Designers that are deliberately avoiding releases for Maitreya?

[Trinity Blakewell]

I've noticed something in recent months (which may be going on for a while and I only just noticed recently). There's a subset of popular and on-the-rise designers that are definitely not including Maitreya in their releases. Typically they are releasing for Legacy and EBody Reborn, or Legacy, EBody Reborn, and Kupra.A lot of the designers involved focus on Asian-influenced, goth/streetwear. 

I don't understand why from a business perspective these folks are ignoring approx. 35% of SL female avatars (the Maitreya market share). If it was a design that was only intended for curvy bodies, I could see it being released only for Kupra and Erika (for example). But aren't Legacy and EBody roughly similar to Maitreya in shape? Is it something to do with Maitreya itself? 

Does anyone have a clue why they are choosing not to release for Maitreya?

 

Edited July 26, 2022 by Trinity1776

[Tazzie Tuque]

2 hours ago, Trinity1776 said:

Does anyone have a clue why they are choosing not to release for Maitreya?

Making a statement perhaps?  or perhaps they have not applied for or received a kit from Maitreya?  I haven't noticed this myself, but then I am not an avid shopper either.  I have noticed that some mesh clothing template makers have stopped Belleza all together.  And most just do Freya.  But I agree with you 35% of potential sales is a lot of loss for a business.

 

[Modulated]

3 hours ago, Trinity1776 said:

I've noticed something in recent months (which may be going on for a while and I only just noticed recently). There's a subset of popular and on-the-rise designers that are definitely not including Maitreya in their releases. Typically they are releasing for Legacy and EBody Reborn, or Legacy, EBody Reborn, and Kupra.A lot of the designers involved focus on Asian-influenced, goth/streetwear. 

I don't understand why from a business perspective these folks are ignoring approx. 35% of SL female avatars (the Maitreya market share). If it was a design that was only intended for curvy bodies, I could see it being released only for Kupra and Erika (for example). But aren't Legacy and EBody roughly similar to Maitreya in shape? Is it something to do with Maitreya itself? 

Does anyone have a clue why they are choosing not to release for Maitreya?

 

Maitreya is doing it to themselves. Their kit is so ridiculously daunting to get a hold of, the creator wants to know all of your details and you probably have to sign in blood too..lol People are moving on looks like.

[Jenna Huntsman]

1 minute ago, Modulated said:

Maitreya is doing it to themselves. Their kit is so ridiculously daunting to get a hold of, the creator wants to know all of your details and you probably have to sign in blood too..lol

This has been the case for a while.

The best example of this is when Maitreya Petite launched, as a mere most of the creators couldn't get a hold of the newer devkit required to make Petite clothing. It required them to reapply for a devkit, to then get rejected despite the fact they already *had* a Maitreya devkit, just not the latest one. To my knowledge, they still don't have an effective way for developers to get an updated devkit if they have an older one.

Talk about asinine.

[Modulated]

3 minutes ago, Jenna Huntsman said:

This has been the case for a while.

The best example of this is when Maitreya Petite launched, as a mere most of the creators couldn't get a hold of the newer devkit required to make Petite clothing. It required them to reapply for a devkit, to then get rejected despite the fact they already *had* a Maitreya devkit, just not the latest one. To my knowledge, they still don't have an effective way for developers to get an updated devkit if they have an older one.

Talk about asinine.

They are still a major player in mesh bodies, but its a lot different than when Lara came along-so many viable options out there now. Surely someone will wise up over there and make a dev kit available to all without all the rigmarole.

Edited July 26, 2022 by Modulated

[Trinity Blakewell]

OK, well this makes sense. I will continue to monitor the situation. I'd hate to have to switch bodies! I only have a Maitreya body and that is because it clearly had the highest adaptation rate among users. But I have hedged my bets after observing this situation -  I've removed everything but Maitreya, Legacy and EBody clothing  from my inventory,  and kept the other two just in case things get worse as far as designer support. 

I'd hate to see Maitreya end up in the same place as Genus (for somewhat different reasons).

[Persephone Emerald]

51 minutes ago, Trinity1776 said:

OK, well this makes sense. I will continue to monitor the situation. I'd hate to have to switch bodies! I only have a Maitreya body and that is because it clearly had the highest adaptation rate among users. But I have hedged my bets after observing this situation -  I've removed everything but Maitreya, Legacy and EBody clothing  from my inventory,  and kept the other two just in case things get worse as far as designer support. 

I'd hate to see Maitreya end up in the same place as Genus (for somewhat different reasons).

The best technique to keep inventory relatively low while hedging your bets as to which body you might wear is to keep the original package your clothing comes in. Keep that and the current mesh body sizes you're using in the folder. Then you can pull out other sizes later if you wish. I started with TMP, then changed to Maitreya, then Belleza Isis, and now I'm happy with Belleza Freya. Every time I switch I'm annoyed at having to change the body sizes in my folders, but at least I know I can switch pretty easily.

I further make notes in the title of my folder to let me know which sizes that clothing item has:  M * = Maitreya;  M B * = Maitreya, Isis and Freya;  M F * = Maitreya and Freya. 

I've yet to come across clothing that doesn't fit Maitreya, but then I'm not shopping much beyond Addams, Blueberry, and various free gifts.

[HunniHope]

9 hours ago, Jenna Huntsman said:

they still don't have an effective way for developers to get an updated devkit if they have an older one.

yes they do. They have discord, and have had it for sometime, and approved creators can join & request a tag and that tag grants them access to download dev kits,

[Modulated]

20 hours ago, HunniHope said:

yes they do. They have discord, and have had it for sometime, and approved creators can join & request a tag and that tag grants them access to download dev kits,

'approved creators'....

[Ze Helix]

One creator I know is vocal about how much she dislikes the Maitreya rigging vs legacy or reborn. She posts example photos sometimes, something to do with the arms. She says it's much harder to work with.

[Nuuna Nitely]

Also with new bodies coming that are new and much more customizable etc. creators have to choose what to support. So Maitreya is labeled as "outdated". 

[Katherine Heartsong]

On 7/26/2022 at 12:52 PM, Jenna Huntsman said:

This has been the case for a while.

The best example of this is when Maitreya Petite launched, as a mere most of the creators couldn't get a hold of the newer devkit required to make Petite clothing. It required them to reapply for a devkit, to then get rejected despite the fact they already *had* a Maitreya devkit, just not the latest one. To my knowledge, they still don't have an effective way for developers to get an updated devkit if they have an older one.

Talk about asinine.

That explains to me why so many great clothing stores don't support Petite. Drives me mental, as I'd prefer to use that, but 70% of my purchased clothes from major brands have no Petite option.

[skepwith]

I've felt for a while that it would be more interesting to see body specialization and niche growth rather than one-size-fits-most and then see who else we can shoehorn in, so maybe this is a positive development. And I say that as someone who only has a Maitreya Lara body aside from the free bodies I like to derp around with most of the time, so I guess I'm kinda shooting myself in the foot but I still think it would be an improvement overall.

Maybe people will rediscover old bodies in their desire to thumb their noses at Maitreya and I'll finally have the excuse I need to buy a Tonic Fine or Signature Alice. 😄

[Trinity Blakewell]

6 hours ago, Ze Helix said:

One creator I know is vocal about how much she dislikes the Maitreya rigging vs legacy or reborn. She posts example photos sometimes, something to do with the arms. She says it's much harder to work with.

Well...arms...we could talk about arms with all the bodies. Like how you can have full-figured bodies but everyone has toothpick arms. But then again, I suppose big behinds and hips and squishy thighs are more desirable than drumstick arms.

🤣

[PekeNL]

4 hours ago, Nuuna Nitely said:

Also with new bodies coming that are new and much more customizable etc. creators have to choose what to support. So Maitreya is labeled as "outdated". 

Pretty much this. Maitreya is 'old' compared to the newer bodies.

[Tazzie Tuque]

Old is ok as long as it's still good which Maitreya is.  New does not always mean better, lots of times it just means "trendy" or just something new.  And just because something may be so called "labelled" as outdated, does not mean it is.

 

[nieru]

It doesn't really matter how many people wear mait in general, it matters how many people who wear mait regularly purchase clothing. It just makes sense that people who wear the newest bodies are probably the biggest consumers.

 

 

 

 

 

[Persephone Emerald]

4 minutes ago, nieru said:

It doesn't really matter how many people wear mait in general, it matters how many people who wear mait regularly purchase clothing. It just makes sense that people who wear the newest bodies are probably the biggest consumers.

True, and I think it's sensible for each creator to decide for themselves which bodies they want to create for. 

If the creator is fairly new, they might be better off focusing on curvy bodies for which they can easily get developer kits and that are not hard to rig for. It they're established and prefer designing for the more common Barbie doll shape, they should stick with Maitreya and Legacy at the very least. I think it's great that designers don't have to make clothes for all the same body shapes and aesthetic. As long as we have plenty of clothes to fit our avatars, we can all be happy.

[Gabriele Graves]

21 minutes ago, nieru said:

It just makes sense that people who wear the newest bodies are probably the biggest consumers.

Tempting as it may be to draw this conclusion, it's probably incorrect as a most other bodies share a much smaller slice of the pie.  That may not be the case going forward but unless one has figures, it cannot be assumed currently.

My take is that until/unless there is a viable competitor to Maitreya for that body build type then it is going to continue to enjoy a large slice of the pie.  Most of the new bodies cater to people who want something different.  None of them appeal to me.  I would potentially only upgrade to a new body in the future that has the same body build type but better/newer features.  TBH for me Maitreya is pretty much perfect and would be exceedingly difficult to beat.  It is hard to even imagine what another body could have that I would need and don't already get.

Edited July 28, 2022 by Gabriele Graves

[Trinity Blakewell]

4 hours ago, Gabriele Graves said:

Tempting as it may be to draw this conclusion, it's probably incorrect as a most other bodies share a much smaller slice of the pie.  That may not be the case going forward but unless one has figures, it cannot be assumed currently.

My take is that until/unless there is a viable competitor to Maitreya for that body build type then it is going to continue to enjoy a large slice of the pie.  Most of the new bodies cater to people who want something different.  None of them appeal to me.  I would potentially only upgrade to a new body in the future that has the same body build type but better/newer features.  TBH for me Maitreya is pretty much perfect and would be exceedingly difficult to beat.  It is hard to even imagine what another body could have that I would need and don't already get.

I tend to agree with you Gabriele. I bought Maitreya because I liked the features (HUD) and because of the availability of clothing. I will only switch if Matreya falls deeply from favor and another similar contender emerges, or if a more realistic body (obviously NOT Kupra or even Erika) that is curvier (but not exaggerated) emerges and gains widespread popularity.

I also don't think that Maitreya is a "Barbie doll" body. It can be. But my Maitreya shapes are more realistic and on the full  side. If anything, a lot of the shapes I've seen used with Kupra are Barbie-doll like due to the underlying small rib cage.

And I really don't think that whether a customer has a Maitreya body or one of the newer ones is any indicator on its on as to how much clothing a customer purchases. I purchase a good amount of clothing in SL (although I'm increasingly picky). Typically several outfits a week between the events and the weekend sales (except for perhaps the last week of the month if it's after Uber and there is no Cosmopolitan starting that week).

[nieru]

4 hours ago, Gabriele Graves said:

My take is that until/unless there is a viable competitor to Maitreya for that body build type then it is going to continue to enjoy a large slice of the pie.

Is Legacy not a viable competitor to Maitreya? In my experience I've only ever had people ask me to support Legacy, so I'm switching to it. Is the bot that goes around checking what bodies people are wearing capable of reporting the region the bodies were located in? I think we could extrapolate more useful data on the subject if we knew what percentage of bodies were found at events vs private homes, for example.

[Gabriele Graves]

22 minutes ago, nieru said:

Is Legacy not a viable competitor to Maitreya? In my experience I've only ever had people ask me to support Legacy, so I'm switching to it. Is the bot that goes around checking what bodies people are wearing capable of reporting the region the bodies were located in? I think we could extrapolate more useful data on the subject if we knew what percentage of bodies were found at events vs private homes, for example.

Not for me and not for many people, no.

[Persephone Emerald]

47 minutes ago, nieru said:

Is Legacy not a viable competitor to Maitreya? In my experience I've only ever had people ask me to support Legacy, so I'm switching to it. Is the bot that goes around checking what bodies people are wearing capable of reporting the region the bodies were located in? I think we could extrapolate more useful data on the subject if we knew what percentage of bodies were found at events vs private homes, for example.

Legacy is too expensive for many people. It's has the highest render time / ARC. It also has a HUD that requires an outside server. Any of those 3 issues could make it a no-go for some people. It's a beautiful body, but there are plenty of other options that look very good too.

[Gabriele Graves]

There is more to add to what @Persephone Emerald said but suffice to say that there is a lot to dislike about the technical aspects of the Legacy body and the company.  However, that said, I just don't like the look of their bodies.

Edited July 29, 2022 by Gabriele Graves
clarification

[Tazzie Tuque]

1 hour ago, Persephone Emerald said:

It also has a HUD that requires an outside server.

I do not trust a hud that you have to go to an outside server to use, to make changes and adjustments to my body.  Interestingly enough,  this company's demise with it's first bodies was was partially do to cost; and everything being off site on the web, plus poor service and difficulty getting dev kits to make the clothes for it.  As part of their design was that folks would buy the clothes they were offering in their so called shop, and even that was an offline base, expensive and very few choice of designs.

The one thing I believe is that Maitreya is tried and true; updates well worth the wait when they came, and I do not see any reason to believe they  will not continue to update as they see fit, and pass that along to their customers.  I will take tried and true any day, over new and trendy (fad) or a rebirth of a failed product.