Update, October 24: BlueBird has now confirmed that the 757 will just miss its release window. The developer says everyone involved is working to get the aircraft out within the next several hours, and that its next update will be the release itself.
For many simmers, last night was supposed to be the night. After more than four years of development updates, beta stages, and moving release windows, the BlueBird Simulations Boeing 757 finally had a day on the calendar, and that day was October 23. But as the hours went by with no sign of a store page or a download button, it became clear that something wasn’t going to plan.
That was especially hard on simmers in Europe. BlueBird works on US West Coast time, so as the evening wore on and bedtime got closer here, the best case was already an October 24 release for this side of the Atlantic. And by the time many of us gave up and went to bed, BlueBird had posted an update on its Discord explaining what was going on.
According to the developer, one of its team members was admitted to urgent care during the day. BlueBird says this person is directly responsible for the deployment infrastructure and backend, which is why the setback has hit the timeline harder than most. The team says the developer’s health comes first, and that the rest of the team is stepping in where it can.
BlueBird is careful not to call it a delay yet. The developer says it’s still pushing for the timeframe and that it didn’t want to announce a delay before knowing for sure, which explains the silence during the day. But it also says a delay is a real possibility, and that after seeing the community’s reaction, it would rather say so now than surprise everyone later. If the release does slip, BlueBird says it will post a follow-up with a new plan.
A familiar feeling, at the worst possible moment
Delays are nothing new for the 757, and long-time followers of the project will know the pattern well. We first reported on the aircraft back in February 2022, and since then the target has moved from 2023 to early 2024, then into 2025, and then into 2026. At one point, BlueBird even promised the aircraft would arrive “before GTA6”.
But 2026 felt different. The 757 entered stage 2 beta in April, the full feature list arrived in July, and in September BlueBird finally announced a firm release date. That date already sat just outside the Q3 window the team had been targeting, and at the time the developer said the extra weeks were going into the infrastructure behind its first commercial product: activation services, download delivery, web portals and server capacity for thousands of simultaneous downloads.
What makes this one sting a little more is the timing. A delay announced weeks in advance is one thing. A delay on the evening of launch day, with buyers refreshing pages and Discord channels, is a very different experience, and the community reaction last night reflects that.
The aircraft itself looks ready
If there’s a silver lining, it’s that everything we’ve seen of the 757 in the past few weeks points to an aircraft close to the finish line. BlueBird published its 357-page Master Manual last week, content creator previews went live, and the developer announced WINGFLEX as its exclusive hardware partner. Just a few days ago, we also shared a closer look at the Boris Audio Works sound pack.
We’ve had the chance to fly it too. In our review, we gave the 757 a 9/10 and a Highly Recommended award, praising its interconnected systems, custom FMC and sound, while pointing out the missing native MSFS 2024 features at launch and a price that feels a bit high until the native version and the -300 arrive.
As a reminder, the 757-200 is set to cost $80 + applicable taxes, and covers both MSFS 2020 and MSFS 2024 in one purchase, with a native MSFS 2024 version and the 757-300 planned as free updates later. In its final pre-launch update, BlueBird also confirmed that the -200 will be its last MSFS 2020 product.
What happens now
The wait shouldn’t be much longer. In a follow-up posted after the original release window had passed on the US West Coast, BlueBird confirmed the 757 will miss its October 23 date, but says the relevant developers are working to release it within the next several hours. The team also says its next announcement will be the release itself, so the next time BlueBird posts on Discord, it should be time to head to the store. We’ll have all the details as soon as it happens, and you’ll find everything in one place on our BlueBird 757 hub.