Nice to see that there is decent evidence that MS is taking their next MSFS seriously. I find the speculation about a dumbed down FS silly, simply because MS certainly knows that if they can deliver a next gen FS that kicks FSX &@($* around the block in both realism and performance, it will 'fly' off store and e-tailer shelves the day it's released; for what hardcore FSer could resist...could you?

Nice to see that there is decent evidence that MS is taking their next MSFS seriously.  I find the speculation about a dumbed down FS silly, simply because MS certainly knows that if they can deliver a next gen FS that kicks FSX &@($* around the block in both realism and performance, it will 'fly' off store and e-tailer shelves the day it's released; for what hardcore FSer could resist...could you?

hardcore FS'ers are just a small fraction of the market.   MS will ensure that the next release has both a simplistic (targeting the large portion of the market) and realistic (targeting the fractional part of the market) modes.

hardcore FS'ers are just a small fraction of the market. MS will ensure that the next release has both a simplistic (targeting the large portion of the market) and realistic (targeting the fractional part of the market) modes.

With respect.How! do you know this?Andy

hardcore FS'ers are just a small fraction of the market. MS will ensure that the next release has both a simplistic (targeting the large portion of the market) and realistic (targeting the fractional part of the market) modes.

I can't think that any FS can target "the large portion of the market", unless you include games where you 'fly' aircraft and shoot at stuff. Anyways, weren't FSX "missions" an attempt to appeal to a wider market? And BTW FSX does default to an overly simple 'mode'. And consider, why would MS ever bothered to have produced FSX if they thought that there wasn't a profitable market for a higher state-of-the-art hardcore FS. My point is this: FSX already attempted 'targeting a larger market'. Heck, it even had network TV commercials in the USA. Too bad the initial release of FSX sucked (and some feel it still does to this day); MS will hopefully have learned its lesson and gets it right this time around.

With respect.How! do you know this?Andy

You asked .. how do I know this? Speculation, facts and business knowledge.The FS franchise has sold well over 11 million copies (2008 number - couldnt find a more recent number) .. And If the FSX franchise has sold between 300k to 500k+ units per year. FS9 numbers were similar.AVSIM has 49,000+ accounts (dont now the unique  number because of duplicates).  Even if the community is 5X the number of hardcore simmers on Avsim .. you can see that the hardcore folks are a fraction of the total market.  But that is typical for any market you analyze. We all know folks that got FS as a gift and flew around with it a few times ... there are millions of those folks. With regards to the sim having something for everyone .. (4th paragraph in particular)http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20013915-56.htmlAdditionally, all the FSX additions have targeted the "mass" market.  I would say only the last three editions attempted to integrate elements for the flight enthusiast.

Still only guesswork though.

Is there any company in the world not out there to increase revenues and customer base? On Wall street there are very simple formulas for investment, positive growth in consecutive quarters is the biggest weight... bottom line that's business talk, not sim talk. The sim talk is about how do we make this product and make it within budget, and that generally means sticking to the tried and true. Especially if they want to maintain the existing XP user base happy.Just my opinion.. I just don't expect much to change, if anything at all. It's been the same concept for 30 years now, free flight for the enthusiasts....

They are guesses...but I think even the best information uses a lot of guesswork :)IMO, I think the numbers are pretty accurate.But the idea of a mass market is sort of deceptive...practically speaking it’s not very useful.The marketers will put a lot of effort into dissecting the audience.For instance the biggest segment of the action game crowd isn’t so much indifferent...they have contempt for games like FS.Those feelings are mutual - think of our irrational fear of Xboxes or great games like Call Of Duty.Reaching the action game crowd would take a very specific strategy...not a generalized mass market approach.For now, the common trait of all FS customers is some level of interest in aviation.That’s the mass market if you like.The bulk of these people aren’t what we’d consider flight simmers.They may or may not be gamers, or grandparents, or even little leaguers.But we have stuff in common.

I suggest the target market is the person who has no previous FS experience. He sees Flight advertised, or on the shelves at the local store, buys it and then recommends it to friends - who then go and buy it themselves. There may well be some "icing on the cake" for enthusiasts but in the event of budget over run that's the area likely to be scaled back. Microsoft is developing Flight to make money - not to satisfy the enthusiasts. It's already been pointed out the the FS community just isn't a big enough market on its own,

After reading this, i guess i wont need a new graphics card to run it. A browser game, omg how dissapointing is that lol.

After reading this, i guess i wont need a new graphics card to run it. A browser game, omg how dissapointing is that lol.

That linked article quotes the MS Flight announcement completely out of context. Complete rubbish IMO.

I suggest the target market is the person who has no previous FS experience. He sees Flight advertised, or on the shelves at the local store, buys it and then recommends it to friends - who then go and buy it themselves.

That’s not a target market :biggrin:You’ve described 5 billion people. Or at least that set that has access to retail :(

After reading this, i guess i wont need a new graphics card to run it. A browser game, omg how dissapointing is that lol.

That blog post is garbage. Microsoft had a goal from day 1 of the project. And that was to make it perform well and still be realistic.

That’s not a target market :biggrin:You’ve described 5 billion people. Or at least that set that has access to retail :(

Read the market I described more carefully and you'll see it is a realistic target..5 billion is about 70% of the world's total population - now that isn't a target market!.

My source for MS Flight clues:https://www.msu.edu/~vandrag2/8-ball.html