Hello

I guess where it started to go wrong was when the 3PD refused to get involved.

That forced a change in direction away from what could have been a more feature rich simulator into what we had on release

The 3PD not getting on board left them without any DLC to sell on launch day and they lost the chance to capture their audience right there, you need to get folk to buy in and there was nothing in the store to hook them into buyng into the DLC concept.

They never had the resources with that small team to catch up from that point and the interest out in the wider gaming market drifted away, Steam was an act of desperation for a company with its own games delivery platform and did not work out.

The fact that the Dev team had its semi official forum on a rival network probably put a few noses out of joint further up the food chain in MS as well.

Just a catalogue of mistakes and missed opportunities from the beginning.

What is frustrating though is we might never know what Flight! could have been if the change in direction had never happened.

Or maybe we will :Whistle:

... when the 3PD refused to get involved.

 

At the risk of opening old wounds here, I've seen this darkly alluded to multiple times in recent days since MS pulled the plug on Flight, and was wondering if someone could give me a brief summary of the history there, because constantly reading between the lines is starting to give me a headache. Clearly someone didn't like something about the proposed set-up, but I'm blowed if I can puzzle out if it was revenue share, or platform, or partnership, nor even who did the objecting.

Clearly someone didn't like something about the proposed set-up, but I'm blowed if I can puzzle out if it was revenue share, or platform, or partnership, nor even who did the objecting.

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/358874-some-thoughts-on-flight/

http://forum.avsim.n...ghts-on-flight/

 

The post by JV at Orbx seems to be gone. That didn't pull any punches.

 

http://forum.avsim.n...remains-strong/

just read the first post from A2A.

 

If MS had two of the above on board, many more people would have been happier and a lot more patient. Didn't happen. The one you're missing from your list is IP.

 

(oops... mad dog got there whiule I was typing...)

 

 

Mike

Long story short: Only way MS was making a new SIM platform was when they could make some money of of it by licensing to 3rd party devs. Those devs thought they weren't getting a good enough deal to risk the venture. MS still thought they were going to make money off of flight if they somehow managed to downsize it to the bare essentials and let dlc sales pay for production. Well, the rest you know already. We lose, MS lose, good day for 3rd party fsx devs though.

Why would MS shut flight down if it was successful? Products get shut down this early when it's obvious that it's failing to achieve it's goals. If it was making money they would still be developing.

 

Exactly. Microsoft would not have pulled the plug if Flight was meeting projections. I don't for one minute buy the "It was successful but killed by corporate politics" rationalization.

I don't think anyone has said "It was successful but killed by corporate politics."

 

People have said it was unsuccessful, in part, due to corporate politics. That does happen to a lot of projects that otherwise might have done better, in large companies with many departments, who are internally viewed as competing against one another at the managerial level, although usually not at the production level.

Well.. Why would MS shut flight down if it was successful? Products get shut down this early when it's obvious that it's failing to achieve it's goals. If it was making money they would still be developing.

 

Of course I have no data to back it up.. the general public is not privy to that information. If you think I am wrong then why do you think flight development was stopped?

 

 

 

Even the "dozens" that were seen online are not enough. nowhere near enough..

 

People can believe whatever they want to believe. The real truth will appear eventually I hope, and it may even resemble or match the speculation. In the meantime, I myself I will not be according speculation with the same respect as proven facts or truth. Even if that speculation comfortably fits my own personal version of reality.

 

A quick reread of almost any of my posts will show the wording acknowledge's the conjectural nature of the post, and includes some attempt to show the path by which I reached some preliminary conclusions open to further information. Unlike some, I am aware of the possibility of being wrong.

I myself I will not be according speculation with the same respect as proven facts or truth. Even if that speculation comfortably fits my own personal version of reality.

 

Hello

In simple terms, what do you think went wrong ?

I don't think anyone has said "It was successful but killed by corporate politics."

 

People have said it was unsuccessful, in part, due to corporate politics. That does happen to a lot of projects that otherwise might have done better, in large companies with many departments, who are internally viewed as competing against one another at the managerial level, although usually not at the production level.

 

I am not sure we are into fine distinctions right now. From my perspective, we appear to be in the process of creating a community mythology. Its an old saying that the victors write the history books.

 

Hello

In simple terms, what do you think went wrong ?

 

I think in simple terms that it was probably a number of factors, many of which we will likely never be aware of, and that there is currently insufficient information for concrete conclusions.

 

It seems likely that some internal goal was not met in some way, but what the particular goal or goals were is not known by anyone I have seen willing or able to talk about it. Nor to I believe Microsoft will suddenly develop a case of disclosure-itis and spray that information onto the web in the near future.

Hello

Ok I will try again, in your opinion what do you feel was the most likely reason for Flights cancellation.

 

There is currently insufficient information for concrete conclusions as to who is going to win the English premier league next season, but most people will have an opinion, its only fun

Isn't that what we've been discussing?

Hello

Ok I will try again, in your opinion what do you feel was the most likely reason for Flights cancellation.

 

There is currently insufficient information for concrete conclusions as to who is going to win the English premier league next season, but most people will have an opinion, its only fun

 

See above.

 

As for the second part, as long as those opinions are not presented as incontrovertible facts, I have no problem with them. As for my opinion.......

 

It's that the data is not available to form a supportable opinion. For me, its like the OJ trial. Within a day, before the evidence had even been presented one way or another, people had already made decisions of innocence or guilt and were ready to fight over it. Many friends found it quite frustrating over the long course of the trial that I refused to come to a conclusion before the appointed jury did.

 

I like to see all the evidence possible, before jumping off cliffs.

 

I would point out that years later, we still lack all the particulars (or even very many of them beyond the Microsoft statement) of why Aces was closed. Yet we have concrete conclusions, now, on Flight?

I don't want to be a wet blanket but after 7 pages of this endless, pointless debate, who really cares what caused the demise of Flight? It happened. I'm not real happy about it. But I don't think anyone outside of Microsoft will know what transpired. It's not going to change anything.

I don't want to be a wet blanket but after 7 pages of this endless, pointless debate, who really cares what caused the demise of Flight? It happened. I'm not real happy about it. But I don't think anyone outside of Microsoft will know what transpired. It's not going to change anything.

 

+1 :lol: