Greetings all! 

I'm a big fan of P3D and have quite a bit invested in it. I dipped into xplane 10 a couple of years ago and while it showed promise, I felt it wasn't quite ready (for me! Careful with those pitchforks! ;)) 

Now, after recently getting back into flight Sims after a two year break, things are looking really good for X-Plane. From what I've seen of the recent FFA320 and the news that ActiveSky is coming, this could be a great time to really consider moving over from P3d. 

I see XP 11 is on sale on Steam at the moment, but is it a better idea to buy direct? Do the steam users have access to beta versions etc? 

Cheers! 

Steam users do get betas, although sometimes later than the DVD/DL users IIRC.

If you have the DL oder DVD version, you can have multiple installations in parallel, e.g. one stable release, one beta installation, one without any addons for troubleshooting purposes etc. IDK if that's possible with Steam.

Not had any issues with having the Steam version myself, it does the job.

Neil,

I bought XP11 through Steam.  Steam users do have access to beta versions.  It just takes a couple days or so to have access versus direct which is pretty much the same day from what I understand.

Dave

Get the direct download. Why wouldn't you.

Direct download definitely. Don't see the need to use Steam for X-Plane. Plus, you get access to betas earlier, etc.

1 hour ago, Colonel X said:

Get the direct download. Why wouldn't you.

Well, its about £6 cheaper on Steam than from Laminar - not as big a difference as the '27% sale' at Steam suggests - there seems to be quite a variance on XP-11 prices?

Cheers
Keith

I'm in the same boat as OP. Looking to get back into flight sim after four + years away. Have tons of FSX add ons but think I want to try something new, and the XP11 reviews are very good. I usually will not hesitate and go the direct route, but it is on sale on steam ($44.39 on sale vs $59.99) plus I have a credit there that makes it almost free. Sounds like  the same thing besides maybe getting the betas a day or two early, no big deal for me. 

Thanks for the replies everyone!

I think that I will buy it from steam because now it is 26% off which is  33$ for my country. It is a lot different compare to X-Plane website. : )

For me in Euros it's 48.09 on steam or 51.80 direct. Not much of a difference, I'll go with the 'direct' version as I do like to tinker and having a few different installs is something I can definitely see happening.

Intresting topic. I was going to ask the same questoin really. Im falling more towards the direct download side, I dont know why it just for some reason feels like it would work better :/... 

 

Is performance the same on the DL and the steam edition?  

Bought and downloaded from Steam earlier. My personal opinion that Steam is very good, never had an issue, so Conrad, save the $15. ;-) Going to install and dust off (take out of boxes) all the CH equipment tomorrow and get it set up. Thinking of a Rift too. Loved FSX for a while, got me to my (sports) pilot's  license. Would love to see a Skycatcher. Lol  Gonna miss a few planes tho, the Duke and Otter especially. Hope to see some great GA aircraft get into XP11. 

10 hours ago, conradcollinson said:

Intresting topic. I was going to ask the same questoin really. Im falling more towards the direct download side, I dont know why it just for some reason feels like it would work better :/... 

 

Is performance the same on the DL and the steam edition?  

They are exactly the same. 

The question is if you're rather give about 50% of your money to a multi-million dollar company (Steam) who does nothing apart from hosting the files, or you rather support a small, dedicated team of developers who ACTUALLY wrote the software and making it better day by day. Because this 50% is about how much Steam pockets usually. For me it was never a question who'd I rather support, and if I'd Laminar, I would only publish directly. They just can't resist the hordes of casual gamers who only comes through exposure on Steam (sorry for the serious simmers on Steam out there, but most Steam users are computer rookies and casual simmers, this is probably a reason why they don't get the beta versions -  Beta's are meant for beta testers, who are willing to make proper bug reports, and not just complain that their sim is crashing, or the framerate is slow) 

Otherwise the software is exactly the same, with the exact same performance. Xplane users get all the Betas, Steam users get like every second beta.