Earlier this month, Laminar Research announced a new way for customers to purchase and install products into X-Plane 12. The X-Plane Store will allow users to simplify their third-party purchases thanks to the built-in store (and web store). This did leave many discussions in the third-party space about what the future would look like and how they would sell their products.
This has been addressed with a new collective letter from a number of developers who have co-signed a new statement. “We the Developers would like to address the latest news regarding the upcoming Laminar Research X-Plane in-app store,” the letter started. “While we see this as a great opportunity for the future of X-Plane, we recognize that building a new store like this is a large undertaking that will take time to implement.”
It should come as no surprise that many of these developers are in close contact with Laminar Research about the new platform as it will need to meet their needs so customers can have a seamless transition. That said, they will plan on supporting the org store and forums.
“[The .org store has] been the cornerstones of the X-Plane community for the last 20 years. The forums and the freeware add-ons that you have come to love and enjoy have only been made available thanks to the .org store and their commitment to this community. We want this community to grow and thrive for decades to come. We’ve emphasized this to Laminar Research, and we’ve been ensured that we have the same objective.”
Thanks in part to the X-Plane Developers Summit in Montreal earlier this month, this gave developers the chance to be face-to-face in order to discuss the future of the platform and work closer with Laminar Research. The letter concluded by saying “we are here working with both the .org store and the Laminar team to make sure X-Plane becomes the best version of itself.”
This collective letter was signed by the following developers/publishers/studios:
Aerobask / AeroSphere Simulations / Airfoillabs / AirSim3D / AKD Studio / DeltaWing Simulations / Flight Factor / Flying Low / FlyJSim / khamsin / Nimbus / Rotate / ShortFinal Design / SkunkCrafts / STMA / Thranda Design/ ToLiss / VSKYLABS / X-Codr Designs / X-Crafts / x-trident
Should you wish to learn more about the upcoming X-Plane store, you can read our story here.
