VEAO ceasing DCS World development

2–3 minutes

Third party DCS World developer VEAO has announced that they are ceasing all further development on DCS World in a post made this afternoon on the VEAO Facebook page.

The statement

This is the statement that they provided:

Dear VEAO Customers,

We regret to inform you that we are ceasing development of all DCS modules effective immediately. This was a very difficult decision to make – our aim was always to provide high quality content and support for the DCS platform, however due to reasons beyond our control, continuing to partner with Eagle Dynamics is no longer a viable option for us.

We want to thank all of you who supported us and our products and we apologise for any disappointment this announcement may have caused. We are so lucky to have been a part of this amazing community for the past thirteen plus years, and are very sorry that our time as a business has come to an end.


Thank you once again,
Chris, Pete + VEAO team

VEAO Facebook

Brief history

VEAO’s time developing for DCS World has been a bit of a troubled one. Two modules were part of the team’s history with DCS World and the one that eventually got into players hands was the Hawk trainer. It was an aircraft that garnered a fair bit of interest and support but it was plagued by bugs and issues that cropped up between patches. More recently the Hawk received a PBR textured cockpit and flight model updates with the latest developer posts on the Facebook page occurring as recently as August.

VEAO was also building the P-40F Warhawk. They were at the point where the team were offering it up for a pre-order and impending early access. Some players even did pre-order it before development ground to a halt. In a post from February of 2017 the developers had mentioned that the aircraft was performing by the numbers and systems were working in DCS World 1.5.4 but not working well at all in 1.5.5. Things apparently went downhill from there.

So what happens from here?

At the moment it appears that VEAO has thrown in the towel leaving the DCS: Hawk product in limbo. Further development is clearly unlikely and its uncertain if maintenance and support will be kept up. In a statement by NineLine, DCS’ Community Manager, we learned a little about the expectations of the license agreement:

Nothing has changed with our Hawk license agreement with VEAO and our relationship regarding the Hawk. We hope they will continue supporting it.

If anything changes, we will make a statement regarding it going forward.

NineLine on Eagle Dynamic’s community forums

VEAO has been doing other projects including some VR installations including a RAF 100-years virtual reality motion project. They have also released content for P3D.

If any other news crops up I’ll be sure to update the post.

11 responses to “VEAO ceasing DCS World development”

  1. Fighter Guy Avatar
    Fighter Guy

    Am i happy i never bought there flawed BAE Hawk.. As far as i know it never even left early access. I hope people get there money back on this one, although I doubt it.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. ShamrockOneFive Avatar
      ShamrockOneFive

      There likely isn’t any money to give back. They did deliver something with the Hawk while the folks who did the early pre-order on the P-40F I feel much worse for as they never got anything.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. Francesco Kasta Avatar
        Francesco Kasta

        Pre-ordering stuff nowadays feels like gambling.

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Eviscerador Avatar
    Eviscerador

    Looks like they couldn’t handle the changing world of DCS and the realism levels requested.

    I read in some replies that they had troubles with the 2.5 update.

    It is a pity, especially for the people that bought both modules.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. ShamrockOneFive Avatar
      ShamrockOneFive

      They did seem to struggle and perhaps underestimate what was required to make something at the level that Eagle Dynamics was expecting and conversely we were used to as players of DCS World.

      Definitely a pity and a rough situation for all involved.

      Like

      Reply
  3. Francesco Kasta Avatar
    Francesco Kasta

    Even though I am glad I never purchased the Hawk I do understand the frustration of the people who did. In the world we live in this is nothing out of the ordinary but I still think it is unacceptable and it creates a really bad precedent in ED’s business model.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    1. ShamrockOneFive Avatar
      ShamrockOneFive

      Oh absolutely, it’s a very frustrating situation for many.

      Like

      Reply
  4. Blue 5 Avatar
    Blue 5

    As I have always said, this sim has appalling project management with the central ‘authority’, achieving virtually no consistency and the orbiting contractors being involved in a a semi-lottery of development, leaving would-be customers to debate the degree to which they will ever get return on their money.

    Early access – a la IL-2 – is privileged content use with a strong chance of eventual fulfillment. Correct me if I am wrong, but the Harrier, F/A-18, Mirage 2000 and others are still in what is essentially ‘beta’? Given the prices that they charge, this is a bad joke.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Eviscerador Avatar
      Eviscerador

      Those modules are advertised as early access. They are in development and as such, content is being released regularly while bugs are being squashed.

      If you want to fly full released modules, there are plenty of them. FC3, A10C, F5, Mig 21, Sabre, Mig 15, Yak 52, L39A, any chopper, any warbird, any scenario.

      Mirage 2k, Harrier, Viggen, Hornet… all of them are in a really good state, even if they lack some content or still have issues with some systems. They all have professional flight models and AA / AG systems. All of them are very popular in the MP community and have additional content in the form of campaigns and single missions (Harrier is lacking a bit here though)

      So far the only two modules that were lagging behind in updates were the Hawk and the C101. It is a pity the Hawk already died. I hope the C101 will be finally released.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
    2. Mischiew Rithe Avatar
      Mischiew Rithe

      I’m pretty sure the M-2000C has been out of beta since the last features were in and a decent manual was provided. For the MiG-21bis, it’s not clear, the DCS shop tags it as “early access” but AFAIK it’s been fully released long ago, the only shortcomings are in the navigation indicators and the autopilot, and they’re mostly non-blocking bugs or misinterpretations.

      So I wouldn’t be surprised if the DCS website was the real “early access” module there 😉 Or the module icons on the DCS main menu that mention which is beta.

      The price is reduced for modules that are actually in early development (early access or pre-purchase). It’s not cheap, but I don’t see that as shocking, the final price is high but the content is quite detailed, plus it’s maintained for the whole life of DCS. You see similar prices for the P3D or X-Plane modules, sometimes they are more complex, but they usually charge on major upgrades of the platform.

      What I find shocking is the multitude of products that are graviting around simulators like P3D, FSX and X-Plane, it stretches to sim-only navigation charts, tools, airport sceneries, and poorly designed “mission plug-ins”. Everything is an excuse to make some business, it seems, no matter how little relevant. That’s why I was a little disappointed to see products like the NS430 GPS in DCS, it’s just not fitting.

      As for the Hawk, I think it was the good decision to make, they were obviously not up to the DCS standard despite their efforts. I’m not judging either way – or just a little, it can’t be easy to develop on a moving target for a small team. On the other hand, they shouldn’t have offered an early access without being sure of their capacity to deliver, and offering another product (P-40) on top of that seems unprofessional at best.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  5. NavyGuy2007 Avatar
    NavyGuy2007

    The Hawk really isn’t that bad of an add on. It sucks that VEAO is calling it quits but I don’t feel bad about buying it at all.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a reply to Eviscerador Cancel reply

Trending