Asobo is hiring for FS2020

[HiFlyer 9,358]

33 minutes ago, TravelRunner404 said:

https://venturebeat.com/2019/06/17/microsoft-flight-simulator-reveals-game-passs-potential/

a better explanation...

Hmmm....... it seems logical, but subscription has become a dirty word here, recently.

[anden145 2,285]

There could be a lot of reason as to why they're hiring. Perhaps they finished the roadmap and/or framework for the sim, so they now have a clear picture of what is needed and how many is needed for the various development teams? Or perhaps, they are hiring more people, because they want to accelerate the development so - you know - it won't take ages... but only eons... 🙂

Edited October 31, 2019 by Anders Bermann

[Scottoest 1,561]

I think a big part of the reason Microsoft are back in the flight sim game are three fold:

1) They are hoping to leverage this tech elsewhere next console generation.  Remember that this new sim started it's life as a Hololens demo Asobo were making for Microsoft.

2) Flight Sim is a "legendary" Microsoft PC franchise, and they are trying to earn credibility about their seriousness re: getting back into the PC gaming market.  How better to do that than with sequels to beloved old Microsoft PC properties like Age of Empires and Flight Simulator.

3) Providing a wider breadth of content for Game Pass to attract subscribers, much like Netflix produces everything from comedy specials to anime TV shows these days.

Regarding more hiring, I honestly wouldn't be shocked if it's because Asobo/Microsoft have been kinda blown away by the enthusiasm MSFS is receiving, and they are trying to rapidly crew up to add more of the stuff people have asked for as feedback (ATC, VR, multi-monitor setups, etc.) as soon as they can.

Edited October 31, 2019 by Scottoest

[spesimen 135]

3 hours ago, HiFlyer said:

 

Even if 1 million people purchased the sim at $60 (assuming my guesses are even near correct) You have 60 million dollars, and Microsoft is still only just about breaking even.

 

 

just for reference, FSX sold at least a million copies just in the first year of release (according to wikipedia) and it's been active for more than a decade.. dovetail sold at least 600,000 copies and that was several years later (albeit at reduced prices).. those are the only numbers i could find online but that's a pretty decent amount. (edit: i found another ancient reference from a 2003 post on avsim that claimed they had sold 22 million copies of the various versions of the franchise, before the 2002 version of the sim was out and that 2002 sold 1.7-2.2 mil...)

i think the potential sales numbers are possibly much higher than you are theorizing . the new one looks so amazing that it has been getting tons of press over the mainstream gaming sites not just on enthusiast ones like avsim..

cheers,-andy crosby

 

Edited October 31, 2019 by spesimen

[Noooch 1,084]

A new member of my volley-ball team (in Lyon, France) which I barely know for the moment told me she was working in the videogame industry. When I told her about MSFS, she told me they also were blown away by the trailer and added: We will be working with them in the near future to help them with the "crew".

Still wondering what she meant by that...

[Christopher Low 5,352]

5 hours ago, TravelRunner404 said:

What you have wrong is that this isn’t about selling a triple A blockbuster, i.e. Avengers end game. This is all about flagship marketable games for Xbox game pass. Think of this like a strong series on Netflix. They can use it as a marketing tool to get people into the ecosystem. 

I wouldn't call Avengers End Game a triple A blockbuster. More like a single Z worthless pile of cr......

[G-RFRY 1,710]

Without Game Pass I doubt Phil Spencer would have been able to bring MSFS back a very large investment for a niche product not mainstream.

Edited October 31, 2019 by rjfry

[LB777 100]

38 minutes ago, Noooch said:

A new member of my volley-ball team (in Lyon, France) which I barely know for the moment told me she was working in the videogame industry. When I told her about MSFS, she told me they also were blown away by the trailer and added: We will be working with them in the near future to help them with the "crew".

Still wondering what she meant by that...

The Crew is a Ubisoft game franchise Asobo was involved with.

[ErichB 3,639]

14 hours ago, HiFlyer said:

Somehow I just don't see this as a money-making venture. They're throwing way too many resources into this it seems to me to ever realistically recoup the investment from just the flight simulation community.

There got to be other reasons driving this.

Unless they have some really funky studies that show there's some absolutely huge untapped Market out there above and beyond the hardcore community.

There are people talking about FS2020 now that have never in the past given flightsim 2 seconds of serious thought.  So, yeah, there is definitely a huge untapped market.   If the world actually looks like the world -  that alone will make a significant difference to the uptake. 

Which serious gamer is going to take a default P3D or FSX seriously ?   They know they have to throw literally 1000's of dollars at it to make it look anything near realistic, so it is the domain of a much smaller user base.

 

[bashope 112]

14 hours ago, HiFlyer said:

Somehow I just don't see this as a money-making venture. They're throwing way too many resources into this it seems to me to ever realistically recoup the investment from just the flight simulation community.

There got to be other reasons driving this.

Unless they have some really funky studies that show there's some absolutely huge untapped Market out there above and beyond the hardcore community.

“...some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”

― Michael Caine

[ErichB 3,639]

4 minutes ago, bashope said:

“...some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”

― Michael Caine

Ain't that the truth.

[Dominique_K 10,137]

 

 

15 hours ago, HiFlyer said:

Somehow I just don't see this as a money-making venture. 

I don't remember that MS had ever any philantropic streak in their marketing philosophy  !

For the last 10 years, they've been said to look at means to monetize the DLC market. Flight was an utter failure at that because what they offered was too little, too gamey and  they tried to corner the market. 

They say now that FS20 will have a life of 10 years. So expect to see several MS branded  DLC in the future (Asobo made or not). 

Besides, I don't see any reason  why they shouldn't go to the juicy institutional market. I am even pretty sure they will.

Edited October 31, 2019 by domkle

[be1a1 25]

My thoughts....

I believe movie studios can make movies using MSFS especially aviation movies and even documentaries 

imagine we get a remake of Air force one, Sully using MSFS or even air crash investigation series

aircraft manufacturers and airlines can use MSFS to advertise their product for example an american airline flying over a detailed american city generated by azure or even an airline flying high above the clouds like in most airline ads but this time using MSFS 

we know MS is listening to our feedback to win us hardcore simmers but they spending big for MSFS to be modern and fancy so they can attract non simmers as well so I am sure they're projecting a lot higher sales than ones quoted above.

[Pastaiolo 1,688]

Just like LM is not developing P3D for us, Microsoft is developing MSFS for the huge market of the Game Pass for both PC first and consoles later on.
To that, add the fact of how it's also helping promoting Azure AI and probably will do more regarding VR later on.

[Shack95 2,658]

 

1 hour ago, ErichB said:

There are people talking about FS2020 now that have never in the past given flightsim 2 seconds of serious thought.  So, yeah, there is definitely a huge untapped market. 

Four of my friends are passionate gamers but no simmers. All of them were blown away by the trailer but none of them are going to buy it. 

I‘m sure the new sim will attract new people but I doubt that it‘ll be earth-shattering. Stunning visuals and user-friendliness alone won‘t do the trick. Simming just isn‘t for everyone. Of course I might be completely wrong (I hope I am). This is just my gut feeling.

Edit: On second thought, many Game Pass people will probably give it a try. But will that be sustainable?

Edited October 31, 2019 by Shack95