Fans of Aeroplane Heaven’s upcoming Spitfire Mark I are going to have to wait a bit longer as the company has elected to delay the launch of the aircraft for Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Delayed
News has emerged from Aeroplane Heaven via their Facebook page that their Spitfire Mark IA project is being delayed. They released a statement two days ago saying,
Hello all, some of you are not going to like this news but after careful consideration, we are delaying the launch of Spitfire Mk1A for a while. The reason being that there has been a considerable amount of negative comment based around the “we already have a Spitfire in MSFS” and even some comparisons with the other Spitfire which we find vaguely ridiculous pre-release.
Aeroplane Heaven
The other Spitfire they are referring to is of course the Spitfire IX from FlyingIron Simulations which I previously reviewed. Aeroplane Heaven’s earlier mark of Spitfire looked to be enough of a departure and suitably different than the later model to warrant some excitement of its own but it seems that Aeroplane Heaven is going to hold back and continue to work on their product.
The statement goes on to say,
Allowing the dust to settle will also allow us to perfect this release and add further features and authentic inclusions to make it the very best Spitfire you could possibly buy for MSFS.
Aeroplane Heaven
I’m loathe to read between the lines on this so I’m uncertain what was driving the decision other than either concerns that the new aircraft wouldn’t sell so close to the release of another Spitfire (although it has been months) or concerns that the project in its current state may not be favourably compared. That said, we’ve seen good stuff from the developers on this project so I’m not sure what is holding them back.
I’m always a fan of developers taking their time and getting releases right (even if they do patch later to add even more features) so I applaud a difficult decision made.
Read the full statement on the Aeroplane Heaven Facebook page along with a short follow-up.
Stormbirds 
eek. 12 hours later they posted this opposing their own earlier comments…
I like the look of their Spit; if it’s good I will buy it.
“Right. Some clarity.
We have made a decision not to release the Spitfire Mk1A for a short while.
This is our decision and ours alone to make. We will release when we want to and when we fell the product is ready.
This has nothing to do with “trolls”or negative comment. As we have stated, it is a timing issue.
For those who feel that we have wronged them in some way, think on that. Exactly how? Are you disadvantaged in some way? Have we taken any money?
The Spitfires will be here. Just not right now.
A little patience is all that is required.
Thanks and stay safe everyone.”
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This is poor reasoning on their part, entirely.
The people who are most likely to buy their Spitfire would’ve done so regardless of FIS’ version already being on the market and whatever “the haters” had to say.
From the little we can ascertain from afar, I believe the AH Spit is going to be at a generally higher fidelity level than the FIS version.
I honestly think FIS rushed theirs to market to get (forgive me, I can hardly believe I’M saying this…) a cash flow boost while they work on DCS A-7. From the recent Aerosoft presentation, even X-Plane sales have cratered in the wake of MSFS’ release…
I have the FIS Spit for MSFS, and their P-38 from X-Plane. Simply stated, the MSFS Spit, though quite good by MSFS’ current standards, is not finished to the same level of fidelity as the P-38. Yes, some of that is MSFS “SDK issues”, but still, it is not as good as MilViz’s F4U Corsair for MSFS, either…
It just doesn’t make any sense, frankly – if they were genuinely concerned about the timing, they could’ve put the brakes on way back when they realized FIS would beat them to market.
So they’re shelving a ready to release addon and giving up sales NOW, to turn their attention to the DC-3, which is going to take even longer to finish and start generating revenue.
To be blunt, this is a boneheaded move.
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I’m wondering if there’s something we’re missing behind the scenes here that is affecting the decision because, as you say, it just doesn’t seem like a smart move.
Odd indeed!
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