Well they probably didnt want box sets in the warehouse when this is going to happen in about a week
http://www.x-plane.com/2014/07/x-plane-10-is-coming-to-steam/
and besides if you can put 1 plane sim on steam why not another
http://www.dovetailgames.com/news/2014/jul/9/dovetail-games-licensing-deal-with-microsoft-takes-flight
hopefully xplane will be a bit cheaper and apparently fsx WILL be getting bug fixes but no gfx update (it doesnt really need it)
Problem is, there's no cd-key on X-Plane 10, so looks like I'm stuck with the box version, unless they allow trade in somehow.
Wonder if they'll allow M$ keys for FSX.
i think they must have worked with steam to do some kind of online auth that links to your steam, email and possibly payapl. That would maybe work. Why not send them an email and see if your version can be mounted into steam?
hmm £44 on steam when you can get from xplanes website for 34...hmmmm must be to do with the ability to not have a usb key