UPDATE: Regarding price increase

We've reached the developers to comment for further clarification, lead developer Marian advises there was a general reluctance on a price increase but appears the new arrangement with their preferred store necessitates a changed financial model. Furthermore, he clarifes that the store does not have complete input over the pricing as suggested. The entire core team has decided on the price increase to $45, based out of financial feasibility. With an expanded team, and an evidently continuous development run for the 787, it proved neccesary to raise the price to cover for all developers.

Upon further brief lookup on the forum post history, we also cannot find any evidence that support the claim of a lifetime of free updates. Neither of the developers has promised to keep the price $25, and major changes in the system or any big overhaul will increase the pricing of the 787. The $45 is the first increase since 2016, and will be the final price as per core team member "aeroniemi" words on the forums: LINK

The team has also been featured in CptCanada's stream, go to 80 minutes 55 seconds:

Matthew Hayward/MattDesigns has spoken on behalf of the 787 team and some claims does not align with the Core Team's plans. Nonetheless, we wish the entire team, both Core and Contributor godspeed in future developments of the 787-9.

UPDATE 2

aeroniemi has posted a statement admitting communication was not good, and that the upgrade price is now $10, as opposed to the $15 originally planned. There will also be no additional costs in the X-Plane 11 cycle.

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Marian Gonzalez (Magknight) and the team has unveiled a new major update to the 787-9, dubbed "The Aviator's Edition". The team has been hard at work for the past few weeks to prepare this update, wishing to develop more features to incorperate with the new update but believes that the users will be satisfied with what's initially offered in the update. The update is systems focused with several new functionalities.

Features:

• Custom electrical system
• Integrated EFB with:

            1.Take-off calculator

            2. Fuelling

            3. Ground services

            4. PDF chart loading

            5. Popup and pop-out compatible

            6. Livery settings feature: Each livery has its own settings that can are loaded in such as SELCAL Code, Airline ID / ICAO Code, tail number etc.

            7. Global settings saved: Stuff such as screen brightness and another few settings are saved for use.

• New EICAS (Engine data) page
• Reflective displays/windows
• Ice protection system with:

           1. Four heating mats are simulated for each wing that deice the wing periodically – It changes mode dependent on altitude and other factors (auto mode)

           2. Added engine anti-ice independent systems for each engine (changes modes and behaviour depending on altitude and other factors

           3. Custom probe protection System

           4. Custom window Heat System

• Mouse wheel manipulators
• Brand new APU model
• New autopilot using XP11.30 technology
• New yoke model
• True to life typography used
• Engine auto start
• Helpful pointers when you make a mistake
• New flight model built from the ground up for 11.30 with GENx engines
• Fully functional IRS
• Brand new PFD built from the ground up.
• New Lighting System using parametric lighting all throughout the plane (strobe, beacon and interior glareshield / dome light).

Previews:

Price Increase:

The upcoming version contains SASL code for added functionality, as such key-activation is used and the costs associated with licensing, it is not possible to offer the new update for existing users. New users will see a price increase to 45 dollars, and users that purchased the aircraft prior to December 10th of this year will be able to purchase the update for $15.

After the update was announced on the forums, several users voiced concerns both on the forums and discord servers that the upgrade being paid would mean a broken promise to the team's commitment to provide a lifetime of free updates.

Magknight 787-9 developer contributor Matthew Hayward provided information on the reason behind the price increase:

"Blame Nicolas ... The store slapped the $15..."

"... so it costs us $2 to generate the key and activation stuff. Turns out that we don't have a choice on the price, after going through a breakdown the only reasonable result is two dollars for the key and the store is pocketing the rest. We are not allowed to negotiate on the price and we want to drop it. So the store is [sic] royally f*cked us here.

As far as I can see, Magknight team can't say anything on it but I'm not Magknight team ... My deepest apologies for this sh*t show but it is as annoying to me as it is [sic] the consumers." -Matthew Hayward

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With the update being pushed out, Simcatalog will no longer be used, and users who purchased from Simcatalogue will be advised on how to get the discounted price form the org store when the update is released.

At the moment, the update is going through a series of testing for Windows, the initial update will only support Windows and v11.30 onwards, and a Mac/Linux version will be out early next year. The first few weeks will be experimental for the testing team, as they attempt to test as many conditions.

The update will also lay the foundations of a future update to the electrical system with the inclusion ofsimulated circuit breakers, contact points and wires, transformers/rectifier units, generators and two batteries. For the moment the functionality will be limited but the mentioned features will be more relevant in future updates as the team slowly integrate the electrical system to the rest of the custom systems. Future updates include simulating the CBM program that comes with the 787 in the EFIS and load shedding.

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Preview Video:

There are still some bugs that are in the system that are shown in the video (such as mouse wheel manipulators), but it does give a good feel of the features that are going to be present.

What are your thoughts on the upcoming update? Is the $15 price increase justifiable?

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Read the original post here: LINK