"Microsoft Sells License to FS Franchise" Part 2

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

A restart of the discussion regarding MS' sale of the FS License...

 

Let me add some clarity here folks...

Remember that FLIGHT was rolled up in May of 2012... In the latter half of 2012, AVSIM was made aware of efforts to sell licenses by Microsoft for its FS product line (note the all inclusive "FS", not specifically FS9, FSX, FLIGHT, etc.). AVSIM subsequently participated in meetings and discussions with a couple of the teams in 2012 and throughout 2013.

We understood from the outset that MS was looking to issue a license to multiple teams.The original terms of the sale of the license were pretty steep thereby ruling out any single participant from the FS commercial community. The teams that were formed, for the most part, reflected that reality. I will leave it to you to figure out how multiple licensees would compete with each other and how they could be expected to meet MS' demands for down payment, commission on sales and control of their IP.

The news we posted yesterday is that ONE licensee will be announced. We can only conclude that the single licensee had significantly deeper pockets and was able to negotiate an exclusive license. What of the other pretty stringent terms of the original license (i.e, IP, commission on sales, etc.) have they been able to negotiate out? We don't know of course.

All the speculation regarding LM, and some others going on here are sure entertaining, but way off base. LMOC bought the license for ESP (as did Northrop). ESP contained the core and hooks for things like submarines, subsurface navigation, etc. that FSX never had. MS developed ESP specifically with the military and military suppliers in mind. Imagine ESP being used as a real time 3D'ish background for flying a UAV in... Imagine operating an underwater ROV using it to provide navigation and cuing. ESP provided the basis for the likes of a LMOC to build upon for their military customers. I am pretty confident in saying that LMOC was not a participant in pursuing the FSX license.

Speculations on who the licensee is are probably going to be mute by the end of this week. There are important questions that should be of concern; distribution methods, EULA's, price, third party content, FLIGHT like distribution of add-on's, ad nauseam.

Just remember that you read it first on AVSIM... B)

 

NOTE: Do not turn this into a game vs. violence hijack. If anyone does take it there, they will be banned from this topic entirely.

[agood 12]

The funniest thing in this (part 1) thread so far is people really expecting Microsoft to use precious E3 time to announce the liquidation of a brand that they haven't cared about for a decade (yes, despite Flight) and that no one of the current generation of gamerz even knows.

Closely followed by the idea that ORBX or Aerosoft or any add-on company might have the resources to buy and exploit it...

 

But interesting to see where this goes, for my part I just hope the many hundreds of dollars invested in FSX addons aren't going to waste with a future platform. But I guess I better get used to the idea :-\

[James Bennett 52]

To be successful this is going to have to be either aimed at hardcore simmers like AVSIM members, or at mass market angry birds type consumers. Either way, it'll therefore require a rebuild.

 

I can't see why anyone would pay what we're told is a huge sum of money to simply resell it in it's current form (which they can't anyway unless they transfer data across to their own activation system), as they wouldn't make a return. If it's aimed at people like us, it'll have to be 64bit or people will simply buy P3D. If it's aimed at mass market consumers, it won't appeal to us in the slightest.

 

Bit of a lottery eh! They'd have to charge a fortune per copy to make money off hardcore consumers as they're so few and far between, too.

[Mike62 29]

You would think that whoever put up this kind of money to purchase the license would already have a rough plan in place for the future development.   Unless it was a spur of a moment lottery winner :rolleyes: , people with this kind of money usually do some research or planning before signing on the dotted line or multiple lines.

 

Mike

[jcomm 5,889]

Hmmmm, a single licensee, with the pocket to afford it, being a fan of flight simulation and, operating airliners? 

 

It can be some chinese billionaire, a russian?, or Richard Branson....

[Berike 13]

Can it "destroy" P3D ? Hope LM got it, so we can keep moving forward, if any other companies buy it, all the development done over the years for P3D will die.

[Glynn 405]

 

 

all the development done over the years for P3D will die

 

Why ?

[LHookins 3,102]

Hmmmm, a single licensee, with the pocket to afford it, being a fan of flight simulation and, operating airliners? 

 

It can be some chinese billionaire, a russian?, or Richard Branson....

 

Or... Bill Gates.

 

Hook

[Christopher Low 5,332]

If it's Richard Branson, then maybe he wanted a way for Joe Normal to be able to experience a flight in Spaceship One? :smile:

[Berike 13]

Why ?

I don't mean LM development but from the partners

[VeryBumpy 272]

Wonder why is the party that bought the License holding back on the news? I would think they'd want the press and all the attention they can get.

[peppy197 165]

Its Lady Gaga

 

New blockbuster way of selling bundled songs

 

Just like Jay-Z did with his brain-wet book about who else...himself LOL using Bing

[shamrockflyer 647]

Fingers crossed it isn't EA! 

[Mean Aerodynamic Chord 269]

If LM got it, then I'd buy satisfied.

 

Please, not EA or Ubisoft.

[User72 28]

Hey Tom, has anyone come close or even managed to call it right? Surely you can tell us that? Then sit back and grab some popcorn :lol: