Just trying to see it from both a company’s perspective and an average consumer’s viewpoint.
The goal with Bambu Printers seems to be reaching a broad audience, not just us nerdy hobbyists (meant in a good way—I call myself one) and designers who like complex stuff and dive deep into the hobby with all the research. From that perspective, simple and useful models are a “good” thing for people starting in this new world because then the average person feels like the investment in the printer was a good decision.
Imagine a teenager receiving the printer for their birthday. The first prints might be little things like keychains to hand out to friends and show off their cool new gadget. Or a middle-aged person who bought the printer, aiming to convince their spouse it was a good purchase. What are they likely to print? Short prints that they can finish while friends are visiting, showing how it works and handing over a final result / gift before they leave. Some home decorations to “justify” all the new filament deliveries stacking up in a corner of the house.
I think simple prints are the bread and butter for Bambu and the “big” audience they and their investors aim for. At least in the early stage of trying to get 3D printers into the hands of “consumers” and guiding them to have a good first experience with the product.
On the other hand, complex models, with a much higher risk of failure, supports to remove, and such, are probably something the “consumer” might be more hesitant about initially. Later on, when they have more print hours and have “learned” how everything works, they might become more curious and try more complex models.
At least with my models, I notice that the “mass” seems to prefer the easier, faster prints. Little gifts, household helpers, decorations and such. Prints with a low risk of failure, which can be printed within a maximum of 2-3 hours and don’t really need other tools. The more complex models are often something that many people add to their collection, but very few print because, at some point, they’ve collected so many “ideas” that they can’t keep up with printing or lose interest over time as they discover other new print objects.
For us, the more complex models might be more fun. Sometimes I even print “parts” of complex models just to see how the mechanics work and to get inspired for my own future ideas. But that’s mainly us nerds, I guess.
Of course, this is very subjective, and I guess there is also a “middle” ground for objects that might be complex, but where people instantly see a huge benefit in printing them. Once they start, they won’t stop—like some storage systems or such.
But I guess there will always be “niche” categories filled with very enthusiastic people. For example, all the people who like to build miniature worlds or railway models at 1:50 scale. For such people, a way to host paid models could be a win-win situation. They’ll never attract a big audience like “general” stuff, but such models can take a lot of time to create, and on the other side, the fans can be very enthusiastic and probably won’t mind paying a little extra to support the designer in that niche like many do already on platforms like Patreon or so.