Editorial and ethics policy

Who we are

msfsaddons.com is an independent publication covering Microsoft Flight Simulator, with our main focus on the 2024 edition and continuing coverage of MSFS 2020. We report on aircraft, scenery, ATC, ground services, hardware, and the community tools that hold it all together. The site is founded and edited by Vasco Ferreira, and has been covering the flight sim community for several years.

We are not owned by a developer, a marketplace, or a hardware brand. The site is funded by a mix of display advertising, direct advertising, affiliate links, and our Captain’s Club membership, all of which we explain in full below.

Being independent while also being funded by the industry we write about is a balance we take seriously. We think the honest way to handle it is to tell you exactly how the site works, so you can decide for yourself how much to trust what you read here. That is what this page is for.

Editorial independence

Our coverage is ours. No developer, advertiser, or partner decides what we write, how we write it, or whether a product gets covered at all.

In practice, that means a few firm rules:

We do have commercial relationships with companies in this space. Those include affiliate partners, advertisers, hardware brands who lend or send review units, and the partners who provide perks to our Captain’s Club members. Those relationships help pay for the site, and we are open about them. What they do not do is set our editorial line. Where a relationship is relevant to something we are writing about, we say so in that article.

We also have no ownership stake in the developers, studios, or hardware companies we cover.

How we handle developer claims

Most of what we report begins life as a developer announcement, a changelog, a press release, a forum post, or a livestream. We treat those as claims made by the developer, not as settled fact.

So you will see us write that “the developer says the aircraft features X” rather than stating flatly that it does, until that claim has been tested or independently confirmed. When we share an opinion, a hope, or some speculation, we mark it clearly as exactly that and keep it apart from the reporting. The line between what a developer has told us and what we have verified for ourselves should always be visible to you.

When we draw on our own earlier reporting, we link back to it so you can follow the full story.

Talking to us: on the record, on background, off the record

If you are a developer, a PR contact, or anyone speaking to us in an official capacity, here is how we treat what you tell us. The flight sim community is small and relationship driven, and we like it that way, but clear ground rules protect everyone.

On the record is the default. When you talk to us in an official capacity, we can quote you, name you, and report what you said. If you want a conversation handled any other way, you need to ask before we speak, every time, and we need to agree.

On background means we can use what you tell us but will identify you only by a general description, such as “a developer spokesperson,” rather than by name. Going on background is an agreement between you and us. You offer, and we accept or decline. If we have not specifically agreed, you are on the record. You cannot send a statement with “on background” written at the top and assume we will treat it that way, and you cannot tell us after the fact how something should be attributed.

Off the record means we agree not to publish what you share unless we can confirm it through another source. Like background, this is an agreement that has to be made in advance. If we have not agreed, the conversation is not off the record.

Reviews and review units

Helping you decide how to spend your time and money is one of the most important things we do, so our reviews are honest, independent assessments. We do not publish paid reviews of any kind.

Developers and hardware brands sometimes lend or give us products so we can evaluate them. For software, that usually means a review copy or early access ahead of release, often under an embargo we have agreed to. For hardware, a company may send a unit for us to test, and in some cases we keep that unit longer term so we can report on how it holds up across firmware and software updates.

Receiving a review unit never guarantees that we will review a product, that we will review it positively, or that we will cover it at all.

Affiliate links, advertising, and partnerships

This is where most of the site’s funding comes from, so it deserves a clear explanation.

Affiliate links. Some of our articles contain affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission when you buy something through them, at no extra cost to you. These links do not change what we choose to cover or what we say about it. When an article contains affiliate links, we note their presence in that article.

Advertising. The site carries display advertising served through our ad partner, as well as direct advertising sold to specific brands, which can include banner placements. Advertising is kept separate from our reporting. An advertiser does not get to influence, preview, or approve our editorial coverage, and buying ad space here is not a route to favourable stories.

Sponsored and commercial content. If we ever publish content that is sponsored, paid for, or produced in partnership with a brand, it is clearly labelled as such and kept distinct from our independent editorial work. We will never run paid content dressed up as a normal news story or review.

Captain’s Club partners. Our Captain’s Club membership includes perks such as discount codes, giveaways, and rewards provided by partners across the community. These perks are a benefit of membership, not an editorial endorsement of the partner or their products. A company appearing in the Captain’s Club does not earn softer coverage on the news side, and we cover partners and non-partners by the same standard.

Corrections and updates

We work hard to get things right, and sometimes we still get something wrong. When we find a factual error, we correct it promptly. We remove the incorrect information and add a note explaining what was changed, so the record is clear.

Sometimes a story develops after we publish, with new information that adds to or clarifies it without correcting an error. In those cases we update the article and add a dated note describing what changed.

If you think we have published something inaccurate, please tell us. We would rather hear about it and fix it.

Get in touch

We are always glad to hear from readers, developers, and the wider community, whether you have a news tip, a correction, a question about how we work, or a concern about our standards.

You can reach us at [email protected]

Last updated: July, 2026.