(Out now!) – The Embraer E175 from FlightSim Studio is launching on Jan 10th… as an Early Access

Update, January 10th: As expected, FSS released today the Early Access for its Embraer E175 for Microsoft Flight Simulator. The project is off to a troubled start, but if you don’t mind buying an unfinished product and helping FSS bring it up to the high-quality standard they’re looking for, the E175 is now waiting for you at the Aerosoft store, priced at roughly 40€.

Is there a thing such as too much hype? For sure there is, and FlightSim Studio (FSS) may be facing a slight case of over-promising and under-delivering with their newest aircraft for Microsoft Flight Simulator. The E-Jets Series has been teased with great effect over the last few weeks, with a few impressive preview videos hinting at the imminent release of a full product. Naturally, as an airliner, the E175 immediately grabbed the interest of the MSFS community. It’s time to tame your expectations, folks, because FSS is indeed launching the Embraer E175 very soon… but as an early access product that is only expected to be complete by the end of the year.

We’ve seen this move before from other developers, who faced some early criticism because of it but ended up delivering on their promises… and then some! Hyper Performance Group and their H145 come to mind, as does, in a way, Flysimware and their habit of launching airplanes in beta and then vigorously update them up to a very high level (the C414 Chancellor has to be one of the best GA airplanes at this moment).

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FSS is now trying to pull that same trick, releasing an early and very work-in-progress build of the E175 this coming 10th. of January. It will be priced at €33,57 + tax and is effectively a bundle with the E170 and E175 models, although only the E175 will be included from the start. The E170 will come later, free of charge. As for the longer E190 and E195, they are also planned for a later stage and will be sold separately.

FlightSim Studio’s goal is to (eventually) have a deep simulation of the popular Embraer E-Jets series. The thing is that it is only “planned” to be a reality in about a year. Until then, customers are expected to enjoy a limited aircraft that goes from A to B in a somewhat functional mode, but without major functions. All that is missing will be added over time, based on the planned roadmap (FSS is very transparent here) and also taking into account the popular vote. Right now, the most requested features from simmers are VNAV, speed/altitude constraints, and SimBrief support.

We’ve had the chance to try the aircraft in its current stage and found a promising project, no doubt about that, but its early state undermines it. The model and textures look great, for the most part, and are arguably the most impressive feature of the product at this point. The passenger cabin is especially good-looking. But the sounds, systems, FMS, etc., all need a lot of work at this point and there’s a lot of stuff missing, as FSS rightfully says. Yesterday’s live stream with the developers and Cruise Level provides a comprehensive look into the current state of the airplane and is well worth a look for any prospecting buyers:

We know how people usually react to this kind of strategy, but the truth is that no one is obligated to get into the deal. You can just wait another year and get the promised “study-level simulation“. FlightSim Studio may not be very well known, but they already have an aircraft released under their own name (the SeaRey Elite), and they actually partnered with Asobo and Microsoft to bring gliders to the simulator. So, they have a reputation to protect and are, in fact, being very transparent about what they’re offering at this stage and what they plan for the future.

It may be a bit unfortunate that they managed to get the hype train rolling as much as they did, perhaps creating too many expectations in simmers that now feel disappointed. In any case, the FlightSim Studio E175 is available now, priced at €39,95 through Contrail. The price will go up eventually as new features get added and the product approaches its final state, but there’s no indication about the pricing model at that stage or how long it’s expected to stay at the launch price.

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