Any possibility of someone else taking over the consumer rights to the ESP platform and code?

[carbonbasedlifeform 179]

Lockheed Martin has the rights to ESP for business and DTG has the rights for consumers.

I wonder if DTG plans to keep the rights to keep milking FSX, or if they want to offload their flight sim business and give someone else a look at the codebase and rights.

[Boomer 1,619]

Maybe PMDG will buy it at a heavy discount and finally do right by it.  Good riddence to FSW and DTG in our community.

[Dumont 9]

Well, this would be the perfect ending, PMDG buys rights and continues development.

 

 

João Alfredo

Edited April 24, 2018 by Dumont

[SamYeager 244]

6 hours ago, Boomer said:

Maybe PMDG will buy it at a heavy discount and finally do right by it.  Good riddence to FSW and DTG in our community.

In your dreams!  Just keep coughing up your money for P3D every few years if you want FSX like compatibility along with the higher prices for add-ons (because it's professional) or dip your toe in X-Plane. Frankly I find neither of those alternatives particularly appealing.

[Wobbie 938]

Maybe tht's actually not a bad idea at all. A PMDG sim only for PMDG products?

[G-RFRY 1,712]

They may well sell the commercial rights to FSX it would recoup some of the cost of FSW, if they had turned FSX into 64bit and then bought in TrueSky , I think they would have been onto a winner with it`s large user base and large third party support.

I think this was a decision taken by the top brass at DTG and not FSW and must have come as a shock to FSW team on Monday morning, it`s often the way things like this happen.    

[pmb 5,137]

15 minutes ago, rjfry said:

They may well sell the commercial rights to FSX it would recoup some of the cost of FSW, if they had turned FSX into 64bit and then bought in TrueSky , I think they would have been onto a winner with it`s large user base and large third party support.  

I am not a legal expert, but I doubt DT can sell any license. They may, perhaps, retun it to MS (details about this should be in the contract) who may make a new bid, if they like so. In any case, I am convinced MS will participate in any further decisions.

Kind regards, Michael

[markk71 4]

A2A is also busy with a secret project.

Maybe PMDG and A2A are teaming up together to acquire the consumer licence of FSW/FSX?

[G-RFRY 1,712]

2 minutes ago, pmb said:

I am not a legal expert, but I doubt DT can sell any license. They may, perhaps, retun it to MS (details about this should be in the contract) who may make a new bid, if tghey like so. In any case, I am convinced MS will participate in any further decisions.

Kind regards, Michael

You may be right but I hope someone can continue the development of FSX as it`s still the most successful flight sim platform to date, and 64bit would have continued that, I'm not a user that put one platform against the another but think more choice and options are better for the end user, and for the flight sim industry to sell there products.

[pmb 5,137]

1 hour ago, rjfry said:

You may be right but I hope someone can continue the development of FSX as it`s still the most successful flight sim platform to date, and 64bit would have continued that, I'm not a user that put one platform against the another but think more choice and options are better for the end user, and for the flight sim industry to sell there products.

Actually, I agree to you in that point. Initially, I had quite high hopes in Dovetail and actively participated in discussing and priorizing features -  until I realized Dovetail's path went South, which was pretty early on, even before the release of FlightSchool.

Kind regards, Michael

[Wood4591 52]

I am sure PMDG will do a good job but I don't think it will be good idea for PMDG ( if they could) to buy FSW. It was not a success with DTG and it will take by years to developing, improving and enhancing , plus finding other developers keen to spend time/money for another simulator.

 I think P3d and X-plane are enough,PMDG are spending time and money developing new planes, no need to turn their effort to another simulator. This is my opinion.

[G-RFRY 1,712]

19 minutes ago, mulgrave said:

I am sure PMDG will do a good job but I don't think it will be good idea for PMDG ( if they could) to buy FSW. It was not a success with DTG and it will take by years to developing, improving and enhancing , plus finding other developers keen to spend time/money for another simulator.

 I think P3d and X-plane are enough,PMDG are spending time and money developing new planes, no need to turn their effort to another simulator. This is my opinion.

I disagree it saddens me to see some gloating over the demies of FSW I suspect in hope that there preferred sim will rein supreme, this just means take it of lump it and they will develop there platform in the way they sit fit irrespective of the users opinion, and the fact that developers are developing there own website`s for general and support forums, the long term future for some long running support forums is unknown, some born out of supporting MSFS which may be reduced to just legacy support and end sometime in the future.          

[shivers9 1,174]

Full Disclosure: I have a bias toward LM and Prepar3d. The main reason is that they have done exactly what they said they will do. A 64 Bit much more modern product. It is wide open for developers to produce new products and it is constantly under developement. As for the failure of DTG snd their effort I am not surprised at all. Having said that, I like anyone else am sad for the folks who lost their job. That is pretty much a no brainer.

For the life of me, I just can not understand most of the post here. Why someone can not understand the fact that DTG or PMDG or A2A or any other company is not going to be able to produce a Sim like P3D or X-Plain for $4.95. The days of develpers giving away free models is over...gone...no more. Money issues aside, it is just not reality to believe that any company could take that old code and surpass the P3d or x-plain product is just pure folly. Even if it were possible, again the financial restraints would soon become too much for any sane company to support. 

Those who opine, "But the hobbie is going to die because the like of younger folks getting envolved. You got to be kidding me. Most of the Kids today have at least one phone in their pocket (worth $500-1000) and some have a spare. I think we will been fine in that area! LOL Dreaming and wishing for a Flight Sim Company that loves you and gives you free stuff is just that...a dream. Just ask DTG. 

 

[pmb 5,137]

As a sidenote: The title of this topic is wrong: ESP has been licensed to Lockheed Martin who built Prepar3d out of it. It explicitely excludes consumer entertainment use. 

Dovetail acquired the license to debug FSX and distribute it as FSX:SE. In addition, they got a license to further develop "MS flightsim technology" (which inlcuded FSX as well as Flight!) into a separate simulator under a different name for entertainment use.

As some others have commented, the decision to base FSW on FSX instead of Flight!, which the license allowed and was initially intended, was probably one of the central mistakes by Dovetail.

Kind regards, Michael

[rtodepart 761]

Till someone else figures how to do what LM is doing they will endup like flight and FSW.

have US the hobbyist in one side paying everytime a few updates come out at the same  time we are not only paying but also providing crucial input for farther improvements and than go out an sell the results to the big $$$ customers On the other  side . That has a steady flow of cash coming in to continue moving foward ... its a bit sad but please guys/girls remember that lately some developers not all but some will go an support the side that makes money ...

Edited April 24, 2018 by rtodepart