mutley 4,487 Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 Sad news from Earth Simulations for the flight sim community, their web site and forums have been closed down and only the message above remains. I have no other information and I am not sure what happens to customers who have purchased downloads, hopefully there will be more information in the coming weeks. My best wishes go out to Darren & Vikki who I know put so much effort into this business. Link to post Share on other sites
UKJim 502 Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 Omg I hope I don't lose my purchases. What a shame because they produce great scenery! Update: just got on esi launcher and was able to create an esi package. Looks like I am going to try and make packages of all my ES scenery tonight. Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Firth 114 Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 :O Link to post Share on other sites
hifly 925 Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 Although I don't have any of their products it's a shame to see talented developers fall by the wayside. I wish them the best for the future. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
UKJim 502 Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 Yeah definitely - I am not sure what has happened though as over christmas/new year they had a huge sale and all products discounted. Why would you get all that custom and then drop out? Especially without leaving a way of retrieving your products if the ESI installer is not on your machine etc. If anyone hears anything please shout up as it is such a shame and would be good to know what went down. Hopefully it's a glitch of some sorts Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Firth 114 Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 I'm still slightly in shock, but I doubt it's a glitch. I don't really want to guess or speculate any further..if it's for real then RIP quite possible the best scenery developer I've come across in terms of accuracy and quality. Even if ES is gone forever, I hope someone will perhaps pick up the corporate assets and keep the flame alive somehow, it's done in so many other areas of company life so why not in our little niche? K Link to post Share on other sites
UKJim 502 Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 Very true - if you have flown over Alderney or Isle of Man for instance by ES; there is nothing like it. Yes you have Orbx and Photoscenery but these islands they produced were a different level. One of my favourite places to do some VFR low and slow is Isle of Man in January with the ice textures amazing! Hopefully someone will pick this up, unfortunately all the serials are attached to the ES store login - so I don't actually have a copy of my serials for my scenery lol. Hopefully it will not be lost forever. I have made backups but I tend to lose them quite quickly and most of time rely on downloading a product again and again. We shall see - I am glad I got back into my simming when I did else I wouldn't have known. Good luck to Darren & Vikki in whatever they end up doing Link to post Share on other sites
MyPC8MyBrain 273 Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 sorry to hear this; it’s a real shame our community is losing a unique and very talented team of developers i wish best of luck to both Darren & Vikki on your new endeavor Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Firth 114 Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 From the ES helpdesk (still active for a short period of time apparently) Why has ES ceased trading? ← General FAQ A number of factors have been instrumental in the decision to close down Earth Simulations. ◾We have been unable to secure enough orders for our most recent product line to raise the capital needed to pay our way and therefore remain in business. ◾Recent changes to taxation rules make running a small business such as ES extremely difficult. We are now required to register for VAT separately in every country we sell to and keep records of each sale accordingly. The added bureaucracy involved is quite honestly more trouble than it's worth. ◾Within a month of setting up ES Microsoft pulled out of Flight Simulation development. Since then there has been a steady and continued decline in the add-on market which seems unlikely to improve any in the foreseeable future. Rather than things getting easier we can only see things getting harder. ◾With the relentless struggle it has been up to making this decision, just to keep ES running and a roof over our heads, we have each worked consistently very long hours for what has been far less than even a minimum wage. As a result our health has suffered and the fun we once had making scenery has become increasingly hard to come by. We would like to thank sincerely all our past customers, many of whom we consider to be our friends. We hope that you have had, and will continue to have many more hours of pleasure from our scenery creation efforts. This helpdesk & ESInstaller will remain active for as long as possible but not indefinitely. We encourage you to create backups of your scenery installations. Link to post Share on other sites
ddavid 149 Posted January 10, 2015 Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 The best just wasn't good enough, was it. D&V's approach to photoscenery was unmatched. It's a great shame that their efforts have come to this. All we can do is wish them well and hope we hear from them again, soon. Hwyl - Dai. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
UKJim 502 Posted January 11, 2015 Report Share Posted January 11, 2015 Gutted but that's what happens I suppose Link to post Share on other sites
Christopher Low 63 Posted January 11, 2015 Report Share Posted January 11, 2015 This is very sad news indeed. In addition to creating some of the best FS scenery packages ever developed, they were also extremely kind and helpful to me whenever I had a problem, and nothing was ever too much trouble. I know this sounds a bit selfish, but I am really disappointed that we will not see ES Jersey now unless some other company manages to take over development I wish Darren and Vikki the very best of luck for the future. Link to post Share on other sites
hlminx 301 Posted January 11, 2015 Report Share Posted January 11, 2015 Thats such a shame. ES scenery was imho some of the most accurate id ever come across. I have the Guernsey scenery, and knowing the island so well (folks were born in the CI) their package was so faithful to the real thing. Will be such a shame never to get Jersey to add to the collection. My GCI copy is boxed but guess ill be spending the rest of the day working out how to back it up...im sure I had to do some other installing from ESI when I originally loaded it. Thanks to Darren and Vikki for all their years of hard work. Wishing them well for the future Link to post Share on other sites
needles 1,010 Posted January 11, 2015 Report Share Posted January 11, 2015 All the very best wishes to Darren &Vikki in their future exploits. Let's hope they can find some way to return to flight simulation scenery development. Take care and hopefully we'll see you soon. Link to post Share on other sites
Philmurfin 51 Posted January 11, 2015 Report Share Posted January 11, 2015 Just like everyone else, I'm really dissapointed to hear this news. I personally go back many years with ES and I think it's true to say I purchased every title they ever produced, I would have happily paid more for their work as there really is nothing else like it. The service given was exeptional and like many, I regarded them as friends. I do hope something, somehow can carry their efforts forward for us as a community. Meanwhile, if you read this, a huge thank you Darren & Viki for all you've done. All the very best to you both Good Luck! Phil Murfin Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,487 Posted January 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 Hear, hear Phil Link to post Share on other sites
iangbusa 2 Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 This is very bad news and so surprising coming so suddenly. The recent release of their amazing new product line seemed to bode well for a fantastic future, I want add my own concern to that off all the others shown above and, just in case my messages aren't getting through, hope that Darren may be reading. Darren - contact me if you can (and want to) so we can follow up on our conversations of last year more seriously and quickly - just in case I can help in any way. My best wishes go out to both of you... ian Link to post Share on other sites
iangbusa 2 Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 FYI, all, I found this: https://earthsims.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/484665-why-has-es-ceased-trading (but see content already posted above...) Link to post Share on other sites
jaydor 345 Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Some good news maybe: Quote from JV at ORBX today: "Quote" Because we live quite close to each other Darren, Vikki and I have traditionally met socially a few times a year, and in fact we have been in discussion about collaboration for quite some time; long before these sad events transpired. To respect confidentiality I can only say that we are meeting next week in Portsmouth and we'll work towards the best outcome for everyone. Please don't speculate on what that means but rest assured we won't let great talent like Darren and Vikki retire just yet, as much as they'd like to! Watch this space 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Firth 114 Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Thanks for the heads up James, if theres something that comes out of it I'm sure we'll find out in good time.. Here's hoping it works out for D&V.. Link to post Share on other sites
Christopher Low 63 Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 A ray of sunshine splits the heavens asunder! Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,487 Posted January 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Some good news maybe: Quote from JV at ORBX today: "Quote" Because we live quite close to each other Darren, Vikki and I have traditionally met socially a few times a year, and in fact we have been in discussion about collaboration for quite some time; long before these sad events transpired. To respect confidentiality I can only say that we are meeting next week in Portsmouth and we'll work towards the best outcome for everyone. Please don't speculate on what that means but rest assured we won't let great talent like Darren and Vikki retire just yet, as much as they'd like to! Watch this space Perhaps a job offer? I cannot see Orbx wanting to develop the photoscenery and the autogen side of things but Darren is one of the best scenery designers out there. Oh to be a fly on the wall of that curry house! Link to post Share on other sites
rob16584 42 Posted January 17, 2015 Report Share Posted January 17, 2015 From a bean counter's point of view the VAT issue alone would have been a nightmare in terms of admin and time taken to get everything in order. I can understand the reasons for it i.e Amazon and other companies based in low VAT countries, but little (if any) thought has been given to smaller traders. Hopefully Orbx can do something to keep them in the FS world Link to post Share on other sites
Christopher Low 63 Posted January 18, 2015 Report Share Posted January 18, 2015 It looks like Flightstore are having a sale on ES products. The DVD versions of Isle of Man, Guernsey, Alderney and Isles of Scilly are selling for £10 each...... http://www.flightstore.co.uk/flight-simulation-c499/scenery-add-ons-c543/uk-other-scenery-c547 Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,487 Posted January 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2015 Time to stock up, thanks for the info! Link to post Share on other sites
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