MSFS was in need of a huge overhaul (DX10, multithreading, more GPU, less CPU),...

 

Very true and  what matters is the future cost of development compared with the future revenue expected. What happened in the past is irrelavant.

 

Microsoft was able to continue FSX from 2009 until 2014 without having  to spend a penny on future development and then still get royalties from DTG. That seems a good idea.

Funny how Flight Sim people think that it is such a big part of their world like at Microsoft the execs would pass Aces Studios and say 'How's That Flight Simulator Coming Along'

 

Reality is they didn't care and Aces was like a broom closet no one knew about and the accountants took notice when it was layoff time as they needed to produce numbers.

 

To this day the very little money in royalties MS gets out of FSX:SE is a pittance.

 

 

To this day the very little money in royalties MS gets out of FSX:SE is a pittance.

 

How  do you define a "pittance" in monetory terms?

How  do you define a "pittance" in monetory terms?

Simple, 215371 sales, majority of which was probably around $4.99 (but some paid more). Microsoft got an unknown percentage of that so this is probably less then $1 million dollars for MS, that has a current revenue of over $86 billion, or shall we say $86 billion + another maybe $800,000 or $900,000.....laughable really

 

Steam does not release sales numbers so this is just my guestimation.

Lets hope dovetail see us simmers an investment and continue development into 2015. I like the new platform FSX-SE im like some others  still having technical issues.

....laughable really

 

Not really - Microsoft thought it was worthwhile.

Not really - Microsoft thought it was worthwhile.

More like this would have been someone at Dovetail Games making calls to someone at Microsoft to try and make it happen and it would not have been easy, for the most part Microsoft as an organization would have had no interest in this at all. The interest lies entirely with Dovetail Games.

The list is not complete. IMHO, Arma 3 should be on top of the list and it isn't there.

 

 

The interest lies entirely with Dovetail Games.

 

Nevertheless Microsoft still thought it was worthwhile - otherwise it wouldn't have deployed its lawyers to create an agreement.

Nevertheless Microsoft still thought it was worthwhile - otherwise it wouldn't have deployed its lawyers to create an agreement.

haha you make it sound like the entire organization was behind this....Common Gerry it was of no consequence to Microsoft one way or another. 

 

MSFS was meaningful to Microsoft back in 1985 when it was a very different company, it offered a product that went well with marketing software to families wanting to buy a computer. That concept worked well for them pretty much all the way up to the X-Box. Those days are long gone now.

 

And 'The Lawyers' would not have been involved like they had their A-Team assembled to sort out the FSX issue. They didn't deploy a team of lawyers and you know it. It was a deal made with Dovetail based on an already established relationship and maybe a few junior corporate lawyers on staff got involved but really nothing to this.

 

Gerry you are more then proving my original point:

 

 

Funny how Flight Sim people think that it is such a big part of their world

the more you post the more you prove that....it is really inconsequential because if it was important to Microsoft they would have done an FS11 by now

More like this would have been someone at Dovetail Games making calls to someone at Microsoft to try and make it happen and it would not have been easy, for the most part Microsoft as an organization would have had no interest in this at all. The interest lies entirely with Dovetail Games.

 

the more you post they more you show understand the relationship between Mictosoft and Dovetail. Microsoft auctioned the franchise to the highest bidder. Dovetail won and other developers lost. Don't believe me - read what  Robert Randazzo (PMDG) posted 19 December 2014 - 09:52 PM in PMDG General Forum:

I

i agree.  I am quite concerned about the long term side of the FSX franchise under it's current stewardship.  It wound up in the hands of a group that is primarily interested in profit and return on investment for their investors.

 

The group with which we partnered was far more interested in the growth of the community, and the sustainability of the freeware and third party community.

 

As I originally said Microsoft still thought it was worthwhile and it still is - Microsoft isn't going to do something that's not worthwhile.

Any successful business must have interests in profits and returns to their investors. That is how business works.

This was very good business sense for Microsoft. They got rid of a dead 9 year old game and is saving costs on world wide distribution,staff,inventory & manufacturing,while getting returns in the form of license fees.The franchise, as we know it, died when ACES was shut down.

 

 

Any successful business must have interests in profits and returns to their investors.

 

I agree totallly.

Any successful business must have interests in profits and returns to their investors. That is how business works.

I agree totallly.

Which is why Microsoft has a current revenue of over $80 billion....and Flight Sim is not a contributor to that

 

Same goes for P3D. The sale of one F35 aircraft has bigger revenue for LM then the entire P3D program. But sometimes a company has to run a department at low or no revenue or even at a loss to create something like a training tool to enhance other parts of the business.

 

In both cases MSFS was something that enhanced the Microsoft Home family in the past but was not a major revenue generator as the operating system was. MSFS was just something extra for the customer to use, as long as it made some money it remained as it did. It is no longer of value to MS as they have stopped supporting an MS Home family of products so now it is gone.

 

P3D is a very simple and cheap training tool but not really a profit generator for LM as well. As long as the department doesn't run at a loss it will probably continue.

 

The shareholders don't care about MSFS, it being sold to Dovetail, LM shareholders don't care about P3D, if you had a copy of the yearly shareholder report I would be surprised if their was any mention of anything of this. The LM shareholder is interested in how many big ticket items has sold.

 

Again you are elevating Flight Sim because it is important to you but you are in denial because even the companies that have provided P3D and FSX the development was really insignificant to them and that includes the shareholders, it is only significant to you guys as it takes up a very large part of your lives. You're having a difficult time seeing beyond that.

you are the one who's in denial by your refusal to accept that Microsoft still it's was worthwhile earning revenue from FSX from Dovetail.

 

Do read what posters actally say - not what you'd like them to say.