The popular online community that brought virtual pilots together is closing on October 12.
In a letter on the SimBuddy website, the founders said the time and effort that is being put into the ongoing development and maintenance of the site has begun to take its toll.
“I put roughly 30-40 hours a week into developing SimBuddy and a further 40+ hours into my day job.” Commented one of the developers, “As you can imagine, this is getting pretty difficult to maintain, and it’s having a huge impact on my life.”
The site aimed to bring users of different sims together on one virtual map. Billed as a community for flight sim enthusiasts, the site offered both free and premium plans that allowed users to track a variety of flight statistics, run virtual airlines, and experience in-sim passenger and crew management. Users could also participate in daily challenges for points, and participate in live group chats.
The letter goes on to say that all development will stop immediately and that all paid subscriptions will be suspended immediately to prevent any further bank charges, and that current premium users will receive a £4.99 refund.
The website will continue to operate until October 12, 2019 at which time the members area will close. The Discord channel may continue to operate under a different title, depending on whom is available to manage it.
With over 10,000 members, developer Georgio finished the letter by saying “It’s a sad day for me, and I’m sorry it’s come to this. It’s been a fantastic journey, and I thank you all for being a part of it.”
