Investing in the Future of E‑Jets: A Fair Upgrade Path for 3.0

We are currently working on the next generation of our E-Jets Family, which will include a brand-new custom autopilot introducing features such as holds, flyover waypoints, and DME arcs. We are also completely reworking how the FMS and autopilot handle missed approaches.

But that’s not all! We have a massive list of new features planned for the new E-Jets Family. We’re also planning many other features, such as separate screens, realistic loading through the EFB, SimBrief integration, the green dot, improved cockpit textures, more cockpit animations, a more realistic EICAS messaging system, a new communications system for in-sim tutorials, and deeper aircraft systems overall.

As always, I want to be fully transparent about my intentions and the reasons behind my decisions. So I would like to shed some light on our current position.

I recently talked about what it really takes to run a flight sim business that can survive and continue delivering great value to its customers. Every bug fix and new feature costs time and effort, but the number of people purchasing the products doesn’t increase over time, so the return on investment drops massively. The more we work on a product after release, the less gain each new improvement produces, until eventually it costs more to keep improving than we could ever earn from it. 

Right now, we are very close to that point, but I absolutely don’t want us to stop working on the E-Jets! There are still many areas to improve and dozens of features I want to add. Last year, we released E-Jets 2.0 with loads of new features, completely free for everyone. For the next generation, that simply isn’t realistic anymore.

So yes, 3.0 will be a paid upgrade, but with a very reasonable upgrade price.

I understand that some will not be happy about this. Unfortunately, I cannot make everyone happy. But I hope the overwhelming majority of our customer base will recognize the value we’ve been bringing them over the last 12 years and support our efforts.

In short, many people love to jump to conclusions and say, "This developer just wants to grab more money." No, we just want to continue developing the Best Embraer out there for the community, and in turn, we need the community to stand behind us in this.

Best wishes

Marko