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See the FAQ as to why they're doing it. :)
Why is BOS priced this way? Why are their different editions?
BOS was designed to re-create the air war of the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942-43. This meant a certain map and certain airplanes and ground vehicles would need to be created to accomplish that. A budget was agreed to that could attract the necessary talent and pay our employees a livable wage. Then an analysis of the combat flight-sim market was done using all available data from previous sim titles and our experience from Rise of Flight. What we found was that the number or hardcore simmers plus some casual simmers that might be interested in such a title was not very large. This proved to be a challenge and for a business, there must be a path forward to profitability in order for the product to get funded. Many, many flight-sims in the past have been money losers and lost millions of dollars for their investors while throwing many talented people out of work. This has set back the genre and is a big reason why you do not see more serious flight-sims being built. However, we are passionate about this genre and we are stubborn - we want to see it survive.
So with all that in mind we had to set certain revenue goals that will allow us to spawn even more sim titles and content for our customers. We concluded that the market can bear a price of about $10-20 on average per airplane included in the game. This is about what we charge for planes in ROF and what other titles ask for additional content. Some other sim titles ask even more for their content than we do.
The complete vision we had for BOS included ten iconic and important airplanes that are necessary tell the story of Stalingrad and provide the community with thousands of hours of entertainment. Based on our $10-20 average price per airplane we concluded that the whole BOS kit should cost no more than $100. So we set the Early Access prices below $10 per plane once you owned all the content. However, we realized that the entire package is a healthy investment for anyone’s wallet. So we decided to break it up into a Deluxe (Premium) Edition and a Standard Edition and then offer two less essential, but popular planes as separate purchases for the Standard Edition customers. This way they could purchase all the content in smaller bites. We think this is fair to all, especially simmers on a budget. Whether you purchase the Deluxe or Standard editions or pick up the two additional airplanes, the cost per plane is reasonable.
The flight-sim market has changed over the years and more casual, arcade style gameplay has come into vogue of late. We applaud such titles for making flying games fun and their F2P business model works for that style of gameplay. But there is another level to this hobby and BOS is the upper echelon of realism and fidelity. This means a smaller market for us, but one filled with passionate people who want us to do it right the first time with no more botched releases and eight-year long development cycles. The price we have set for our products, should enough virtual pilots pick it up, will give us a chance to continue our mission and grow this genre once again and make the flight-sim hobby more mainstream.
Flight-simming is a niche genre in PC gaming. It requires special development teams, special approaches to selling products and creating technology advancements. When you couple that with finding new customers who yearn for a more serious experience in the age of tablet and mobile games, you can see why we have to do things a bit differently.
Is this a Pay-to-Win system?
No, BOS does not follow a Pay to Win format. All planes have their advantages and disadvantages. Pilots rule the day. Some planes are faster and some turn tighter. Any equipment that is unlocked in the game as you fly missions is historically correct and although some may involve more firepower, they come with a weight penalty just as in real life.
Some have argued in the forum that the La-5 and FW-190 are super-planes that you have to buy separately and that means it is a Pay-to-Win system. Although these are good fighter planes, they are not necessarily the best and can easily be defeated by another competent pilot in another type of plane included in the Standard or Deluxe editions. These two planes arrived very late in the Battle of Stalingrad and they are not a part of the Campaign system we have built. They were built by us because we got many requests for them to be included and we know they are popular legendary aircraft. Users will be able to include them in multiplayer servers and custom missions if they wish and they will also be historically correct for other maps and battles that took place after Stalingrad that are being developed for us.
Why are you selling DLC for an Early Access title? Shouldn’t they be included or be sold after release?
DLC is not an accurate term for this content, this is a term used by Steam, not us. The two additional planes are part and parcel to our overall vision and based on my answer above about our pricing, these two planes have been separated out to give users on a stricter budget the ability to buy the Standard Edition and play the main Campaign of BOS without breaking their wallet. If and only if they really want these planes should they come back and purchase them separately.
What is the overall business model going to be? Will you sell individual planes and maps like you did with ROF or complete theaters or battles with multiple planes such as BOS has?
Our long-term plan, assuming this title is successful, is to create theaters (battles) with multiple planes, but perhaps occasionally sell an individual plane if there is good reason to do so.