I noticed in one of the videos that the Microsoft people would not rule this out as subscription based. If they charge USD15 a month, that's USD180 a year. I don't care how good the graphics are, that would rule me out.

Whilst it's a bit premature to see what the pricing will be and by what means, if it's subscription based, I'm out - $180USD pa is about $A270. That said, I'm prepared to pay a one off purchase to that amount if it means I don't have to buy further addons for weather, ATC, decent aircraft, Navdata subscription and all of the rest.

I totally agree.

It will not require a subscription.

 

Quote

And, yes, the game will be available either as part of XGP or as a standalone purchase.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/09/the-new-ms-flight-simulator-taught-me-how-to-fly-an-actual-plane/

I don´t care as long enough users can affort it to make it a success and we all have something for a payable and reasonable price and are happy about the results, support and further development to the levels AFTER release "2020".

3 hours ago, goates said:

It will not require a subscription.

 

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/09/the-new-ms-flight-simulator-taught-me-how-to-fly-an-actual-plane/

The impression I got from various articles/videos was that the developers would prefer not to have a subscription but couldn't rule it out. However the feeling seemed to be that it might be for certain specific items such as navigation updates.

4 hours ago, johnbla said:

I noticed in one of the videos that the Microsoft people would not rule this out as subscription based. If they charge USD15 a month, that's USD180 a year. I don't care how good the graphics are, that would rule me out.

The full price of Xbox Game Pass for PC is currently USD7 per month so I think that puts an upper band on the pricing. I have to say I would be unhappy at that pricing just for the flightsim so I would hope that if there has to be an element of subscription that it would be rather lower than USD7.

I seriously doubt the base simulator will be subscription-based, else it's just not going to work well with the Xbox Game Pass. For the online scenery, probably.

The apparent shyness of MS is a little strange. I don’t suppose that they have committed tens of millions of dollars for the new sim without a business plan including a pricing policy.

Another NDA.

1 hour ago, ChaoticBeauty said:

I seriously doubt the base simulator will be subscription-based, else it's just not going to work well with the Xbox Game Pass. For the online scenery, probably.

I suspect the model might be that if you want enhanced/updated satellite data, there will be a nominal subscription fee for that service.  They have already said offline options exist, for which there will probably be no subscription fee, if you do not make use of the updated service.

Xbox Game Pass is USD15.95 a month for the ultimate bundle which is over 20 Aussie dollars. They are guaranteed NOT to get my money if they start subscription pricing. I'll stick with X Plane. I hope I am wrong as I am looking forward to this as much as anyone else.

21 minutes ago, johnbla said:

I hope I am wrong as I am looking forward to this as much as anyone else.

They have said it will be available both through the Xbox Game Pass as well as a standalone purchase.

The sim itself could be a once off purchase and various components subscription based. a subscription package for

1. live streaming (to cover the use of servers)

2. Live weather (to cover data providers if they are not using the free NOAA source)

3. Navdata for 28 days Airac Cycle Updates.

and so on...

12 hours ago, Ops Normal said:

The sim itself could be a once off purchase and various components subscription based. a subscription package for

1. live streaming (to cover the use of servers)

2. Live weather (to cover data providers if they are not using the free NOAA source)

3. Navdata for 28 days Airac Cycle Updates.

and so on...

But nobody knows, so why speculate? Until MS actually announces something definite, this is just going to be one of those threads which goes nowhere.