August 8th Update - Microsoft is taking over support of FSX again

[threexgreen 3,139]

1 hour ago, keithb77 said:

So far I can pretty much confirm that they are not. Most of us didnt even know about the project. I dont know if this was done specifically to exclude the old ACES team or if its just because the current dev team is located in France."

If this person isn't involved in any way and most of them didn't know about the project, I would hazard a guess they don't know much more than we do. This doesn't really confirm Asobo being the actual developer of the sim and not just a supporting party.

Edited August 12, 2019 by threegreen

[Murmur 3,941]

I hope Asobo will be the actual developers. 👍

[Kronovan 14]

I just want to chime in and say I'm not surprised M$ is taking back the license. With Lockheed Martin generating good sales with a product that costs $200 -or more importantly selling well enough to attract addon builders- I'm not surprised they're taking another swing at the ball. Rather than speculating on what an updated FSX or FS 2020 might entail, I'd rather speculate on what their next Flight Sim will cost? Will they go head -to- head with Laminar Research and match XP11 pricing, or are they going to straddle some middle ground with something priced between $100 - $150?

Oh...and I'm betting that whatever they deliver, you'll have to go to the MS Store to buy it.

 

[Dominique_K 10,138]

To feed the rumour mill😁, from the French wikipedia

En 2018, Asobo studio souhaite recruter 40 personnes et atteindre ainsi 180 salariés. (Last year, they had a plan to recruit 40 more people)

En avril 2019, Focus Home Interactive annonce lors de son évènement annuel "What's Next" qu'Asobo Studio a signé pour un nouveau jeu, (in April, it was announced that they had signed a contract for a new game)

Edited August 13, 2019 by domkle

[Kronovan 14]

Just out of curiosity, why are folks pumped for Asobo to be the developer?

They haven't exactly got a stellar resume, that's filled with far more mediocre titles than AAA quality. Their last game themed around the Black Plague was very good, but it's an adventure-action game. The closest games they have to simulation anything is The Crew, The Crew 2, Fuel and Zoo Tycoon. I bought both Fuel and The Crew and IMO they were mediocre at best and far more arcade game than simulation. Do they have a line on a team of top flight sim developers or something, that they can hire on short notice?

[Mengy 814]

2 hours ago, Kronovan said:

Just out of curiosity, why are folks pumped for Asobo to be the developer?

Asobo is really great at modelling and asset design.  I think the general hope is Microsoft has a team at their HQ developing the engine and simulation code while they've farmed out the asset creation to Asobo who is very good at that.  That's my hunch at least, from the evidence of Asobo's hiring plus what Microsoft has stated publicly so far, because it does seem like development is potentially happening from both places.

[bonchie 2,305]

If you put a gun to my head, I'd bet ASOBO is only involved graphically with asset development. 

What we are seeing in MSFS is clearly an evolution of the ESP engine, as you can see some of the same flaws (pop-in, texture seams, the river on top of texture in the trailer, etc.). That's not to say it's not a "new engine," because it has obviously been heavily overhauled, but I highly doubt ASOBO was able to do all we've seen given their past projects. 

You'd need a team of people with an expert's understanding of the past engines to get to where they've gotten. 

Edited August 13, 2019 by bonchie

[Paraffin 2,197]

36 minutes ago, bonchie said:

If you put a gun to my head, I'd bet ASOBO is only involved graphically with asset development. 

What we are seeing in MSFS is clearly an evolution of the ESP engine, as you can see some of the same flaws (pop-in, texture seams, the river on top of texture in the trailer, etc.). That's not to say it's not a "new engine," because it has obviously been heavily overhauled, but I highly doubt ASOBO was able to do all we've seen given their past projects. 

You'd need a team of people with an expert's understanding of the past engines to get to where they've gotten. 

There is another way ASOBO might be more involved than that. They have already produced a game (The Crew 2) with aircraft that aren't just models but that actually fly. On an arcade level yes, but it's a flight model.

So they could have licensed the ESP engine from MS for those games on a limited basis, rather than develop one in-house. Or those games might use a flight mode they developed in-house and that's what they're building on for the new MSFS.

Whatever the case, it seems odd to me that if ASOBO is the developer -- which many signs point to -- they would junk whatever flight model they already have experience with, while developing the aircraft models. 

I'm not betting one way or the other, but I don't think it's out of the question that ASOBO could be doing everything for the new MSFS except possibly cloud-based scenery integration. 

[Wobbie 938]

So you think that both LM & ASOBO have licenses for ESP, the pro version of FSX? 

[bonchie 2,305]

No chance of that IMO. ASOBO may be contracted on, but this is clearly a MS property through and through. 

[Paraffin 2,197]

5 minutes ago, bonchie said:

No chance of that IMO. ASOBO may be contracted on, but this is clearly a MS property through and through. 

I know there is popular support for that idea. I'm still skeptical because it would mean MS assembling a new in-house team from scratch after dissolving ACES, while contracting ASOBO just for aircraft models.

That's not how MS has done games or flight sims in the past. And remember, none of the ACES team knew anything about this project according to reports here. Where would MS get the expertise? There are also some obvious disadvantages in coordinating work between two teams that are 10 hours apart in time zones, and with two different native languages.

We'll see soon enough. I expect this will be one of the first questions asked in the Insider program.

[bonchie 2,305]

4 minutes ago, Paraffin said:

I know there is popular support for that idea. I'm still skeptical because it would mean MS assembling a new in-house team from scratch after dissolving ACES, while contracting ASOBO just for aircraft models.

That's not how MS has done games or flight sims in the past. And remember, none of the ACES team knew anything about this project according to reports here. Where would MS get the expertise? There are also some obvious disadvantages in coordinating work between two teams that are 10 hours apart in time zones, and with two different native languages.

We'll see soon enough. I expect this will be one of the first questions asked in the Insider program.

There's a difference between contracting development studios and ASOBO licensing ESP to develop. 

I'm saying the latter is no chance because this is clearly a MS property, controlled by MS, and published by MS. Who's actually sitting behind the development consoles, who knows. 

Edited August 13, 2019 by bonchie

[Paraffin 2,197]

11 minutes ago, bonchie said:

There's a difference between contracting development studios and ASOBO licensing ESP to develop. 

I'm saying the latter is no chance because this is clearly a MS property, controlled by MS, and published by MS. Who's actually sitting behind the development consoles, who knows. 

Who's actually sitting behind the development consoles was what I was responding to, with your earlier statement:

Quote

If you put a gun to my head, I'd bet ASOBO is only involved graphically with asset development. 

 

[Kronovan 14]

I'm not surprised MS is developing FS 2020 for XBox One too. I've followed the FSX forums on Steam for years and have always been surprised how many players fly FSX:SE with their 360 or XB1 controllers. I shouldn't really be surprised, as I completed IL-2 Birds of Prey on my 360 with just the default controller and even on full simulation mode it worked. I did buy one of those cheesy Saitek AV8R sticks for my 2nd play through, which was definitely a better, easier experience.

If it turns out to be a quality flight sim it could help XB1 keep in the game, as that console seriously lacks quality exclusives. Not to mention it's absolutely owned by the PS4 for overall market share. Not that the XB1 is likely to be a hot market for FS fans, but XB1 space sims that have had more sophisticated control schemes have faired well enough.

[bonchie 2,305]

2 hours ago, Paraffin said:

Who's actually sitting behind the development consoles was what I was responding to, with your earlier statement:

 

I know. I was responding to the guy under my post asking if you were saying ADOBO were licensing ESP.