With the reveal of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Asobo and Microsoft are not only making friends. What is driving the community to the barricades?

 

Developer Asobo and publisher Microsoft have announced the next iteration of Microsoft Flight Simulator during Xbox Games Showcase 2023 The sequel to the reboot of the series, which was released in 2020, bears the suffix 2024 and is expected to bring a career mode with all kinds of missions next year, apart from improvements in all areas and quite a few new aircraft.

That’s a reason to celebrate, isn’t it? Flight sims have never been as vibrant and mass-market as they are currently. But on social media, as well as in the official forum , questions, concern and displeasure are piling up. What is going on?

New part, new buys, old problems?

For example, if you look around (in this forum thread), you’ll quickly see that the question marks and exclamation points are flying around in fans’ heads in the wake of the announcement. We’ll pick out a few:

Is this a new, stand-alone part? A DLC or just an update?
Will there be a discounted purchase option for owners of the previous version?
Why now? Surely the Microsoft Flight Simulator should be a steadily growing platform for the future?
What happens to addons bought in the internal marketplace or in external shops like (Simmarket) ?
Will the 2020 version continue to be supported?
What improvements and additions to the graphics engine will also be implemented in the 2020?
Will new aircraft, scenery or tools also be released for the predecessor?
Are longstanding bugs and problems still being addressed?
This list could go on and on….

 

There are now answers to some questions () that appeared in the forum a few hours after the title was presented:

The Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is completely independent. But nothing is revealed about price, release date or any perks.
The Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) will continue to be supported and announced content in the form of Aircraft and Avionics-, Sim- or the City and World Updates will continue to appear. But the timeframe remains open.
With very few exceptions as good as all addons should also work in the successor Marketplace DLCs do not have to be bought again. Nothing is said about expansions from other sources in terms of new purchases that may be necessary.

Doubt about the honesty of Asobo

Even if every statement is believed, many unanswered points remain. And the situation leaves large parts of the community anxious about the future, as (Simmer darshonaut sums up in the official forum):

Believe it or not, at the moment planes are often not even compatible with the next update for the existing version without a patch. But sure: they will miraculously work in a completely new simulator. I’m sure they’ll work, I’ll believe it when I see it.

And he also has doubts about the third-party developers – and he’s not alone in that:

I don’t trust the third party developers to keep updating their products for 2020 and I don’t trust them to offer free upgrades to the 2024 variant first. I mean, honestly, why would they?

What remains as of today is a confused situation. It remains to be seen whether Asobo and Microsoft will provide clarity, because even the guarantee on the functionality of existing add-ons will be limited by just about all arbitrarily.

Developers apparently didn’t know either

Apparently developers didn’t know about DLCs either, as a post by Bluebird Simulations on Twitter suggests:

We are just as surprised as anyone with the announcement of FS2024. In the meantime, we are working as hard as ever to bring this jet to FS2020 by the end of the year. FS2024 b757 FS2020 pic.twitter.com/MjNubxeTR7

– BlueBird Simulations (@bluebirdsim) June 11, 2023

 

 

Now Bluebird is a rather small studio, but even industry giants like PMDG give no reason to believe that Asobo has informed the flight simulator ecosystem in advance so they can prepare accordingly, to respond to questions from their buyers

All their Twitter pages remain silent despite yesterday’s bombshell, whether Milviz, Fenix Simulations, Parallel 42, Aerosoft or Just Flight.

A new MSFS every four years?

The behaviour of Microsoft to regularly release new versions is not new in itself. It has just been forgotten, but can be clearly seen in retrospect with the FS98, FS2000, FS2002, FS2004 and FSX (2006) series. He supports the Asobo line by referring to the norms of the flight simulator industry: A new title is now released every four years, he discloses.

Only up to now the communication had sounded different. There had never been any talk of a new release in the near future, neither in forums, nor in devlogs, let alone in official announcements. The impression manifesting itself in the eyes of many was: The 2020 Microsoft Flight Simulator is the new base for the future.

Furthermore, all DC Designs products are said to be actually compatible and do not have to be bought new. However, he was not allowed to disclose anything further. Based on the statements of the developer DC1973, it can be seen that addon developers now know more than the public. But since when is unclear.

What do you think? Are you looking forward to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 or are you bitter about its announcement? Do you believe the promises of Microsoft and Asobo regarding the compatibility of addons from the Marketplace? And what do you think will happen with DLC from other sources, like Simmarket or Orbx? Feel free to post your opinions and thoughts in the comments!

 

 

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