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Originally Posted by 0rpheus
The Gaijin games are categorically not 'simulations' in the sense of the PC IL-2 or A10 etc. They are games that come with a 'sim' flight model, nothing more. BoS in particular is appalling; terribly shonky framerate for a console and the FM is like treacle. 'Triple A simulation' it is not.
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TBH I played Wings of Prey and it really is "lite sim" in the vein of Strike Fighters. Why I say it is AAA and DCS is not is because the Gaijin games have the kind of cinematic, epic production values we associate with the term AAA. AAA as used today really has nothing to do with quality - it is simply the gaming equivalent of Hollywood Blockbuster movies. IE huge budgets, lots of eyecandy, tightly crafted "experience".
For example SH4 and SH5 sit firmly in AAA land - they have huge focus on superb visuals, soundtrack and generally try to craft an epic blockbuster-like atmosphere. DCS doesn't do this. While it has excellent production values as a simulator it is not really a AAA production.
And I do think there is a place for all types of games: I play Strike Fighters regularily, I play FSX sometimes, I go back and play AOTD and Fast Attack regularily and I had great fun with Wings of Prey and Apache Air Assault. I even enjoyed the first HAWX for what it was, even if I had to suppress the grognard in me. I'm thrilled about DCS now that they're opening up for 3rd party modules.
Interestingly I've been playing the PC MMO version of Birds of Steel and to me the FM feels just like IL-2. Don't like it much tbh.
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It's all 'games' when it boils down to it, no need to be facetious. I note from your post count you're relatively new here - the hostility thing really isn't welcome. Basic civility will likely extend the duration of your stay 
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Actually I've been lurking for 5 years. I just don't post a whole lot except in the classic subsims board. My point is I see a lot of reactionary complaining here and nothing productive. The console-centric AAA business model isn't going anywhere soon, and the mobile/tablet market mainly consists to 90% of Rovio-wannabes run by money-junkies whose sole interest is quick profits and where terms like "artistic integrity" never even enters the vocabulary. Then on PC the publishers have been crying about piracy for years, while looking at the amazing success of World of Warcraft. So now the latest fad is to monetize every single franchise on PC by making it an MMO that can't be pirated and doesn't suffer from poor sales relative to console because they operate on a different business model.
That they make it microtransaction instead of subscription-based is because it makes them more money. I mean, the very first title I ever shipped started as a $3 iTunes download, flopped, and then management had us crunch for a few months to convert the title to free-to-play. Now the title is a free download but you can buy things like powerups to use during matches or $30 clothes sets that powers up your character, and you'd be surprised at how much more income* this scheme generates compare to the $3 download model.
It turns out that the average person is more reluctant to pay a $3 admission to play a game than they are to pay 10x more for an ingame item as long as the game itself doesn't cost anything. It's simple behavioral economics at work. For an even better example, look at Farmville. The entire experience is designed to hook you and make you pay by consistently forcing you to endure ever longer periods of downtime unless you buy ingame currency. It's gameplay as designed by psychologists.
Say what you want about this but can you really fault businesses for wanting in on the same cake when they see the enormous payoff of the Zynga model?
So in conclusion, and what I've been trying to say this whole time, is that all this complaining really amounts to nothing. No matter how much you complain, noone else is going to make another AOTD or SH3 anytime soon, when they could be doing the next Farmville or World of Warcraft instead and basically print money at will (Of course this never actually happens except if you're the 1% but then again capitalism is all about the 99% all thinking someday they and only they will become the 1%). It just won't happen.
So the only reasonable course of action if you really love this niche genre is to take the plunge, form a team and start developing in our own spare time.
And even if only one such enterprise ends up into something along the lines of the first Strike Fighters release, we'll be better off as a community than we are now.
*I know you probably think mobile market is a win win moneymaker, but I can tell you I never got paid for that game, nor the next one I shipped. So I don't really like being called an "industry apologist". I'm just a guy trying to make a living in a highly competitive and often ruthless industry.