Microsoft - the great enigma? And it's continued failures.

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

It made them profit at the time and if it had an app store in the current version would be making them even more money. Percentage wise the market is small but when the market is the world it can still be a nice profit.

 

It was also because we used to buy the latest other titles from MS as well. The latest Windows O/S, the latest copy of MS Office, Train Sim, Encarta and many other titles on top of Flight Simulator.

 

Today we are for the most part staying put with FSX, Windows 7 (or XP), older versions of MS Office or just use OpenOffice instead, so really they have lost the Flight Sim customer in other areas as well.

 

We still keep on top of buying the latest hardware but unfortunately for Microsoft those latest custom built machines are loaded up with old MS Software as we are trying to get the most out of a new machine with Windows 7 and FSX.

[Werner747 107]

The biggest problem for the FSX user at this stage is the compatability with future versions of Windows. It is quite clear that MS shut down all support for the FSX platform and I don't know for how much longer in future versions of Windows it will be supported.

 

Now looking at it from that angle, I fairly recently made the switch to FSX for two reasons - firstly, I had to get ready for the 737 NGX, and that meant that I had to make the transition, and secondly, I managed to finally build a pc that could run it decently.

 

This being said, if a new Windows platform is released and FSX won't be accomodated, then I quite simply won't switch over! Since I am not overly security minded and couldn't really be bothered too much about the inner workings of the system, and as long is runs stably on my machine, I keep what I have got.

 

But it should be interesting though to watch what MS does in the future with their OS's I also have to agree that there is no likelyhood that we will ever see an FSvNext from MS. I think that it is a market that X-Plane and the likes will dominate in the future.

 

Kind regards

[HansRoaming 73]

FSX and its add ons for me will last about two - three years, then will switch to whoever can match what I have now be it the existing developers I buy from or equivalents. Being that my Windows machine is for gaming then my OS could be OSX or Linux, whatever is dominant at the time.

[tonywob 4,769]

It isn't just Microsoft that has gone downhill with Windows 8. Somebody at the top thought they new better, and stuck their two fingers up at the fans and users WHO DO KNOW BETTER. Makes me angry thinking about it. I find it funny seeing shops advertising everywhere "Upgrade your computer from Windows 8 to Windows 7" :-). To me, it's a massive failure.

 

Another one of my favourites from yesteryear is SimCity. EA games have completely destroyed the franchise with Simcity 5, making it into a cartoonish game with in-game purchases designed for the Facebook crowed. They don't listen to fans who are the real people they should be marketing this game for. Again, some suit at the top decided this would be the case and completely ignored the thousands of fans who have been waiting years for a new release.

 

It's sad but true, the industry is moving along in a direction I don't like, but then again I'm probably stuck in the past.

[mgh 89]

 

According to former ACES employee Phil Taylor, the shutdown was not due to sales performance of FSX, but due to management issues and delays in project delivery, combined with increased demand for staff.

 

That's hardly from an unbiassed source, and what actually were the management issues?

 

At the time ACES was closed the discussion would have been about future FSnext development costs and future FSnext sales revenue - not about historic FSX sales. If future development costs outweighed future revenue then Microsoft did the right thing and cut its losses by closing ACES.

[Gason 6]

And what comes next, MS Fight? :rolleyes:

[HansRoaming 73]

That's hardly from an unbiassed source, and what actually were the management issues?

 

Stack ranking was and is a massive management issue at Microsoft.

 

At the time ACES was closed the discussion would have been about future FSnext development costs and futureFSnext sales revenue - not about historic FSX sales. If future development costs outweighed future revenue then Microsoft did the right thing and cut its losses by closing ACES.

 

 

When you look at Steam and iOS digital app store distribution models then there is an additional revenue stream in supporting the ecology too, the whole retail model changed as well. Also future sales figures sets the budget, when I look at the add ons I use I suspect together they don't come into the 10s of millions development cost.

[mgh 89]

Stack ranking was and is a massive management issue at Microsoft.

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Where's is said that this had anything to with Microsoft's decision about FSnext?

 

When you look at Steam and iOS digital app store distribution models then there is an additional revenue stream in supporting the ecology too, the whole retail model changed as well. Also future sales figures sets the budget, when I look at the add ons I use I suspect together they don't come into the 10s of millions development cost.

 

Microsoft obviously disagreed and as it was its money it had that right. I doubt that any add-on cost 10s of millions to develop but we're not taking about addons but the base simulator. Gran Turismo 5 is said to have cost $50M and Modern Warfare 2 $50M and those figures were qioted in 2010. Decisions to spend that sort of money won't muich influenced by supporting the ecology. They'll be based on hard-headed estimates of revenue.

[HansRoaming 73]

Where's is said that this had anything to with Microsoft's decision about FSnext?

 

Stack ranking is one set of management practices in use by the Company that produced the FS franchise which sets employees competing against one another, in what way would this not influence any decisions made at Microsoft?

 

Microsoft obviously disagreed and as it was its money it had that right. I doubt that any add-on cost 10s of millions to develop but we're not taking about addons but the base simulator. Gran Turismo 5 is said to have cost $50M and Modern Warfare 2 $50M and those figures were qioted in 2010.

 

And there are a lot of simulators that have come out since FSX that are nowhere near this figure at all.The former ACES members who set up the Cascade Game Foundry think there's a market for simulation that can make a profit.

 

Decisions to spend that sort of money won't muich influenced by supporting the ecology. They'll be based on hard-headed estimates of revenue.

 

Yes because iOS / OSX with an app store never worked out for Apple or there has never been a Microsoft partner programme or even Steve Ballmer saying the words 'developers, developers, developers'.

 

You could also take a look at DCS at a modern sim with ecosystem support baked in.

[simmerhead 885]

Microsoft are resting on their laurels and should be careful not to end up like Kodak. Balancing the passion for making money and the passion for creating ground breaking technology is an act few large companies master. Instead they focus on using their market power to force inferior products on their customers, and usually get away with it, but all good tjings comes to an end.

 

As for the closure of ACES it was probably the result of some internal pissing contest where some Type-A personality manager needed to show his feathers. As any economist know you can spin the numbers to suit any argument.

[mgh 89]

If there's money to be made, then when can we expect to see FSnext developed by another company?

[simmerhead 885]

If there's money to be made, then when can we expect to see FSnext developed by another company?

 

You most likely won't, because part of what made FSX profitable was that it had legacy code from previous versions. Reinventing the wheel is expensive.

[HansRoaming 73]

Flight simulation development didn't stop with FSX as there has been and continues to be new releases into the market place. FSX was a great product and it shows just what Microsoft threw away in terms of brand loyalty by consumers and developers that the platform is a contender today!

[Brittfrog 3]

i have been loathe to answer here as the last time i posted a similar m.s.bashing thread all the cronies came out of the woodwork and refused to engage in a good debate but simply flamed all and sundry that agreed with me.

If you analyse M.S. it is being run exactly as Germany was by a certain mr. H , the guy at the top taking the credit whilst the admirals , gererals were given a free hand at most things to create something that mr. H would be proud.For me M.S. needs to be broken into several parts each running independantly.

What I cannot ever understand is when certain top cronies at avsim were given a look at flight before its release they all came back and wrote rave reviews for us all to read, whilst in the meantime all the rest of us at ground level were already convinced that flight would bomb for a whole shed load of reasons that came to roost. Why didnt someone have the balls to say to M.S. "hey guys this is a no no" because i suppose M.S. were paying the bill for their day there. I was flamed for making this comment last time , but what other answer can there be? did they really think it was good?

Another problem M.S. have with fsx is shown in their description , they consider it a game!!! isnt that just sweet? no wonder they thought joe public would buy into flight. I am quite sure the likes of PMDG or Aerosoft dont consider it a game, call it what it is A simulation!

If M.S. wants to relook at FS11, 12 or whatever the person controlling the purse strings has to understand they are designing a simulation, because very few would invest the sums of money required in a game, understandably.

[goates 576]

When you look at Steam and iOS digital app store distribution models then there is an additional revenue stream in supporting the ecology too, the whole retail model changed as well.

 

Ah, Steam, another example of Microsoft missing the boat. Especially when they were talking big about supporting PC games. Valve pitched the idea to Microsoft who turned it down. Now it is the premier online store for PC games, and Microsoft is finally getting around to building their owner Xbox/Windows Marketplace. Microsoft is also trying to build a Windows app store with Windows 8 too (not directly linked to the Marketplace either).