The X-Plane official website introduced the upcoming “X-Plane Store” feature. This is great news that will save users the trouble of managing Addons, and it is something to look forward to.

Introducing: The X-Plane Store

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Introducing: The X-Plane Store!

We are elevating the X-Plane Addon experience to a new level by creating a marketplace where developers can sell their products directly to users within the application. This platform will streamline the experience of purchasing X-Plane content for users and enable developers to continue doing great work for the platform. Here is a quick overview of what this means for you and some frequently asked questions we have seen online.

What it means for users:

1. A streamlined shopping experience, both online and within the X-Plane application.
2. Account infrastructure ensures the products you purchase are not lost (no more activation keys!).
3. Transparent reviews for all products.
4. Products are automatically downloaded/installed/updated to X-Plane (no more dealing with zip files in various places).
5. Rigorous quality review of all Addons to ensure high quality and security.
6. Version compatibility filtering.
7. Simple, secure payment methods.

What it means for developers:

1. Their products get higher exposure/higher conversion rates.
2. A built-in Digital Rights Management system is provided, free for aircraft and Addons (maybe Scenery too, we are working on it).
3. Clear guidelines on product acceptance standards and support expectations.

FAQ

Q: When will the X-Plane Store be available? A: We plan to launch in 2024. I think it will likely be Q3, but the quality of the user experience will be our ultimate deciding factor.

Q: Will you wall off X-Plane? (Must all Addons come from the store?) A: No! Absolutely not! X-Plane will continue to load non-store Addons just as it does now. I want to emphasize the importance of this: we will not wall off X-Plane. In Montreal, Austin spoke about modifiability (the ability to change X-Plane and explore its internals, not “hacking” for piracy) as a core value of X-Plane; almost everyone present started using X-Plane by exploring its internals and making modifications and adding Addons, and we will not change that. Basically: The store will be a new feature that provides a good user experience for purchasing and installing Addons, but we will not remove existing functionality. Therefore, existing Addons will continue to “just work” because they are not affected by the store.

Q: Will my existing Addons continue to work? A: Yes! We will not prevent any third-party Addons from loading, nor will we remove any features that allow third parties to install and run Addons.

Q: Will free Addons continue to work? A: Yes! We will still load Scenery packs, aircraft, and Addons just like before - if an Addon is not a store Addon, it will load as usual.

Q: Must authors selling on the X-Plane Store be exclusive to the store? A: No! We do not require an exclusive agreement to sell in our store.

Q: Can anyone sell on the store? A: Selling on the X-Plane Store will be open to any author who meets our acceptance standards! The store will have a quality control process with clear guidance on what can be sold, prioritizing the customer experience.

Q: Will products I purchased from other stores be transferred here? A: While we are still actively developing, we plan to provide a utility to help developers transition existing purchase records if they choose to do so. 🙂

Q: Will Addons encrypted with SASL/Gizmo, etc., still work? A: Yes - just like any other Addon or add-on, these tools will continue to work normally. If SASL/Gizmo aircraft developers wish to sell their products in our store and thus use our Digital Rights Management system, their Addons will need minor modifications to accommodate this.

Q: Will you phase out .org, x-aviation, or other vendors? A: No! We made design choices from the start of the project to ensure we wouldn’t stifle any competition. In fact, we welcome competition!

Q: Will X-Plane become a crazy ad marketplace now that the application has a commercial component? A: Good heavens, absolutely not! That is the complete opposite of what we consider a good user experience.

Q: Will you implement any quality assurance for the store? A: Yes. All items sold in our store will be subject to well-documented standards. This ensures that when someone buys something from us, it will work as advertised and meets our minimum standards for high-quality X-Plane add-ons. Items that do not meet this standard can still be sold elsewhere and used in X-Plane.

Q: How will you handle add-ons in the store that become obsolete? A: We plan to implement version compatibility metadata for add-ons in the store to ensure that upgrades (for both the simulator and the add-ons) happen simultaneously, preventing the simulator from being in a broken state. This is some experience we have drawn from the mobile ecosystem (where users with older phones get “stuck” on older versions).

Q: Will Digital Rights Management (DRM) prevent me from modifying my add-ons? A: Not by default! Our Digital Rights Management model is “policy-based,” which is the professional way of saying “DRM can be configured per add-on.” Therefore, authors will have the flexibility to control what uses DRM to match their risk profiles and the level of control their user community has. It is worth noting that this is already happening; many advanced aircraft come with encrypted Lua scripts that cannot be modified. So, authors have the flexibility to replicate this situation.

Q: Will Laminar force me to subscribe now that they have a store? A: Product subscriptions are not in our launch specifications for the store. Based on demand, we may allow individual creators to offer content on a subscription basis in the future.

Q: Will you host free add-ons on the store? A: This is not a launch feature for us. We do see the possibility of offering curated, high-quality free add-ons on our store in the future - like Zibo, $0 payware Addons, and obviously… other free developers starting with ‘Z’.

Q: Regional pricing? A: No, this may change based on feedback from authors selling on the store. We also need a significant amount of historical sales data to properly assess purchasing power and demand elasticity in various markets.

Q: Will you raise prices/charge extra for products? A: No. We have a store commission, but it will be consistent with the standards charged by most stores today. We see this more as an opportunity to truly engage and coordinate the X-Plane experience.

Q: Will you handle installation and Scenery management automatically? A: We will handle the installation of store add-ons automatically. Just like you never need to unzip/install apps on your iPhone, your X-Plane Store purchases will be waiting for you in the simulator after automatic download.

Q: Is the store web-based or in-app? A: Both! The store will operate both within the X-Plane application and on the web.