UPDATE: On February 20, Flightsim.to announced proposed changes to its deletion policy following days of mounting pressure from developers. Read our coverage of the announcement here.
Flightsim.to, the popular distributor of addons for Microsoft Flight Simulator, has faced a vocal backlash among developers over proposed changes to its platform, with one developer saying it would be organising, alongside a “large group of content creators”, a boycott of the site “until Terms of Service are changed.”
On February 11, the site announced that “a Premium Membership in combination with a Creators Reward program is the best approach to meet our objectives”.
The premium membership
This premium membership, it said, would include a range of exclusive benefits such as “ad-free browsing, guaranteed lightning-fast downloads, [and] no countdowns.” The site also announced that “the funds generated from Premium Memberships will be used to help creators earn more through our platform”, without elaborating on the means of this.
It emphasized however that the core offering of the site would remain free, saying: “All of our current features and functionalities will remain available to all users, regardless of whether or not they choose to upgrade to Premium…We will not introduce any new limitations or change our core features…We remain committed to providing a valuable and enjoyable experience for everyone who participates in the community, whether Premium or not.”
Creators Program
Somewhat more contentious among the community however has been the announcement of a Creators Program, intended to allow developers to benefit financially from their work.
The site announced: “With this program, creators have the opportunity to earn money directly through their downloads, allowing them to receive recognition and compensation for their hard work and creativity”, adding that developers could earn in four ways:
- “Revenue from unique downloads of your creations.”
- “Additional income through updates and maintenance of your existing creations”.
- “Bonuses for good ratings on your uploads”
- A new donation system
Explaining the new donation system, Flightsim.to said: “We understand that many users want to support their favorite creators, but the process of donating through third-party platforms such as PayPal can be complex, cumbersome and a privacy-critical topic.”
To address this, the site said users would be able to “purchase donation credit directly on the website (such as $5, $10, $25…), and then allocate the credit to the creators of their choice. This eliminates the need to pass private information to third-parties, and ensures that all donations are made in a secure and streamlined manner.”
It was not confirmed whether the intended recipient of the donation would receive the amount in full, or whether Flightsim.to would receive a share.
Finally, the site said the the Creator Program was expected to launch between March and April 2023.
Terms of service
The announcement has placed renewed focus on the site’s overall terms of service, which the site says have not been changed since 2020. MSFS Addons has however noted a recent change to the terms of service, removing the site’s right to “modify” content.
Archived terms of service, January 21 2023: (4.3) By submitting or posting User Content to the Service (either directly or through a Third Party Service) you grant this Site a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, sublicensable, assignable, unrestricted, worldwide license to use the User Content, together with all consents or waivers (if any) necessary to distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, transmit, communicate to the public and modify the User Content, by any means and in all media formats and channels now known or hereafter devised in perpetuity, and to advertise and promote such use, without further notice to, or permission from, you or any other person, and without compensation or reference to you or any other person.
Changed terms of service February 19 2023: (4.3) When you submit or post User Content to the Service, either directly or through a Third Party Service, you are granting this Site a worldwide, non-exclusive, assignable, unrestricted, sublicensable, perpetual, irrevocable, and royalty-free license to use the User Content. This license includes all consents or waivers necessary to distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, transmit, host, share, keep available, communicate to the public, and advertise, feature, or promote the User Content in connection with the service provided by the Website and across different media now known or developed in the future, (if applicable) only to the extent that such license grant is not limited or restricted by any third-party EULA of content that is included in your User Content. You are not authorized to grant us, and we do not claim, any intellectual property rights or copyrights of third parties. In either case, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, unrestricted, perpetual, irrevocable and royalty-free license to distribute, host, keep available and publicy display your User Content.These licenses do also allow us to advertise and promote your User Content without further notice or permission from you or any other person, and without compensation to you or any other person.
This change – removing the phrase “modify the User Content” – seems to be confirmed by a post from Flightsim.to on Twitter, stating: “We have recently introduced updates to our terms to provide more clarity on the use and ownership of user-generated content. We assure you that we do not claim ownership of any content uploaded by our users. You can hide / unhide content at anytime.”
However, the site’s FAQs appears to deny this entirely, stating: “Although we have revised our terms to increase transparency, we have not made any modifications to our licenses or policies.”
Opposition
Following Flightsim.to’s announcement, the developer for Global AI Ship Traffic, whose work has more than 170.000 downloads, announced that it would stop uploading to the site, saying: “I have discussed this with a number of developers and we will stop uploading to Flightsim.to until Terms of Service are changed as our files were not uploaded in the first place with this business model in mind. I have asked for removal of Global AI Ship Traffic from flightsim.to, but it is in the hands of flightsim.to to do that as we can as users not do it. It is a pitty because it was a good site; I have nothing against Premium supscriptions, but the model introduced is not acceptable in combination with the Terms of Service which removes all rights for content providers who are the fundament for Flightsim.to.”
The developer subsequently said it had received a “a denial of deleting Global AI Ship Traffic”, adding that as a result, it would be organising, alongside a “large group of content creators”, a boycott of Flightsim.to “until Terms of Service are changed.” It is not clear which specific element of the Terms of Service the boycott is calling for.
Meanwhile PuffinFlight, the developer of the We Love VFR series of addons, with more 192,000 downloads, also made a statement: “Having no control of my files is a big no no. Nothing against premium, but how can I be sure that flightsim.to won’t go behind a paywall one day? They can. It’s their business, nothing against that. But then I don’t want my files on a paywalled site. Unfortunately with these terms I can do nothing about it.”
The post on Flightsim.to’s site has over 130 comments. At the time of writing, MSFS Addons has counted six developers saying they would either boycott the site, or remove their content from it.
The predominant developer concern appears to center on both the terms of service, the direction of Flightsim.to’s business model, and not being permitted to fully delete their work from the site.
In response to the backlash, a user on Reddit who regular posts as a FlyByWire team member, offered its distribution platform as an alternative: “At FBW we already have an established distribution platform via our installer – we would love to make it a bigger platform for freeware creators to host their content! If you’re interested in working together, shoot me a DM or talk to us on the installer channel on our Discord.”
MSFS Addons has contacted FlyByWire to confirm this offer.
Response
On February 18, Flightsim.to issued a formal statement on Twitter, saying: “We’ve heard your concerns about changes in our terms – and to the most extent, they base on false assumptions.”
It added:
“We do not claim ownership, copyright or intellectual property to any of our user’s uploads. We do not intend to sell, lease, rent or otherwise make profit through any User Content or to use content beyond the confines of Flightsim.to. You retain full ownership and copyrights to your User Content – what is yours, belongs to you. You only grant us a license to distribute your content, which is the core mission and idea of our platform and always has been. We will not and we are in no way entitled to claim ownership of your content, nor will we ever place your content behind a paywall or similar.“
Flightsim.to reaffirmed however: “We have made a conscious and well-reasoned decision that once mods are published, they cannot be deleted”, adding that deletions could be requested, and “in most cases, we will adhere with this request.”
The statement linked to a page on Flightsim.to’s website, last updated on February 19, saying that while files could not normally be deleted, “as a gesture of goodwill, you can delete all files you wish to delete until March 05, 2023. The policy will only apply to files not deleted by that date or uploaded on this date on.”
It added: “We will not lease, rent, sell, modify or otherwise abuse it, nor will we claim ownership of your content or similar. Flightsim.to’s core concepts haven’t changed since our founding”. This clam appears to conflict with an earlier iteration of the site’s terms of service, examined above, which did permit the site to “modify the User Content.”
The February 19 statement is also in contast to the now updated terms of service on the site, stating: “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 accordence with the licenses you have granted us described above. The rights you have given us remain in effect even after this Agreement ends or if we discontinue your access to the Website. We might have a legitimate interest in continuing to share or to keep available your User Content.”
Similarly, a new FAQ section on the site, updated on February 19, also states: “We have explicitly stated that we are not obliged to delete your file once you have decided to share it with Flightsim.to and the modding community. This clause has been part of your license grant since 2020, but has now been explicitly explained. However, you can still permanently hide or archive your mods.”
It is not yet clear how widespread and effective this apparent boycott will prove to be, nor the exact changes the developers are calling for. Should the site issue further statements or amend any of its policies or terms, we will update this article accordingly.
MSFS Addons approached Flightsim.to for comment.
14 comments
Archer374
Looks like they are purging the malcontents now:
Just got kicked out for posting a picture asking for authors rights. Account is gone.
And it seems I’m not the only one. Well if that’s the way it is, I’m better off that way.
Sorry I can’t provide any more mods guys.
justmycomments
I still don’t understand why people left AVSIM for flightsim.to. What was the advantage of leaving, or did AVSIM decide it didn’t want to host MSFS files?
t5s_blanco
There are FS2020 files on AV-Sim, so it’s not they didn’t want to host. Personally, I’ve always found the un-moderated, poorly categorized content a problem. For example, a lot of the “Microsoft Flight Simulator – Original Aircraft” category is filled with custom liveries for paid aircraft (Concorde, Milviz Corsair, etc) on AV-Sim. It’s also a site that looks like 1997 called and they want their internet back. flightsim.to has a much cleaner interface, and some degree of moderation for UC posting, which is an added value to finding what you want quickly. I believe that’s why there was a fast migration toward flightsim.to.
UrgentSiesta
This is much ado over…nothing.
The change in terms actually ADDS protections for developers as the site is prohibiting themselves from making changes to the software!
I have frequently wished for some type of Premium account that would kill the ads and eliminate the delays & other limits. And it’s clear from other posters that I’m far from alone.
As long as the fees are reasonable, I’ll be one of the first to sign up.
t5s_blanco
It’s not nothing. If it were nothing, they wouldn’t have changed the terms. It matters. The extent to which it actually matters is up to each content creator. It could be argued the non-deletion policy, and license to distribute in perpetuity is giving away control over the UC. Further, the way the new agreement was implemented didn’t cede a choice to creators to remove first and not accept. I had to accept the new terms or simply log out, and any content already posted would remain posted. Effectively, they forced compliance to the new agreement for all previously uploaded content. They later said they would permit deletion through 3/5. But that wasn’t the stated case last week.
The fees are already public – $5 per month, though the site now has a message that the cost will “We’re celebrating Flightsim.to Premium! Be quick before prices increase after this weekend.” “This weekend” is what exactly? And to what? $5 a month is a lot already. While it is not required nor is it a forced recurring charge, I’d note for example we know the cost increase for the DCS: F-15E from Razbam upon launch (30% off during pre-order, 20% off during early access, and full price of $79.99), if we don’t know when early access actually begins). This allows one to make an opportunity cost trade off decision. And since the fee is not automatically billed, it would seem it’s going to go up for everyone anyway…. so is the statement about acting now to get in before a price increase meaningful or advertising crap. Feels like advertising crap.
Archer374
Easy for you to say. It’s not your work that is being coopted without your consent.
Phantom 359
But they do have your consent. What do you think the Terms of Service is? By agreeing to them you are giving consent.
Archer374
Not really. They sneaked in the changes without any official notice on their site last September. They just have you click an “understood” button each time you upload something, but obviously after uploading a few mods you don’t read it each time and don’t realise they changed something.
Archer374
I have no objections to the Premium tier as long as it does not impact the freeware platform we know today. And experience with simviation.com and flyawaysimulation.com show that their premium service is basically the ONLY way to use the site since download speeds in the free version are abysmal.
When it comes to the deletion of my work (currently 188 uploads with over 110.000 downloads) I am wary of what will happen with my intellectual property in the future. They say they do not claim ownership, but possession is 99% of the law in this case …
Jenny
I am concerned over the legalities of making money or earning reward, this turns freeware into payware for the creator the issue here is major companies with logos that are being used will often overlook or even encourage freeware but when there is reward present licenses are needed and permissions it could even affect your tax code, pensions etc maybe this has already been looked into . my personal opinion is the Creators reward scheme should be abandoned.
i do have no issue with premium membership though many sites have done it and if you don’t want that nothing changes
Harry 0
In the UK at least any income including donations for ‘donationware’ is subject to the tax rules so I hear you. It can be a minefield. The trademark and copyright rules don’t differentiate between freeware or payware, but also the reason many companies don’t go for addon developers is because there are established cases showing it is OK for trademarks to be represented in works of art (which addons arguably are), given certain conditions like notshowing the brand in a negative light or falsley claiming endorsement etc.
Harry O
Holding onto content when creators dont want them to isn’t great but I don’t understand why some members of the freeware community expect others to pay for the increasingly expensive hosting of their content. Just because they want to release their content for free doesn’t mean someone else should stump up the money to host it. Flightsim.to has some 2.7 million visits a month. That’s bandwidth and hosting costs that aren’t free to them that need to be covered. They just need to host elsewhere and stop the childish sabre rattling and sensationalism IMHO.
John
That’s not the issue. The issue is PREVENTING creators from deleting their work. If you have a high-traffic item, then flightsim.to will not allow deletion. They will re-upload under their own account to keep their website active. They can do this, legally, because of Clause 4.3.
Their is a ton of information in this article, but it’s important to note that the biggest reason the boycott is happening is because I can’t just delete my content whenever I want. End of story.
Harry O
Yeah that’s why I said that from the outset, so I’m in agreement on that part. In fact I’m pretty sure that copyright prevents flightsim.to from doing ANYTHING with a users content without the copyright owner’s say so, but I’m not a lawyer. In either case, they’re saying you have until 5th March to delete according to this article so hope that works out for you and others.