Seeing how popular the ATR is there is definitely room for a Dash 8-1/2/3/4. Probably a cashcow. If I was Majestic I would want to be ahead of the competition.
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The half baked ATR from Hans Hartmann prevented other more capable developers to make the ATR and that is such a disaster for the sim actually. You are right that if Majestic wants or need to make a trunk full of money they must hurry cause there are so many being happy with the ATR we have now and that they placed in an āexpert levelā category.
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Has there been any update on this? Or is it just another announcement that sadly disappears into the ether, like the A220?
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Do not believe so..
They donāt seem to be in a rush to enter the MSFS market unfortunatelyā¦likely weāll see someone else beat them to it eventually. I just hope we get a good Q400 (not to mention the other Dash 8 variants) sooner rather than later.
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Iāll be happy if this ever does arrive, however Iāve been getting into the ATR in the last few weeks and the regional turboprop itch is pretty well scratched for now.
It depends where in the world you fly. The ATR is great but pretty useless for flights on Australiaās east coast or in Norwayās icy north. The Dash 8 (all variants) is desperately needed!
Is this project from Majestics still alive ?
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Iād love for Majestic to give an update on the status of the Q400 for MSFS!
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Majestic last post was on their forum in November 2022 and from the looks of their last post they are still working on it but it will still not be here for a while (a few years my guess). They have been known to not be very swift with development as they have commercial work and updating P3D products too.
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msfs 2020 will be depreciated before they are ready
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I suspect it will be importable into FS2024 like so many other FS2020 models.
Then it can be flown by those who choose to buy the new sim, as well as those who choose to be left behind.
These guys are gonna lose market share if someone beats them to it. Like FSLabs is currently doing with A32x series having to compete with Fenix.
I am also not at all a fan of their business decisions. Their P3D version is pretty great and is widely considered a success. So when v5 was at its tail end of development, they realized that many people were pointing out how the visuals in the cockpit were starting to look a little dated with low resolution, etcā¦ So what do they do? They start selling the āVisual Extension Packageā for $20 (!!!) with improved visuals! Mind you, I didnāt buy the aircraft until 2021 and it was a Professional Edition, which is $60ā¦ So instead of just improving the visuals, they decided to cash in on the customers who already bought the aircraft (even if the purchase is very recent).
I am just not a fan of that. I understand charging full price if itās for new sim, charging an upgrade of $20 if itās for P3D v6 (with upgraded visuals), but charging for improving the visuals of your product? Nah. I canāt support it, so I didnāt buy it. Then the holy wrath of P3D users started yelling āwell, everyone is complaining that there are no P3D products coming out, and here is a new one to buy and so now you are complaining about that?ā No. Itās not a ānew productā itās cashing in on your customers who already paid for what is supposed to be your flagship product (the ONLY product, mind you).
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I have (had) the Q400 for P3D however since Iām unlikely ever to reinstall that itās irrelevant really. Posts on their forum and the speed of development point to the business being a secondary activity to their day jobs. It is a good product though which will probably make anyone thinking of developing a competitor product think twice, which is a shame. Hopefully we will see a credible Dash 8 in MSFS this year.
I feel like this is another case of a developer - knowing they historically gained a huge amount of trust and credibility in the community by delivering the preeminent depiction for a prior sim - sitting on a product and dissuading others from competing due to their pedigree. Iām also wondering what they are telling other devs in back channels, as a lot of discussion does go on when possible to deconflict, and when this āweāre getting thereā will finally get old enough for some else to attempt the Q400 (and other DHC-8s for that matter).
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you have to understand that p3d businiess is different to msfs, market is a lot smaller. so the studios have to make money somehow. look on the pricinig of Fslabs, PMDG on their P3D products.
seem majestics is not in a hurry for msfs. wondering it a release to msfs makes sense anyhow as many have the ATR and for most people its good enough.
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Hereās a different take. I did pay thousands of dollars during 2021-2022 in P3D addons. I understand the marketshare took a dive. At lower volume, you need to have higher prices. I am a business owner. I GET that. What I DONāT get is the dis-investment collectively from a platform while everyone bemoans it. Lookā¦ ActiveSky wants me to buy a whole new version for v6. Why would I do that? I only have 1 aircraft! Q400! Literally no one else is supporting P3D v6. So why would I dump money into it? Also, P3D v6 without live weather I had in v5 seems dead. Why would I fly ANYTHING there without ActiveSky? Which I am not buying cause there is only 1 aircraft! So, itās a vicious cycle. All the devs withdraw and then all complain how there are no sales. Well, guess what? START SUPPORTING AGAIN. It will cause another (yes, small) chain reaction. ActiveSky offers $10 upgrade to get to v6? I will go for it. $39? Not doing it. Hey! I now have Q400 AND ActiveSky. PMDGās fleet ALREADY works in v6. Registry tricks are allās thatās requred to make their current fleet work! Soā¦ now that a bunch more people have ActiveSky v6 for a nominal upgrade, we can have PMDG update installers. A2A too, for that matter, cause theirs works too! NOW you have a better market. THIS is how you drive reviving a dead world. NOT by unanimously walking away and ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā . Yeah, @Krazycolin, and Mathijs, and all these cats. You ALL contributed a lot to each otherās loss of revenue. But what do I know? I am just a simmer and a business owner. 
Cheers and much success to everyone going forward! We are all in this together!
Have to agree. I really liked the Majestic Dash 8-Q400 a lot in P3D, yet nearly 3Ā½ years on since MSFS2020 was released and still no preview to show sounds like slot sitting.
Thereās a significant turboprop airliner-shaped hole in the market for a high quality dev to fill.
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Purchases for P3D add-ons cratered and combined with the opportunity cost of developing for a loss in the P3D market versus a proverbial gold mine in the MSFS market, itās easy to see why most developers moved to where there is demand.
For those devs who didnāt/couldnāt move (like Hifi Sim), letās just say being a good developer doesnāt necessarily make them a good business owner. If it did, Leonardo Software House wouldnāt be charging ā¬90 for their MD-80 base pack for MSFS.
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