There may still be a glimmer of hope for FS...

[fsxkitty 62]

Hi

 

I was just surfing the web, looking up flight-sim-related stuff, and I stumbled across the Wikipedia article on MS Flight Simulator. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Flight_Simulator

 

The article has a section about the closure of ACES Game studios. I read it, and there was a quote that caught my attention: "Microsoft Flight Simulator X will remain available at retail stores and web retailers, the Flight Sim community will continue to learn from and encourage one another, and we remain committed to the Flight Simulator Franchise for the long term"

 

This made me think. I put myself in Microsoft's shoes. They were committed to keep flight simulation alive, and decided that it would be more economical for them to make a game which expands to wider audiences. Two years later, Flight comes out. A few months later, Flight is cancelled. Microsoft realises that it was not a good approach to flight simming. Still committed to genre, Microsoft now goes back to the Flight Simulator series, realising how successful it will be, or they will try another new approach, and see how that works. They will either find something new that sells, or they'll just go back to MSFS.

 

The point that I'm trying to make is that I don't think that MS has stopped making their contributions to flight sims. In fact, I bet that they're planning or developing something new as we speak. Will it be Flight Simulator? I hope so, but I can't be sure. But what I can be reasonably sure of, is that they are working on something. It just seems like the most logical thing for them to do.

[DarkstarF16 72]

We can but live in hope!

 

After all, like MS Office, FS has become a legend in its own right, not to everyone this is true, but you can only respect those that start something and finish it!

[scotchegg 4,229]

Would love to agree with you, really, but at the moment I think nothing is even in the planning stage and we've been over this topic a lot on this forum:

 

http://forum.avsim.net/page/index.html/_/pri-news/follow-up-with-joshua-howard-r495

[ViperPilot 81]

Would love to agree with you, really, but at the moment I think nothing is even in the planning stage and we've been over this topic a lot on this forum:

 

http://forum.avsim.n...hua-howard-r495

 

+1

 

Besides, MS has more important things on their mind right now than a 'game', which to them was a failure.

 

Don't dwell on it; use what you have, and don't prolong your mental misery and anguish any further.

[mgh 89]

"Microsoft Flight Simulator X will remain available at retail stores and web retailers, the Flight Sim community will continue to learn from and encourage one another, and we remain committed to the Flight Simulator Franchise for the long term"

 

That sentence should be read as a whole. The long-term commitment is no more than continuing to sell FSX and keep its authorisation servers up and running.

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

Hope lives on! :lol:

 

People are just assuming that Flight was canceled because it "failed in the market". Where are the hard figures please? The numbers demonstrating the supposed failure after only 5 months? Or is it just wishful thinking? - "Now that Flight has been rejected by loyal users, MS can finally get back to making a new and better version of FS (read airline sim)."

 

Speculation and uninformed assumptions are common human traits, but it doesn't mean that they are true. Microsoft did not announce the reason for the cancelation of Flight and nobody on the team has revealed it either.

 

Microsoft Flight is the next version of FS, it addresses a much larger market than FS, it provides a more advanced simulator experience than FS.

 

If Microsoft decides to continue development of their flight game, and there is no particular reason that we know why they would not, then we can easily bet that it will be with Flight and its focus and features, not with those of previous versions of FS.

 

But, keep hoping, if you wish, because hope is the last thing any of us should abandon.

 

Best regards.

Luis

[mgh 89]

People are just assuming that Flight was canceled because it "failed in the market".

 

True it's an assumption, but are you assuming that Flight was generating the revenue Microsoft expected but was cancelled for other reasons? I suggest that's less plausible than that it "failed in the market", and 5 months is long enough to decide it was failing in terms of sales.

[ChaoticBeauty 6,692]

The article is very old. They remained committed by releasing Flight after closing Aces, but I don't think they're committed anymore.

[Prune 0]

Have to agree there. I havn`t seen anything to convince me that they are developing another FS.

[FrankFasi 0]

It's easy for them to make a statement that sounds good, but does not commit them to do anything beyond making the statement itself. Hope is okay, though, if you don't let the waiting get to you. It might be a long wait...

[razorhog703 15]

It doesn't really matter, FSX is awesome for high and long flights and for airlines, MS Flight is awesome for low and slow and really nailing what the flying experience is like. Anything more and just go to the local airport and get qualified. Doesn't cost as much as you might think and you can actually go somewhere.

 

On a side note, RIP Neil Armstrong.

[ahuimanu 50]

I'd say that the statements in this "Follow up with Joshua Howard" cover the bases: http://forum.avsim.net/page/index.html/_/pri-news/follow-up-with-joshua-howard-r495

 

1) Did it fail? " We are constantly evaluating our portfolio and making changes – right now Flight doesn't fit, but it might again in the future." At the moment, yes.

 

2) Will we get another? "Never say never" is the prognosis.

 

Just about ambiguous as the 2009-2010 era.

[MikeT707 1,181]

I am glad that ms left the flight simulation space and I hope it is for good. I have no reason to believe that they will ever come back. I am, however, looking forward to the development of flight simulation software from a company or companoes that are more aligned to the community that it should serve.

[kannwar 47]

I am glad that ms left the flight simulation space and I hope it is for good. I have no reason to believe that they will ever come back. I am, however, looking forward to the development of flight simulation software from a company or companoes that are more aligned to the community that it should serve.

 

Totally agree. Every version of FS since FS2000 has been released in beta level quality at best and none of them ever really improved much from there. FSX is still so full of bugs and glitches (both performance-wise and graphical) that it ruins the experience lots of times to this day. I say look to LM's Prepar3d for the future. It's taken them the better part of 2 years to clean the ESP code up somewhat but they have a great roadmap for improvements (rendering overhaul to support DX11) in the next year. Also, they are very well connected to the community and eager to listen to our feedback and feature requests. MS only really started getting this with the Aces team and FSX but they shut it all down before it could do any lasting good and what we are left with is an essentially half-baked piece of software that we can only try and make the most out of.

 

So yea, long story short, I'm glad MS is out too. Lets give a studio with a real committment to producing an awesome sim a go.

[mgh 89]

Lets give a studio with a real committment to producing an awesome sim a go.

 

And which studio might that be?