Is the F28 dead for P3dv4/5?
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Saw the announcement this morning about the F28 for MSFS, which is great news, but when I went to check the “In Development” section of the JF website the P3d version is no longer there, only the MSFS one. I hope this is an error on the updating of the website and not actually the case otherwise, this little black duck will be extremely disappointed :crying_face:
Cheers and fingers crossed.
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Developing the F28 for P3D is no longer viable in this market. When we began work on the F28, P3D was the dominant platform. That is no longer the case and the work required to make two versions can't be justified, commercially. We have other P3D titles that are much further advanced than the F28 and so they will be completed and released for P3D. However, the F28 doesn't fall into that category.
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Crikey! How disappointing.
I've been waiting for the F28 since discussing it with one of your team two years ago at Cosford, checking your website regularly ever since. I don't have the new sim and don't really intend to for quite a while. I've spent many hundreds on P3D - much of that on your site, as I'm sure many others have. Now we're told after supporting you for all these years we're no longer worth the effort. Shame.
Well, I hope you get on with your new target market and that they prove as loyal as we were. I know my custom was tiny in the larger scheme but I feel sufficiently let down to stick with other developers from now on. Although you aren't the only ones to have switched focus, and I suppose it's quite understandable for purely commercial reasons, others still manage both. It was once the case that commerce served to benefit people, both buyer and seller rather than being a singular aim. I'm fairly sure I'm not the only one to feel a bit duped. I appreciate you must make a profit, but surely to relegate so suddenly a long standing customer base (who still use a relatively new platform in P3Dv5) will inevitably smart a bit.
Good luck and many thanks for your past service,
Jon -
Jon - thanks you for taking the time to post and sorry you feel so let down.
To take your points in order, two years ago P3D and X-Plane 11 were still the two main platforms for PC flight sims. It's worth noting that at that time we had made decisions (much as we have to now) that FSX was no longer viable as a platform. The software we were developing for P3D had diverged a lot from FSX and FSX compatibility would require us to develop a separate version at significant cost in time and resources for next to no sales.
We are now in that position with P3D. The size of the P3D market has shrunk considerably over the last 12 months.We are not really servicing a new target market. It is our existing market but their demands have now shifted. Those customers also want to be benefitted by commerce and a large number have switched to MSFS. The new sim has certainly attracted some new (to PC flight sim) customers, but, based on what we have seen so far, they are not going to be the typical purchasers of an F28 and it is mostly our existing customers (the long-standing base) that will buy the F28. We know this from the business we have done in MSFS so far, the feedback we have seen for other developers' products and also what we have seen happen to P3D sales.
Meanwhile, we have recently released a 146 for P3D (November) and a Tornado F3 (June). We have also released the 146 for X-Plane and the VC-10 for X-Plane is in testing. Our A300 for P3D is still in progress, as is our 747, and we hope to release both of these. The difference between these aircraft and the F28 is the stage of development. The F28 still requires significant coding work and, unlike the modelling and textures, this work involves a very stark choice between one sim and another.
A lot of 'experts' on social media predicted that the P3D market would be strong for a long period because "you can't get proper planes to work in MSFS... the SDK something...something... blah blah blah...." As it turns out, they were wrong, and the switch has been fairly similar to that which took place from FS2004 to FSX. Not overnight, admittedly, but the 'years and years' was a misnomer. Likewise, the predicted demise of X-Plane was just that - a prediction - and, as we are seeing in the European Championships, predictions can often be misleading. In contrast to P3D, the X-Plane market is holding up well.
So, I am sorry we can't release the F28 on P3D, but we appreciate your business, just as we do that of all our customers. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, the facts are that we can't develop something for which there is no market.
All the best and, rest assured, that when you do make the switch, we hope you will be pleasantly surprised by the range on offer from us and the many other developers and publishers that are flight sim enthusiasts first and business people second.
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Maybe it could be gifted to the community to finish. I’m sure there are a lot of people out there that could put their skills to the panel and systems. Plus, pretty amazing PR for Just Flight. Would be a real shame to just throw away all the P3d specific work :thinking_face:
Cheers
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I'm afraid that would not be possible, legally. The intellectual property and investment in the project forms part of any version for MSFS, X-Plane, Aerofly, DCS or FS2026. It's not something that can be made public. If another developer or publisher wished to create a P3D version they would be welcome to licence it, but we would need to be satisfied that there was a serious plan in place to complete it with some reasonable chance of success.
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Hi @Derek ,
As someone who is an avid p3d simmer, I must admit I'm selfishly a little disappointed at this news. However, irl I am a software Product Manager, and have to make decisions like this on a regular basis, so completely understand where you're coming from - you have to follow the business. I also appreciate the clear and transparent communication regarding this. Thank you for your honesty and integrity.
Is this decision indicative of all P3D development at JF coming to a close? Or just that this particular product has been chosen? The reason I ask, is I'm still hoping for the Avro RJ for p3d - are you able to give us a status update on that product?
FC.
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@FailCold I can imagine the Avro RJ is definitely coming to P3D, as it shouldn’t be much more than an expansion on the pre-existing 146 anyways, and it’s been in development. However I feel like we are probably nearing the end of wholly new projects cropping up for P3D as JF have stated it’s not really in their financial interests to continue making new products for P3D beyond what they’ve already started. I can also imagine the F-28 is going to be a learning experience for JF so they can figure out how to properly model and implement their own proprietary custom systems before porting stuff they’ve made for P3D over.
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Exceptionally disappointing and frustrating! Ugh!
