Yesterday, popular online flight simulation website SimBuddy closed their website and client operations. The online service boasted many features like a logbook, virtual airlines, a moving map, live flight statistics and many more. At the time of closure, the service had over 10,000 registered users.

The development team published a closure statement available on their website:

“To Members,

"This is a tough one but regretfully, the time has come for me to close the doors on SimBuddy.

"This has not been an easy decision to make. A huge amount of effort has gone into developing SimBuddy, and I've dedicated three years of my life to the website, but, unfortunately, it has started to take its toll. 

"Running the website has been a 24/7/365 responsibility which has often been challenging. I'm the only developer, I have a full-time job outside of SimBuddy, and it's becoming increasingly difficult for me to dedicate the time required to keep things going.

"I put roughly 30-40 hours a week into developing SimBuddy and a further 40+ hours into my day job. As you can imagine, this is getting pretty difficult to maintain, and it's having a huge impact on my life.

"I wanted to share how I feel in hope you all understand why I have made this difficult decision.

"I love flight sim, I've enjoyed creating SimBuddy, but it's become untenable for me to continue so unfortunately, it is time for me to call it a day.

"I know some of you may be disappointed in the closure of SimBuddy and I can only apologise. I know you've put a lot of effort into earning your points, building your airlines and working your way up the ranks but I hope you understand my reasons for closing the website. I'm truly sorry it has come to this. It's genuinely been a tough decision to make.“

The statement continues onto what will happen to users with subscriptions and when their subscriptions will get cancelled. It specifies that all subscriptions should be cancelled within 7 days, all users who paid for a subscription before the 30th of September will receive a refund of £4.99 and should receive an email of confirmation of this from Stripe.

The SimBuddy website will remain online until Saturday, November 30th 2019.

The statement closed out with a final farewell message:

"Before I go I would like to give a massive thank you to our fantastic team of volunteers; Clorix, TheMarmaliser and Mejjo. Without them, I could never have done it. I know it sounds like a cliché, but it is so true. These guys have been the backbone of the website, and I can't thank them enough.

"Thank you so much to every single member - all 10,000+ of you! Despite my reasons for closing, I've also had a lot of pleasure in creating SimBuddy. I've learnt so much, and there's nothing more rewarding than seeing you all use something that a lot of blood, sweat and tears have gone in to.

"Lastly, thank you to all our subscribers. Without you, SimBuddy wouldn't have been able to operate. You're a great bunch, and I genuinely appreciate your contribution and support.

"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.

"Happy flying everyone - see you in the virtual skies.

"Georgio, Clorix, TheMarmaliser and Mejjo"

For any support, SimBuddy has said to email info@simbuddy.com