Just an opinion formed from doing an IMC so not entirely valid but:-
As all the instrument appreciation stuff can be practiced at home on your PC, the only thing training sims seem to be good for is secretly failing instruments and seeing what happens. I believe a FRASCA will do that just fine, so why the expense of an FNPT at all?
I agree, tis a marketing excersise or to reduce costs. Therefore, some sim time seems to be a good thing (say 5 hours), but 25-35 hours seems more like a waste of money as I can't imagine there being much benefit after a while.