retail stores have tumbled. Today if you walk the aisles of most retail stores, you’ll see only a sparse selection PC software. But stroll over to the Xbox, Nintendo and Playstation aisles and the shelves will be bursting with console software.
Almost two years into this business cycle, our sales through our retail channels have not improved at all, in fact they’ve decreased. Not long ago, many of our flight simulation add-ons could be found on the shelves; today a customer is hard pressed to find even Microsoft Flight Simulator on the shelves. Without the urging of Microsoft, retailers have little reason to keep Flight Simulator or our add-ons on their shelves.
In response, we’ve had to change the way in how we conduct business. Like many other companies, we have increased the amount and frequency of our direct email promotion. Of course, this comes at the expense of irritating customers who do not care for our email messages which they consider as “spam”. If you feel that we’ve been spamming you, please visit our site and we’ll promptly remove your name from our email list.
Hardly a day that goes by that one of our customers doesn’t ask us to ship our add-ons to his/her favorite retail stores. How we wish we were able to change this. Today, we rely almost exclusively on direct sales to the customer: through our website over the Internet, by telephone and through other mail order and Internet partners. Yes, we are still the largest single maker of add-ons; unfortunately we don’t control the channels of distribution. To receive news about our products, subscribe to our FS Free Press Newsletter
July 13th, 2010 at 10:10 am
Dear Sir
it is very hard to find any PC units on sale in Utah.
And even more so for Flight Simulator here in St George, Utah.
One thing you should produce is . . .
A PC program to download aircrafts for FSX without pain.
In my case I am unable to do so with methods they advise on some sites.
The cost of purchasing a good aircraft on disk is most time around $40
With the economic situation as is, it is toooo hard to contine that way.
Best regards Gustave
July 13th, 2010 at 10:40 am
Gustave
Most FSX aircraft available by download from commercial companies have an automated installation.
Freeware aircraft may not include automated installation but you can usually find instructions for installation in the “readme” included with the download.
As you noted about the economic situation and to echo what we have experienced, price does matter and we have tried to keep prices competitive.
July 20th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
I think Abacus has good programs I do receive the last issues and there is a lot for FSX that I think are very good. I do have FS204, but the other thing is I don’t have space in my hard disk; so I have to increase my memory space and spend more money. Financial recession has put me on hold to get this extra things. I do like browsing what you have though.
July 20th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Oscar,
No doubt the recession has forced the retailers to pull back on their stock levels and this in turn has affected software makers such as ourselves. However, we will continue to try to meet the needs or wants of our customers through the remaining retailer, directly via phone, mail or online and through many of the mail order suppliers.
July 20th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
While I remember the heady days of yore when I could find ample FS software anywhere I looked, I understand why things have happened the way they have (except Microsoft’s decisions- this will be their last FS program, and I’m NOT happy about that). To be honest, while I don’t get that thrill of coming home directly from the store with the new software in-hand, it’s actually better in the long run. With no retailer “middle-man” in the way, the cost of this software has actually decreased with the newer titles. That can only be good, right?
July 20th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
I believe you may have more of a opportunity in on line retail if you gave away a portion of your product though a monthly subscription. Charge a nominal monthly fee, sell other products or at least advertise other related products and construct a web site that mimics a magazine with good articles and stories from your clients.
I have some of your products and I think there great,there truly has been a severe disconnect in the flight sim world and seems to have happened very abruptly I cant put my finger on it but i believe it begins with the cost of a good pc. When you want realism it cost.
Concerned customer
Charles Wolski
pres. Network Entertainment Simulations
July 20th, 2010 at 10:04 pm
After reading your piece and the email in my inbox, I feel somewhat guilty. I’m the kind of consumer who has apparently driven this exodus of PCs from the retail world.
In my job as an IT manager/director, 95% of my purchases are via the web/email phone. Occasionally I buy something from Fry’s but very rarely.
My personal purchases are similar.
I have not bought any FSX toys in months. I make a very good living but paying taxes is becoming more and more of a burden. In anticipation of the ‘Bush’ Tax cuts going-away, I’m not spending anything on extras right now.
Being a small businessman in this point in our history is a scary proposition. It seems that if your product is not from China and marketed at WalCostKmart, you’re screwed.
Best of luck - I’ll have to buy some toys soon.
July 20th, 2010 at 11:41 pm
Lets not forget, Microsoft set us up to fail when they produced FSX. It was a bad piece of software that originally gave us simmers hope for a wonderful experience. Not so, in order for us to live that experience we had to practically purchase new computers with the latest and greatest graphics cards, faster processors, speedy ram and mountains of hard drive. None of that really worked because FSX was a huge failure by Microsoft. So bad that they pulled out of the flight sim business. I have not run a flight sim program for months due to my frustration with slow frame rates and a bad program. I do appreciate the hard work by Abacus and their team. Keep the information coming through my email and maybe some day I will return…
July 21st, 2010 at 1:10 am
I agree that much less PC software is being sold in the store shelves. You used to see many military flying PC games like Jane’s and Lockon in Walmart, but PC flight simulation of all kinds has become a nitch market.
For the last two years the economy has been steadily picking up. In my area alone within the last week, 300 new high paying jobs were announced.
The deep hole and near depression, that the previously eight years put us in was so deep that recovery won’t happen over night, but as people become employed, they will purchase more flight simulation addons which will encourage developers to offer even more.
I have plans on purchasing Flight Deck 6 very soon myself.
I will gladly keep receiving email from Abacus.
July 21st, 2010 at 4:43 am
Greeting’s! I am planning in the following months to Buy $300.00 (US) + of your software for FS-X!!!… Please, stay-in bussiness!!!…
July 21st, 2010 at 7:49 am
Hi.
I will continue to support ABACUSPUB in any way I can.
I have been using your addons for a long time now.
Please keep sending me information.
Regards Gerald
July 21st, 2010 at 10:53 am
I understand the economics. I’ve always used Abacus products in the past, ex: Flight Deck 3,4,5. I’m thinking about buying the USA Landscape Extreme and also the Flight Deck 6. My only concern is the seemingly lack of customer support. For example: I’ve had problems with FD 5 which I repeatedly brought to the attention of your customer support but failed to get any active response. I’m just wondering whether this is still a pattern to be expected. Now that I have to deal directly from the publisher, what kind of warranty and technical support can I expect?
July 21st, 2010 at 4:25 pm
I have upward of 10 of your products installed on my computer, all for Microsoft FS2004. I did purchase FSX and was greatly disappointed with that program. I could not run it on my machine and sold it a short time later at a loss. I am grateful that Abacus has a huge selection of FS2004 products and hope that you continue to develop many more. I will say that most of your items are great but there have been a few that don’t work too well. Certain F-18’s, Commuter Express, and Flight Deck IV are a few examples. I like the idea of “Fly Before you Buy” but have also had a problem with several of those aircraft which would not download properly. I do hope that you will continue to develop more interesting products, especially the downloads as they are more affordable. It is becoming more difficult to find good aircraft for FS2004 and I wil support Abacus as long as good products are in the pipeline.
July 21st, 2010 at 8:40 pm
It is worth noting that here, if I see Abacus products, they are usually on the shelves at the military exchanges, and are, without variation, the military aircraft sets. This is to be expected with the large military community here in southeast Virginia, but I have a limited interest in military aviation.
Another part of my situation is that I’ve already bought most of the items I’ve intended to buy from the Abacus lineup. I’ve bought most, if not all of the design tools, and while I’ve practically never bought aftermarket scenery, I did buy the landscapes. Keep it up, though. Maybe something new will come along that I find absolutely necessary…
July 21st, 2010 at 11:51 pm
Thanks for all of your comments.
If you are having problems with our software, please contact Customer Support - we do respond to your issues.
July 23rd, 2010 at 6:04 am
I have been a regular purchaser of Abacus’s products for some way back with FS2002, the latest being - as I have FS9, the Constellation and the PBY Catalina. There is not a lot of FS add ons on the retailers shelf’s here in New Zealand, so buying by mail order is a matter of course.
Keep up the good work Abacus; as another great program I have of yours is TV Slideshow Studio.
July 24th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
After reading all of the E-Mail responses posted here, there are a couple that I think hit the nail on the head.
As one writer mentioned, I have tons of Flight Simulator programs on my computer, going back to Sim 2002.
The economy does not dictate what products I buy, but performance surely does. I was hooked as a Simulator pilot from the first time I flew FS2002. even with the square clouds. Since then I have bought every Sim Micro Soft has put out. Then everything went South. I bought Sim X. I think that is when Micro Soft shot itself in the foot. It cost at lot of money, was very difficult to load, but I finally got it to load. From there the disappointment set in. The View option was and is a royal pain. If Micro Soft had kept the View options and commands from 2004 it would have been, at least in my opinion a much better program. So being unhappy, I did not fly the X at all. Then I found in a store the Acceleration package, figured it would fix things (cost a bunch of money also), so bought it. Also a pain to load and I can’t tell it did anything at all to make X fly and control better. Bought the Enhanced landscape package also, and same thing. Could see no change in the views or operation. Now I am really getting disappointed. The only thing about X that I feel is very good is the screen that shows the various aircraft, and the ability to select all the various versions of those A/C. Especially the version of the Coast Guard helicopter, (which used to be my job, being a CG flight crew member for 34 years). Bottom line, I think Sim X was a mistake and could very well be one of the reasons you can’t find anything in the stores. No retail store, or chain of stores is going to stock a product when all the managers of those stores get tons of complaints from the consumer because the product does not perform as it should and they won’t take the product back. I wish someone would come up with a program where we could take the good parts of Sim X, ie Aircraft choices, etc. and down load them over to the Sim 2004 part of the Hard Drive. I would be a happy camper. Also, if the new products coming out stops letting them to be loaded into Sim 2004, then I am done buying any Sim product at all.
August 14th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
I have to agree with Doc Warren. I have been a flight simmer since my first PC FS program called Chuck Yeager Test pilot. It was for a a 886 computer. I have all of MS flight sims from 98 on. FSX is by far the most touted by MS and the worst by far. I run a high end system, far beyong the min requirements of FSX. duel quad core processor, 12 gigs memory and a 2 gig video card. Every other program I have runs like lightning on my machine. But I still cannot run the program at max settings without hitting low frame rates. I think MS should have put a lot more thought into this program before releasing it. I am an avid fan of Abacus and have most of their ad ons for FSX and FS9 They are great. Just wish MS would have done more research into making the game run smoothly on a standard computer. (they claim it was designed for future computing advances, but you can’t get much more advanced than my machine in the consumer market) I hope Abacus keeps with designing software for both FSX and 2004 as I will continue to buy them.
August 19th, 2010 at 3:44 am
I was glad to find Abacus when I started Simming 3 years ago. The prices are right and the detail is nothing short of excellence. We need not to stagnate. With Microsofts pull out I can only hope they will rethink as time goes on and make a great base simulator and help our add on companies with the inside code. Its not over till the Fat Lady Sings. Bigger Better Faster More. Going back to flying in the Great Blue Virtual Beyond.
Frogman — Out!!!
August 21st, 2010 at 8:17 pm
I really don’t understand all the criticism of FSX. Like many others, I couldn’t fly it when it first came out because it was not designed for the computer I was operating…but that was years ago. Surely by now, most people have upgraded their computers with better processors, more operating memory and more storage capacity. I’ve upgraded twice and FSX flies incredibly well with all the sliders maxed.
I never, ever, had a problem installing FSX even though I couldn’t fly it in more than a slide show on my original computer. After I upgraded, I had a registration problem but techs at the Microsoft Games support site resolved that very quickly. Over the years, I’ve had other problems caused, not by the sim, but by external issues. I’ve always been able to get help for those kinds of problems from the various flightsim websites.
I think it’s been about six years since FSX was released. Nearly everyone involved with the Microsoft Simulator releases knows that they always have been designed for equipment more advanced than currently in use when the release occurs but equipment does catch up with the software.
Like many others, I’ve frequently been unhappy that I couldn’t run the current release on the equipment I had. It was three years before I could run FSX at all and five before I cold run it well. It is a better product than FS9 but I still have FS9 on my computer and I still run it but I’m doing so less and less often. FSX has better flight modeling and better scenery…the best combination for good simming if your machine will run it.
I’m sad that Microsoft chose to end its Flight Simulator series, It has been an incredible contribution to flying for those who cannot or choose not to fly for real. Now, if only the freelance scenery and aircraft designer community can catch up…