very very happy. lots of other great news to, but I think this one needs its own thread.

Edited February 4, 20242 yr by mSparks

Hi msparks , can you be a bit less cryptic? I have no idea what you are referring too.

3 minutes ago, soaring_penguin said:

Hi msparks , can you be a bit less cryptic? I have no idea what you are referring too.

Exactly what the title says.

there is a "store" button with in xplane addon purchases coming to an XP12 near you "soon".

this is pretty much "breaking news" (currently at the Laminar dev summit in Montreal), its 11.33am my time, 5.24am montreal time, there is lots of other awesome stuff for developers also in the pipeline, but I thought this one was worth kicking off the discussion.

Posted officially now on Twitter 

 

This is great news, we just need more 3rd party products now :)

This is quite significant.

It also proves the 3rd party environment in X-Plane is very much alive and well.

43 minutes ago, GoranM said:

It also proves the 3rd party environment in X-Plane is very much alive and well.

Yep... the DRM part is interesting as well, hopefully this will include a way to protect scenery from piracy as well.

Hopefully more details soon, but some things I'm hoping for:

1. Freeware as well as payware
2. Dependencies (e.g. Download libraries etc)
3. Rating system

 

 

Wonder how it will handle updating - whether devs will continue to do it outside the sim with Skunkcrafts or whether it will be reliant on LR/

Very good. Can't wait to ged rid of X-Plane.org (awful support) and the gizmos of the world.

Color me sceptical, especially regarding payment, DRM and support.

 

If it means we no longer need activation/product-key windows, gizmo, skunkworks updater, airfoil labs updates and other things, it's a big win for the user experience. 

It works really well on MFS, so I hope similar that can be repeated here and that the revenue sharing is competitive.

1 hour ago, GoranM said:

This is quite significant.

(you were rather dismissive when I recommended this many months ago)

It's just such a no-brainer I can't believe LR hadn't figured this out long ago. Probably one of the few "downsides" of having the Chief Software Engineer be the CEO, too 😉 (I mean that in friendly spirit).

They've been leaving SO MUCH money on the table. E.g., I've only spent $180 with LR over 7-ish years of flight sim. I've spent, literally, THOUSANDS on third party addons. I would've happily purchased all that thru LR and they could've ~tripled their income from me.

Laminar should (MUST?) take every opportunity to earn extra revenue that they can. Just do it smart, delegate it to experienced folks, and keep it financially compartmentalized.

In all, I hope they figure out something like OrbxDirect. That's been a very good experience for me over the years, across multiple sims.

p.s.: I'm already seeing a lot of hate for the xp.org store re this news. FWIW, I've purchased MANY of my addons thru them over the years and never once had a problem.

Quote

It also proves the 3rd party environment in X-Plane is very much alive and well.

I sure hope so! I've seen a pretty steady trickle of addons being released (and v12 upgrades). And more than a few are on my To Buy list. Especially the "mythical" TBM 🙂.

1 hour ago, tonywob said:

Yep... the DRM part is interesting as well, hopefully this will include a way to protect scenery from piracy as well.

Hopefully more details soon, but some things I'm hoping for:

1. Freeware as well as payware
2. Dependencies (e.g. Download libraries etc)
3. Rating system

I would love, Love, LOVE a free trial system of some sort.

Eagle Dynamics (DCS World) instituted a similar system awhile ago and it seems to be going strong.

Edited February 4, 20242 yr by UrgentSiesta
clarification

If current 3rd party DRM dev goes out of business then what happens to customer?  This is one of my concern of the various DRM systems in place.  For example Airfoil Labs (small 2 ppl shop) that comes to scene once a year and goes dark rest of the time. Finally, I hope new LR DRM will not require us to activate every 2 weeks!

LR throw away a lot of money for so many years. I am glad there are few things they are learning from competitors.  Importance of eye candy and marketplace!

Here is the Facebook announcement 

https://www.facebook.com/XPlaneOfficial/posts/pfbid037eowMuC44ynpb6NHQ1EtMhVaoZgv5y92QoWw8zZiHhthdPeX7QdQADeR4jXUPi9cl

If they manage to build a fast, clean and intuitive experience, it'd be game changer. Coming from MSFS, seeing how slow, clunky and obnoxious their store is, I'd love to see LR's take.

"the X-Plane Store is coming to the platform!"

a store is only as good as its products. not many that I feel I want, unfortunately. and most of my x-plane 11 addons are either not available for x-plane12 or require a complete re-purchase, even if it is only scenery. I don't see why the major players who have run their own stores successfully like Orb-x and JustFlight would share their profits going through the Laminar store. I would prefer better and more products, just another store won't help.

Edited February 4, 20242 yr by turbomax