How many projects have failed in the last decade or so of flight sims as people try to produce accurate simulations of a given conflict or AC? True historically accurate simulation is difficult to do and expensive, exactly what you don’t need for a commercial product. Yes I would love for a DCS Vietnam expansion to have the correct units, with the correct time period. However if you give me a choice of waiting 20 years for someone to do that, or next year we’ll have a slightly ahistorical version, give me option 2 please!
Now days people get in an uproar over very small things. As a developer of a commercial project, I will have already weathered this storm with getting the first AC model out the door. Why would I deal with the same problems to produce a second model, or a third that are probably going to see drastically lower sales figures. I for instance love the F-8 and would be a first day buyer of one for DCS. However if they have an F-8A, F-8B, F-8C, F-8D, F-8E,… I’m only spending so much money. These days each of those AC’s is going to be expected to be rendered to the same fidelity, not just cosmetic changes, or a different pit, IF we’re paying money for them. As a smart developer I’m only going to produce the model that I think will have the largest appeal, and not worry about the rest. This has historically been where community modding has been so helpful, as it allows for the gaps to be filled. Even then though people gripe and complain that the free mod they just got isn’t perfect. I’d love for DCS to support the open modding community the SF series did, but that’s not gonna happen any time soon.