What happened with Microsoft FLIGHT might provide some possible answers:

When MS announced it was abandoning FLIGHT, the program and all its assets went on sale before it was removed from Steam.

The same happened with Dovetail sim.

Microsoft and Steam both promised that our purchases was secure, we would be able to re-download our purchases, they stood behind the product etc.....

When GFWL was shut down, people lost the ability to re-download their purchases in the event of a problem, or needing to transfer to a new system. etc. Also their accounts disappeared for a while, or when accessed showed no purchases, or took you to closed pages, or simply crashed.

Many GFWL users worldwide, unable to access their accounts or purchased games complained.

Steam said talk to Microsoft. Microsoft said talk to Steam. Customer service said whatever would get people off the phone.

Microsoft stalled, and finally told us pretty much to talk to the hand.

A conscientious former FLIGHT developer eventually made it possible to retrieve Flight assets.

The end.

5 hours ago, captain420 said:

Since most of the data is streamed from the cloud, what would happen if Asobo/Microsoft no longer provide any support or abandons the sim?

I would have probably moved on to the next version by then.

3 hours ago, Kopteeni said:

These are data quality features, not a prerequisite for getting it to work in MSFS.

Maybe, but want you fly over bare non-processed orthophoto without any trees, buildings etc.? I'm sure, that not 😉

Honestly, for me, even with data and photogrammetry turned off, MSFS still poos' from orbit visually on anything we have now.......

Edited July 21, 20205 yr by HiFlyer

6 hours ago, captain420 said:

Since most of the data is streamed from the cloud, what would happen if Asobo/Microsoft no longer provide any support or abandons the sim? Does that mean we won't be able to use the sim anymore since it's dependent on the petabytes of data that is streamed over from the cloud? This is one thing that I'm worried about, and that's the future of MFS.

You fly in offline mode and we go back to paying Orbx for pretty scenery. The scenery still has generic ground textures and a scenery database. Someone would no doubt figure out how to make Ortho4XP work as well.

But this is a non-issue. The streaming is not some special ASOBO thing. If Bing Maps shuts down their servers, it's probably the apocalypse anyway.

Edited July 21, 20205 yr by bonchie

24 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

Honestly, even with data and photogrammetry turned off, MSFS still poos' from orbit visually on anything we have now.......

I kind of disagree there. I think it looks a lot like default XP11 in offline mode. It'd make a great base for 3PDs to build on, but I wouldn't want to fly it as it is.

Of course, the lighting, weather, and clouds are still far superior to XP11, even in offline mode.

Edited July 21, 20205 yr by bonchie

2 minutes ago, bonchie said:

I kind of disagree there. I think it looks a lot like default XP11 in offline mode. It'd make a great base for 3PDs to build on, but I wouldn't want to fly it as it is.

Different strokes, of course. For myself, if offered any 3PD land-class product as a replacement, I wouldn't even consider it. 

I wouldn't be interested either in zillions of dollars in Ortho products to replace something I see as already acceptable.

Finally, I find MSFS building placement, fit, and ortho matching shapes superior. I think at its absolute worst its still at least equal to anything we currently have.

I'm also certain other peoples mileage will vary on that! 🙃

What I would/will buy are aircraft, customized landmarks, and detailed airports of personal interest.

1 hour ago, ludekbrno said:

Maybe, but want you fly over bare non-processed orthophoto without any trees, buildings etc.? I'm sure, that not 😉

Of course not and I also want people and cars moving there in real time. I just want to see myself in the park standing there impatiently while waiting for my dog to do her thing.

if you hurry up with caching the scenery to your lokal harddrive(s)
maybe you could be done with Europe in 10 years,
then you don't need online streaming anymore 😅

The good news is before the ten date you may not need a computer just run it on any smart device.

https://www.guru3d.com/news-story/microsoft-is-working-on-virtual-windows-os-via-azure-cloud-for-2021.html

7 hours ago, Theboot100 said:

Then you would fly in offline mode?

These kind of questions are strange. There is a large amount of modern games now that will suddenly stop working if online servers where shut down.  And yet flight simulator is the only game where I see these fear mongering questions. 

It isn't a strange question and certainly does come up with other games sold online, as well as for music too (my CDs aren't going anywhere, but Spotify and Apple Music certainly could). There have already been cases where games were pulled from online stores due to things like music licensing agreements ending, or even songs being removed through a patch, that highlight the downsides of the current online distribution model. It certainly isn't fear mongering and is something people should be aware of.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20141110/09535529096/hooray-licenses-update-strips-17-songs-steam-users-purchased-copies-grand-theft-auto-san-andreas.shtml

7 hours ago, Chock said:

You are worried about the future of a game which MS is on record as stating is slated for a minimum ten-year lifespan and which hasn't even been released yet?

Gullible aren't you, as if words mean anything.  The dollar is almighty and Microsoft is a public company, responsible to it's shareholders, not "gamers" or third party devs.  If the profits are not good enough they will pull the plug without a second thought... I'd say Microsoft will give MSFS a two year grace period before assessing it's future.

Edited July 21, 20205 yr by MatthewS

Matthew, you are such a ray of sunshine!

2 hours ago, goates said:

It isn't a strange question and certainly does come up with other games sold online, as well as for music too (my CDs aren't going anywhere, but Spotify and Apple Music certainly could). There have already been cases where games were pulled from online stores due to things like music licensing agreements ending, or even songs being removed through a patch, that highlight the downsides of the current online distribution model. It certainly isn't fear mongering and is something people should be aware of.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20141110/09535529096/hooray-licenses-update-strips-17-songs-steam-users-purchased-copies-grand-theft-auto-san-andreas.shtml

This is true. I remember a game called MAG for the Playstation 3. Online 256 player shooting game which had no offline mode. The disc I have for that is useless because eventually they pulled the servers. Granted, I wasn't playing it anymore but the point still stands for things that require online or use online features. 

If for whatever reason Microsoft pulls the plug in couple of years, I'll go back to flying P3Dv4.5 which I will not be uninstalling.  I will lose the purchase price of any add-on aircraft I bought for MSFS, but if A2A has anything ready for sale in the next two years I'll be pleasantly surprised.  There may be some other aircraft I'd buy.

And who knows, by that time P3Dv6 might have the same scenery streaming technology.

I'm used to software having a limited useful life.

Hook