Flightsim.to to revise its deletion policy following developer backlash
Flightsim.to has announced plans to revise its deletion policy following widespread criticism from developers and calls for a boycott of the platform.
The news comes after days of mounting pressure over Flightsim.to’s approach to requests from developers to delete their content from the site. The site’s terms of service had and still reads: “We reserve the right to keep your User Content indefinitely and are not obligated to remove it or stop distributing it if you request so.”
In a statement released on Twitter however, Flightsim.to said it was “planning to revise our deletion policy in response to your feedback”, adding nonetheless that “we still believe that there is misleading information going around.”
Expanding on this via Discord, the team said it intends to “find a compromise, allowing everyone to delete their files immediately as they wish, unless there are specific reasons that would allow us to keep the file for a specific, reasonable period of time.”
The statement went on to outline a “deletion period” for certain types of addons whereby, following a request for deletion from the developer, Flightsim.to would inform users that the addon had been queued for deletion. It would still be available to download during that period, and deleted immediately after.
The statement proposed the following deletion periods for different types of addons:
- Libraries: 60 days deletion period
- Standalone aircraft: 30 days deletion period
- Popular file, at least 100K+ downloads: 7 days deletion period
- Featured file, e.g. on social media or our news: 30 days deletion period
Finally, the Flightsim.to team invited users to share feedback on the proposed approach, before adding: “I make no commitments as to whether or when these changes will be implemented, this is merely a plan and it is still to be approved by our lawyers, but we want to hear your thoughts.”
Shortly after this statement, Got Friends, developer of the Discus-2c, Wilga, and Mini-500, announced via its Discord that “our partnership with Flightsim.to has been terminated by their decision, effective immediately.”
It provided no further detail, other than to emphasise that existing customers would continue to receive updates for the products they have purchased.
It is unclear what prompted the termination of the partnership between Got Friends and Flightsim.to, however the developer did release a previous statement on February 19 stating that it would cease sharing its freeware products on the site.
“While we appreciate the exposure that Flightsim.to has provided us in the past, we feel that it is no longer a safe and reliable platform for our freeware products”, the statement added.
