Precision Manuals Development Group (PMDG) has today confirmed the end to X-Plane development. Through a post on their forum, PMDG head Robert Randazzo addressed several key points going forward, including the upcoming release of Global Flight Operations, Microsoft Flight Simulator (MFS), and the 737NG3, which is to be a Microsoft Flight Simulator-only product and include the NG and MAX product lines.

"For some time we have been watching market metrics with the Xplane platform and evaluating our own development schedule in order to find a gap into which we can slide a dedicated Xplane development cycle," Randazzo stated on the post. "As part of our strategic objective to simplify our development agenda, we are pivoting to dedicate all of our development resources to our Prepar3D v4 product lines and to our upcoming Microsoft Flight Simulator product lines. Effective immediately, we are no longer evaluating an Xplane development cycle at any point in the current five year window, nor do we see any active XPlane development time being allocated at PMDG."

Since Threshold was established, we have seen a couple of hints and possibilities that PMDG will eventually bring their aircraft to X-Plane.

The most recent of these came in April, when Randazzo was juggling the idea of beginning to port one of their airliners to X-Plane in late 2019 or early 2020. A mention of updating the DC-6 was also put forward:

However, it seems as if the unexpected announcement of Microsoft Flight Simulator has led PMDG to change paths, and thus has led the developer to focus more on Prepar3D and, in particular, MFS.

To summarise the remainder of the post:

• PMDG is "pivoting our entire development process" to accommodate the upcoming simulator, and port their 737, 747, 777 and DC-6
• Development for 32-bit platforms is to end shortly, with no planned updates effective immediately. The end-of-life process for all simulator titles is currently in evaluation
• Global Flight Operations is being prepared for phased release, with the core structure said to be "robust and ready to be put to work"
• Their 737NG3 will now only be available in MFS and not P3Dv4. It "will include the entire 737NG and MAX product lines in a mix of base package and expansion packages"

The post can be read in full on their forum.

Update 23:30: It appears that PMDG has released the 737NGXu Base Package for P3Dv4 for US $99.99. There does not appear to be any discount for loyal users.


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