Earth Simulations shuts up shop

[toprob]

This is something I can entirely relate to, being in this very same business, and I've expanded on this on the Subscription site.
Sad to see a developer have to call it quits, I've never bought their stuff (I only ever fly in NZ) but they have a good reputation, and in Rob's ideal world they would have kept on going forever.

[AdrianPetford]

QUOTE (toprob @ Jan 11 2015,2:33 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is something I can entirely relate to, being in this very same business, and I've expanded on this on the Subscription site.
Sad to see a developer have to call it quits, I've never bought their stuff (I only ever fly in NZ) but they have a good reputation, and in Rob's ideal world they would have kept on going forever.

I read the news this morning and am absolutely gutted. I am (or was) an enthusiastic supporter of ES in the same way I am of Godzone and as you've said on the subscription site, there are a lot of parallels between their approach and yours, and the situation they found themselves in.

Darren and Vikki created outstanding products and really pushed the threshold of what scenery development could achieve, as well as making a great contribution to the hobby and wider community on a personal level. I hope their love of simming is rekindled along the road, but for now at least that talent is gone.

I've seen a very marked decline in the flightsim scene over the last year, even in the freeware sector. Twelve months ago I would be downloading repaints or sceneries from the main repositories every day without fail, whereas now weeks or more can pass. At least one other premium developer I know of has pulled back. Although the Steam approach isn't really my scene and I have migrated to P3D anyway, I really do hope that it brings a lot of new people into the community as that would benefit us all.

If anything positive can come from the demise of ES it is to emphasise how important it is to support local developers before it's too late.

[Ian Warren]

I have noticed a few developers starting to get wobbly knees, others cutting back on works and others joining other groups or publishers, ... biggest sign is the constant cheap sales and so many design groups/business there are now for this a niche market.

[emfrat]

I think the underlying cause is that there are just not so many kids of our age as there used to be, and our numbers are steadily falling
Looking at the avsim and flightsim forums, there seem to plenty of the young'uns asking questions about the sim, but they call it a game, and the questions show they don't know the sort of basics that every schoolboy used to know.

I think that might be behind the recent trend for commercial developers to present aircraft which are already well covered by others, freeware and commercial alike - the developers are chasing 'brand loyalty' in a market where most of the purchasers have never seen the plane in real life (F27s, Viscounts etc) and can't recognise the quality that some models have and others lack. Much the same would apply to scenery, and ES made some of the best. Unfortunately, for many of the young'uns something that does not instal simply, quickly and correctly, straight out of the box, will just be discarded , to the Too Hard basket, and then forgotten. That is NOT ES's fault. Not Earth Simulations, anyway...but if ES stands for Education System, well, you could be onto something there.

[omitchell]

QUOTE (AdrianPetford @ Jan 12 2015,6:24 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Although the Steam approach isn't really my scene and I have migrated to P3D anyway

This is the thing. FSX is 10 or 12yrs old. We haven't really had one since then to follow (P3D is still really being worked on and not a huge number of people overall, developers included have made the switch over to it) so maybe Dovetail and Steam can get FSX out to the newer audience and take off again so hopefully we can see some of these developers, both freeware and payware revive their art and come back to the community.

[Ian Warren]

I think the other thing is peoples interest, a resurgence maybe around the corner, I had to give a dish (salmon steaks night before) yesterday morning down the back flat and Helen had her son there, she mentioned the artwork, aircraft and such which lead to flight simulation - was very much wanted to know more, lot of people simply don't know its out there ... I also believe like for me for example the opportunity "to fly a B-17" after my history background and interest in the the subject , I walked away from shoot em ups just for time to build on FS .