abrams_tank, you are a new member and why the 2020 in the name? Aerosoft who is distributing  the Sim DVDs in Europe, have stated that the official name, as stated by Microsoft & Asobo, is Microsoft Flight Simulator, with no 2020 in the title.

Ok, Bill is no longer involved with the running of the business at all. .Bill Gates has stepped down from the board of Microsoft to spend more time on his philanthropic endeavors, Though he will remain technology advisor to CEO Satya Nadella, this move reduces his involvement with the company to the lowest level it has ever been. So, no, he is not involved or will be backing MSFS at all.

Microsoft buying Asobo? Microsoft has hires nearly 20 game studios, Asobo is only a single one of them.

Yes, a 10 year project, of which they have already been developing MSFS for 5 years.

Developing can actually stop, after it's sell-by date. It will be supported by 3rd party add-on developers, both freeware & payware, just as FS2004, FSX etc  are being supported.

I'm sure you understand, or should, that there is no date in the name, as updates, if any will be added to the sim, same as Windows 10 is the last Windows, with regular updates, so... no MSFS 2025 or any other date-name.

The gaming side of Microsoft is a business, and the directors are responsible to their shareholders. If a division such as their game division, or any other, does not perform, it gets cut. As what happened before. 

 

my honest opinion;

the ms obsession to bring flight simulator into xbox is a waste of time.

i have ps and xbox users round me all the time and they are not the kind of people that sit there and learn to fly a plane.

once they fly a plane without really having a clue; it will not be long before they dump it; some may survive and go on

but those will be very few.

the strenght of fly simulations has always been and always will be those who actually spend time to develop further; is the fact the game can be modified that attract so many others along virtual pilots; xbox can not offer the development factor that keep so many attached to the game; and in return keep virtual pilots interested.

Edited July 28, 20205 yr by arsenal82

28 minutes ago, arsenal82 said:

my honest opinion;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actually great marketing, they are targeting the 60+million per month gamers. Not everybody flies the 'right 'way. Some actually want to have fun. 

It's just another market for Microsoft. Probably will have more sales on the console than box users. Might not have the continuity of continuous players, but a huge potential market.

 

Edited July 28, 20205 yr by n4gix
Removed unnecessary long quote!

19 minutes ago, arsenal82 said:

i have ps and xbox users round me all the time and they are not the kind of people that sit there and learn to fly a plane.

once they fly a plane without really having a clue; it will not be long before they dump it; some may survive and go on

but those will be very few.

Haha. That's all true, but most of the PC users will tire quickly of MSFS also. You can't shoot down anyone else  and how many times can you fly upside down or crash into a building, before you get bored?  It's not Grand Theft Airplane.

10 minutes ago, jabloomf1230 said:

It's not Grand Theft Airplane.

No, that would be P3D.  I can exit my aircraft in avatar mode, walk to another aircraft, and jump in and fly. 😄 

Hook

Now I know who stole all my PMDG aircraft and is holding them for ransom with bitcoin.

1 hour ago, jabloomf1230 said:

Haha. That's all true, but most of the PC users will tire quickly of MSFS also. You can't shoot down anyone else  and how many times can you fly upside down or crash into a building, before you get bored?  It's not Grand Theft Airplane.

As I've mentioned previously on this forum there's a decent amount of train simulation users on both the Xbox & PS4 so you may be underestimating the amount of genuine interest from those users. They actually outnumber the PC users of that particular train simulation product. 

I have it on good authority that it is to be funded by selling the tears of unicorns on the black market.

3 minutes ago, Chock said:

....selling the tears of unicorns...

but not tears from the Invisible Pink one.. 

3 minutes ago, HighBypass said:

but not tears from the Invisible Pink one.. 

Yeah, difficult to find those.

Well now you have MSFS that would run in Xbox as well which will open a new market segment as well. I don't think is bad to have Xbox platform, there are people can't afford crazy PC setups that cost 2000-3000euros, instead an Xbox X that cost up to 500euro that can do the job perfectly fine. I am pretty sure with it, we will see joystick and yokes that will support MSFS on XBox as well. 

Therefore, with this wide range of user platform and having built-in market place that can enables users to purchases DLCs on both platforms, will generate enough constant cash for the project. 

Also, I wouldnt be surprised that Microsoft's target as well, to sell enterprise licenses for professional training later once the sim stabilizes with professional add-ons available. 

Edited July 28, 20205 yr by omarsmak30

Flight simulator is and always will be a niche product the same as Train Simulator, DTG is bringing that to Game pass as well giving MS game pass a broad spectrum of titles.

4 hours ago, abrams_tank said:

I do hope the 3rd party add ons will be enough money to keep the development of MSFS 2020 going.  It would be nice if Microsoft or Asobo comes out and tells us the revenue from 3rd party add ons is crucial to sustaining the development of MSFS 2020 - that would encourage me to spend more money on 3rd party add ons, if I know that money is being put back to developing MSFS 2020 further.

I doubt that this will work when 'they' continue selling 3rd party addons with that pricing policy. I would consider myself a 'hardcore simmer' and still, I think twice before I buy a new addon. Especially when we talk about 3rd party sceneries/airports, we could persue a trend that prices for airports raised to about 30 euros+. Majority will not pay that much for airports on a regular basis.

On the other hand, MS will face a larger customer spectrum (PS & Xbox). Technically they (addon developers) should be able to adjust the prices downwards and come to the same revenue due to more sells.

When that happens I am quite optimistic that more people will stick to the hobby and continue buying addons on a regular basis, without getting hurt in the pocket.

9 hours ago, omarsmak30 said:

 

Also, I wouldnt be surprised that Microsoft's target as well, to sell enterprise licenses for professional training later once the sim stabilizes with professional add-ons available. 

I would be surprised, as MSFS is licensed as an entertainment product, according to it's EULA. Microsoft, in it's day, marketed FSX for entertainment & ESP as it's professional commercial product & sold the license for that to Lockheed Martin, who sells it as a Not for Entertainment product.

So, unless Microsoft developed a product for professional training, they cannot sell MSFS as a pro product.

8 hours ago, 737_800 said:

I doubt that this will work when 'they' continue selling 3rd party addons with that pricing policy. I would consider myself a 'hardcore simmer' and still, I think twice before I buy a new addon. Especially when we talk about 3rd party sceneries/airports, we could persue a trend that prices for airports raised to about 30 euros+. Majority will not pay that much for airports on a regular basis.

On the other hand, MS will face a larger customer spectrum (PS & Xbox). Technically they (addon developers) should be able to adjust the prices downwards and come to the same revenue due to more sells.

When that happens I am quite optimistic that more people will stick to the hobby and continue buying addons on a regular basis, without getting hurt in the pocket.

Remember, add-on developers can sell the product wherever they like, through the Xbox shop, or whatever they call it, as well as through their own outlets. Dont forget about freeware developers, whose products are often better than payware. 

I cannot imagine Microsoft, a $1Billion + company, begging gamers to buy add-ons as revenue will be crutial to MSFS's development, nor Asobo..

This is only one of Asobo's products, as you know, and they are one of 15 gaming studios that have been contracted to Microsoft. 

Throughout flight sim history, it has been the distributors- Microsoft - that have given us the sim engine, & both freeware & payware developers have given/sold us the add-ons that we choose to buy. IF sales of the basic product, in this case MSFS (no 2020) drops to a very low level, obviously, as the board of Microsoft is responsible to their shareholders, serious thought will be given to dropping the product. The advantage this time is that Microsoft does not have it's own in-house game studio to close down.