The conclusion I have drawn is that the numbers only have any meaning for the data they actually represent.

As for the BoS forum, it seems to have over 64,000 members.

Lol now that is rich.

It is data from the same source that Force10 is citing. Check for yourself...

It is data from the same source that Force10 is citing. Check for yourself...

3. Mouse controls. There was a long time dilemma in simulation genre caused by the fact that realistic flight physics mean that a newcomer should have a certain level of initial knowledge and skills (understanding basic principles like 'flight is speed', 'don't turn the flight stick to its limit', 'be more attentive at lower altitudes', etc.) and have controller equipment of a certain level (namely a joystick that is much less widespread gaming device today than it was ten years ago). This sets a pretty high entry barrier for newcomers who want to try the sim genre.

On the other hand, adding simplified flight physics (where a plane can be flown using just cursor keys on the keyboard and where it can't enter uncontrollable spin caused by rough handling for example) to accommodate new players leads to unsolvable problem - this won't give a player the feeling of realistic flight at all, robbing him or her of the very reason of simulation. Is there any point in playing a simplified physics flight in a sim which is all about realistic flight? In addition, this divides the community between those who fly using simplified and full physics modeling since they can't fly the same multiplayer mission.

The answer to this dilemma is a special 'advanced helper' that receives 'I want to do this but I don't know how to' commands from a player and translates them to real plane controls input, not touching physics level at all. This comes with a price however, as everything in life - the helper chooses optimal 'right' trajectories, which simultaneously prevents a player from critical errors and limits the extreme maneuvers the plane can perform like Barrel roll, Snap roll, Hummerhead, Sideslip and others. This enables players who use a mouse and players who use a joystick to fly together and don't have a clear advantage caused by their control device. Winning a fight requires tactical positioning and understanding the composition of air fight, what, we feel, is the goal in this situation.
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It is important to note that mouse control helper governs only pitch, roll and yaw. Controlling engine, flaps, brakes, armament and everything else is the same as on joystick. This allows mouse controls to be used in Normal and Expert modes just like joystick - differences (and difficulties) are the same.

Furthermore, in case a part of the community feels they want to play only with players who use a joystick, we added a special option to dedicated server configuration that allows a server owner to restrict the control scheme to joystick.

As for the BoS forum, it seems to have over 64,000 members, of which about 38,000 have joined in the last year.

This game is like a train wreck. The enjoyment I get from it is wondering how long it will take the rest of you guys to finally get that eureka moment. That what you want is far from what the devs are going to give you.
Oh and the actual facts?

This game could have been great, it could have been sooooo much more than what it is. Every decision loft makes the game haemorrhages more players. Why try to compete with warthunder? The folk who bought this game didn't want Warthunder. The folk loft is trying to attract already have Warthunder. They are not going to spend their money on this. There just not. Loft is out of his depth, he doesn't know what he's doing.

In any case, when considering BoS sales and subsequently BoM sales, in my opinion one must consider the negative campaign waged against the sim. Whether justified to a greater or lesser degree of course is debatable from either side of the debate but it cannot be denied that this sim had a campaign waged against it since it's initial announcement that only got louder, more vocal, and more constant regardless to what improvements came from the developers and I don't think any sim has had this..

[quote]3. Mouse controls. There was a long time dilemma in simulation genre caused by the fact ...

Actually that is not quite accurate. The large amount of negativity and subsequent loss of players, came after the initial release. Well about a week prior, when the campaign and unlocks were unleashed.

I too was involved in the early access from Day 1, and there was not a large campaign against BOS for much of the time of EA. Sure there was a little negativity as there will always be with all sims, but for the most part during the majority of EA the feedback was very positive with each update. I was certainly one of those very excited with each update, and posting very positive feedback all during the bulk of EA, as many others who no longer are there did at the time.

The large amount of negativity and pushback came, after the release of the aforementioned campaign/unlocks, locking down the time acceleration because guys were using that with autopilot to get the unlocks. This was just prior to release, and then also at that time the Metacritic reviews that really upset the devs... all this happening right before the grand release of the sim.

That is when all this consternation began , and why so many simmers - especially coming from the IL-2 franchise, were so upset and disappointed.
And bottom line, played a very large part in the decline in sales of BOM EA versus BOS EA.

Things are looking better now and I hope the PWCG gives you more of what you always wanted from this sim. From the moment you arrived at IL2 you always stated that SP was paramount to you.. and of course you were not alone in that respect.

Well we can't afford to loose all of our game developers and so we should support them...leading them where we want them to go will be dictated by popular demand numbers...I would think

[quote]when considering BoS sales and subsequently BoM sales, in my opinion one must consider the negative campaign waged against the sim.

J9 posted a link to a recent gaming industry study that I can't find (hopefully he'll repost it) so this is kinda half arsed until I see the report again:

1. The study included both console and PC gaming with stratified data on both.

2. The study showed the average PC gamer is 35 years old, with the younger and older gamers fairly evenly distributed above and below that age. 35 year olds are apparently the heart of PC gaming with just as many 50 year olds playing as there are 20 year olds. PC gaming is not a kids or teens centric market.

3. The study showed the most popular PC games to be strategy and role playing type games with flight sims being something like 1 or 2% of the market within the PC gaming segment.

I was really surprised by points 2 and 3 above, considering what seems like a focus on younger gamers with BoS. Going after 1 or 2% of a market with an average age of 35, I would think you would initially come out with a laser focus on age 35. I just don't see that with BoS. PWCG will help BoS with this crowd, but if that was part of the 1CGS strategy all along, it was high risk looking for the heart of your market segment to be satisfied by a 3rd party app. You might hope for more fringe sales to be picked up by a 3rd party app, but to rely on your core customer sales to be driven by a 3rd party app baffles me (Pat Wilson could be hit by a bus tomorrow - hopefully not ). If the study showed the average age of PC gamers to be about 16 or 17 then I would understand a lot of what 1CGS has done. Age 35, I don't get it.

If I was a journalist for a gaming magazine who was interviewing 1CGS, the first question I would ask them would be: "With the average age of PC gamers being 35 on a standard deviation bell curve, what is your marketing strategy."

Like Don, I am waiting for the dust to settle with PWCG for BoS before I start using it, but I'm sure I'll be quite happy with it. So I'm not complaining, just curious why 1CGS is not moving towards the center to find more sales. This is kind of like politics: you've got to pick up your base first, then look for additional opportunities with other voters. Same with customers.

I just don't get Loft's strategy of "Hey Mr. 35 year old (who, if they enjoy flight sims are going to bring their experience with IL-2 1946 to the BoS customer experience) BoS is quick, fast, and not too complicated." These characteristics are pretty much the opposite of IL-2 1946 and its predecessors, games that sold close to 2 million copies in total.