I've had an unofficial response that VMware will continue to include Xenial in the supported OSes list for ESXi if VMware tools is updated. However I'm waiting for the support person to get an official statement, which I hope I can quote for you.
They're still talking internally -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1741390 Title: Package two years out of date To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/open-vm-tools/+bug/1741390/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs