Anthin Delahunt Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 I would definitely buy Japan if Orbx ever did it. That is for sure. Anthin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jabble Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 At the risk of hijacking this thread, I've had a few thoughts, so here goes. It might be useful to produce a handful of freeware airports in Japan, release them with a basic map to show locations, and have its own sub-page on the freeware page. Maybe a "Just released" header of the main site for a while. Also, create a Japanese-language page describing the airfields, as that will appear in search engines. If there are sufficient downloads and interest, then a follow-up Global payware airport might be considered, and more if sales take off. Alternatively, launch a payware airfield simultaneously with the freeware ones, so the attention can be used to show off the high quality Orbx is capable of, right from the start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmb Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Now we're 6 .. or even 8? I am sure John got the message and will have it in mind when time for further decisions will come. Even more in view of a number of low-risk ideas in this thread on how to enter the field. Kind regards, Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezochi Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Good evening from a balmy Sapporo! I had no idea that: 1) there would be so many replies on this thread in the space of two days (including one from the Boss) or that 2) the "number" would grow to 6 or even 8!! (and I know how small a drop that is in the "Sea of Orbx"). Just a quick few points I would like to make: i) I respect the viewpoint of John Venema, and I know that there is a necessity in ensuring a company has sufficient profit to enable it to continuing to do the magic that it does. I am one of its biggest fans, and wouldn't want it to become vulnerable because of nobody buying products. Smart business sense is a sine qua non. ii) As far as I am aware, there are around a thousand registered Vatsim members for the Japan region. The actual number of active members will naturally be much lower, but there are certainly several hundred who fly nowhere else except for Japan. This is only for Vatsim and not a total for the wider "non-Vatsim" FS community. iii) The lack of interaction with the Japanese FS members is partially, in my view, a language issue; Japanese are roughly 2nd bottom in Asia in terms of English language skill, and many Japanese people are only happy to interact in English when they have achieved a certain level of confidence (I say this having been a language teacher in Japan for 19 years now). Unfortunately, this means that many people never try because they never become "sufficiently" confident in their own eyes. This contrasts with dominique's post, but I think that this, and the tendency to stay within Japan for FS, is the reason the FS community sometimes looks like Air Ninja! iv) All in all, I think, as pmb and ntzpilot also hinted at, that a small package might waken a hitherto untapped market to the beauty of the products on offer with Orbx. This would be true not only for the Japanese nationals, but also for those whose interest would be further piqued by a piece of Orbx Japan software, whatever shape or form that may take. Best regards and sorry for opening up a can of worms! P.S. I am at present flying from Salt Lake City to Telluride in a C182. I would never have entertained such an idea were it not for the simple fact that someone saw fit to provide me with a piece of software for KTEX gratis. I could tell you umpteen other tales similar to this centering around Orbx, but I shan't; I have spoken too much as it is!! Good night, and thank you for all I have so far!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominique Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Thank you Ezochi, is there a big FS forum in Japan (like Avsim in the West) ? BTW, there are several excellent freeware airports for Hokkaido but none for Sapporo ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezochi Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Dominique, salut et mercie de votre avis. I am always grateful and interested to read your posts. In Japan, there is the Vatsim Japan forum (only in Japanese, but with between 5-12 posts per week - maybe more if something is being planned/discussed). In addition, there various blogs and freeware sites. I am a total "caveman" and am not really as involved as I used to be! New software by companies like Wings Creation (RJAA et al) and Technobrain (RJTT RJCC RJOO et al) are helping to keep the community alive and vibrant. P.S. Technobrain do fantastic scenery, but their products are only boxed and available to buy in Japan, which is both very short sighted and sad. Je vous souhaite un bon fin de la semain! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominique Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Thank you for the kind words. I was delighted to see that Hokkaido is so well covered by the Let's Fly Association http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~lets_fly/ for instance. A pity that these guys are not coming to place like here. Our forums need more people out of Europe or North America or Australia to bring new angles to our hobby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmb Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Unfortunately, Prepar3d seems not yet to have entered Japan (...with the only exception of Wing Creation). This is why I would be keen to get sceneries from ORBX, as new sceneries are guaranteed to be Prepar3d compatible. Kind regards, Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrancoisB Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 Reality check: Japan is 15th in our list sales by country. The sales revenue from Japan is only 3.3% of what we earn just from North America alone. In other words, an FTX Japan would make less than one NA airport. The top five regions in revenue for us are: 1. USA/Canada 2. UK 3. Australia 4. Germany 5. France That should explain the focus of where we develop products for. The reality? The top 4 regions account for 70% of our worldwide revenue. So you can understand why FTX Germany is next So in other words if you would have worked for Apple and your sales in China at one point would be 3.5%, you would continue to invest in your best selling countries and not China, which is currently Apple's 2nd largest market? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdguy Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 It's not hard to figure out who and where your customers are. People in Germany are buying a lot of existing Orbx products for other areas because their flightsim community is quite large. Perhaps if there was a large flightsim community in Japan who were purchasing Australia and New Zealand and North America and made up significant customer base Orbx would have plans for them. Also the countries John listed as the largest customer bases all have a lot of recreational pilots who in turn become flight simmers or use flight simulators as part of their training. How large is the recreational flight community in Japan? Noel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Venema Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 So in other words if you would have worked for Apple and your sales in China at one point would be 3.5%, you would continue to invest in your best selling countries and not China, which is currently Apple's 2nd largest market? We're selling software, not smartphones. Generally in that part of the world they steal software, not buy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominique Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 We're selling software, not smartphones. Generally in that part of the world they steal software, not buy it. I agree with you that both markets are entirely different. As we say in French "Comparaison n'est pas raison". Regarding software piracy, Japan generally rates very low in piracy indexes in spite of the high cost of software. All the stats I've seen show that the world piracy problem is mainly in China, Russia, the US and Europe (France , Italy and Germany). For instance http://www.vilabs.com/news-section/code-confidential/top-20-countries-software-piracy-2014. i don't know whether the methodology is accurate but most of the studies bring more or less the same results. Japanese are more honest (or smarter and don't get caught ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jabble Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 If you think about it, OpenLC is a long game taking several years. As each region is launched, that might be a good time to also launch some local Global airports, as they can best take advantage of the surrounding scenery. Just recently I've been enjoying flying in the Czech Republic since the launch of Horovice, not least because of OLC EU everywhere I go. Had OLC EU not yet been ready, it wouldn't have been quite as good an experience. When OLC NA launches, I suspect there'll be a number of NA Global airfields to follow, and their sales may do better than without it. So while expanding into Japan seems a good idea, including catering to the local market, perhaps the optimal timing would be to follow the launch of OLC Asia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walterg74 Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 Thank you for the kind words. I was delighted to see that Hokkaido is so well covered by the Let's Fly Association http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~lets_fly/ for instance. A pity that these guys are not coming to place like here. Our forums need more people out of Europe or North America or Australia to bring new angles to our hobby. Not sure about that. I've seen many posts with people providing suggestions, discussion on why to have different areas, etc (I myself have opened one too), however, in the end it just comes down to the "This is a business and we'll only do what's profitable answer, so what's the point? It's nothing more than wishes hoping that one chosen by devs matches our wishes. But in reality, you don't have any quality scenery (real quality ORBX style and similar) outside NA and Europe... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvidencePlz Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 Please make FTX Region Japan and Singapore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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