48 minutes ago, Lorby_SI said:

That data is not free at all. It is only free to look at for end users, using the providers own website or client. That is free because they are a marketing tool. Some even have advertisments running alongside or even inside the client.

But using the same data for commercial purposes is very expensive.

The initial discussion was about if MS will provide Bing data for free in MSFS.

That's why it is beneficial that Microsoft has its own map service. As I mentioned before, it could be used to attract people to the sim and establish a huge user base. Then earn money with ingame sales.

Could it be that they charge for it? Sure. Is it necessary? Absolutely not.

Edited February 17, 20206 yr by tweekz

12 minutes ago, Krakin said:

I hope there will be a really sweet collector's edition with a model of the 747 🙂 The shipping costs will be ridiculous but after all these years it will be worth it.

I can imagine MFS merchanise would sell pretty well (and perhaps even me aged 67 might get hooked) -  if it's not as lame as the FSElite T-Shirts.

Kind regards, Michael

I'd buy a Microsoft Flight Simulator cap to wear my TrackIR clip on.  😄  I might even buy a MSFS branded mouse pad.  I've already got a good collection of coffee mugs so that would be another purchase.

Hook

Special editions with tangible merch inside is pretty common for AAA releases.

2 hours ago, martin-w said:

 

Hope your price is right, but I would suspect it will be closer to £100. Hope not, but it might be the case, if it is, that many chose the Game pass option. 

"Exactly"

https://moneyinc.com/most-expensive-games-on-steam/

if its good I would expect buying the sim will be in that ballpark. Possibly even taking the top spot.

If its not that good it wont be.

_____

Alternatively could be much cheaper and online scenery needs a paid subscription. I'd expect this option would bring in higher revenue.

Anyone saying its going to be the best thing ever, while simultaneously saying no one in the market would be willing to pay for it, is, well, just multiple hilarious words not in the dictionary.

 

 

This was also discussed in another thread in the past and there was quite some interest in a collector's edition with stuff similar to the picture above. If not for a collector's edition, I'd love a boxed version at least. My copy of Flight Simulator X with the manual and shiny slipcover looks good on my shelf.

I'll tell ya know though, after I started this "Earhart round the world tour" I'm really going to miss a King Air. Man I love that thing. 

3 hours ago, tweekz said:

Could it be that they charge for it? Sure. Is it necessary? Absolutely not.

Depends. In these large corporations it is customary that one department has to pay for the products of another one just like a customer - getting a better deal of course, but still.

I worked for a company of that size for 20 years, and I couldn't believe it at first - but it makes sense in a way. A service has to be profitable, and it doesn't really matter who is paying. But it never ceased to amuse me that the corporation is taking money out of the left pocket and puts it in the right, calling that making a profit. Since departments are often subsidiaries, companies in their own right, it looks real when you only observe that part. But see the corporation as a whole and it is just weird.

Best regards

Edited February 17, 20206 yr by Lorby_SI

20 minutes ago, Lorby_SI said:

Depends. In these large corporations it is customary that one department has to pay for the products of another one just like a customer - getting a better deal of course, but still.

That is actually a practice in the U.S. Government, State governments and our military as well...

Granted, it's only accounting transactions, but still it does seem odd to the average citizen! 

49 minutes ago, Lorby_SI said:

Depends. In these large corporations it is customary that one department has to pay for the products of another one just like a customer - getting a better deal of course, but still.

I worked for a company of that size for 20 years, and I couldn't believe it at first - but it makes sense in a way. A service has to be profitable, and it doesn't really matter who is paying. But it never ceased to amuse me that the corporation is taking money out of the left pocket and puts it in the right, calling that making a profit. Since departments are often subsidiaries, companies in their own right, it looks real when you only observe that part. But see the corporation as a whole and it is just weird.

Best regards

I doubt MS will charge their Xbox dept an arm and a leg to use their Bing map data. One thing I'd have to ask is if using these services is so expensive, why would MS and Dovetail leak so much money to Jeppesen for all these years without slapping a sub on any of those sims? At the end of the day we do not know what happens behind the curtain. All we can do is look at how thing have worked in similar instances and go by what the people making the sim have told us.

MS has used Azure in other games without charging more than the usual $60.

MS has provided real world data in flight sims without asking for more than the cost to purchase.

The interview referenced in the OP confirms that we can get all that the sim has to offer without getting a sub.

Outside of that, I'm not going to act like I know better than MS

1 hour ago, Lorby_SI said:

Depends. In these large corporations it is customary that one department has to pay for the products of another one just like a customer - getting a better deal of course, but still.

Sure, although it would be bad management if that control and monitoring instrument stands in the way of a greater plan/success.

Anyhow, we shall see. 😉

Edited February 17, 20206 yr by tweekz

17 minutes ago, Krakin said:

The interview referenced in the OP confirms that we can get all that the sim has to offer without getting a sub.

Correct! The only factual context we have until now, is that they said it's available without subscription. Anything else is speculative.

26 minutes ago, tweekz said:

Sure, although it would be bad management if that control and monitoring instrument stands in the way of a greater plan/success.

Anyhow, we shall see. 😉

 

32 minutes ago, Krakin said:

I doubt MS will charge their Xbox dept an arm and a leg to use their Bing map data.

I didn't say anything about the speculations concerning the price model of MSFS, nor if it will be expensive or not. Far be it from me. I don't know, and I honestly don't much care. I will look at the price tag when there is one.

My intention was to point out that not everything is "free to use" just because you as an end user can look at it on the Internet. That is not the case. And most likely the Bing data isn't free to use for XBox Studios either, it doesn't matter that both are Microsoft entities. If that has a bearing on the MSFS pricing model is a completely different matter, and IMHO really not worth arguing about at this point.

Best regards

Edited February 17, 20206 yr by Lorby_SI

1 hour ago, Krakin said:

MS has used Azure in other games without charging more than the usual $60.

While I am not disputing the no subscription idea, I do not think this is comparable.  I think MSFS is a unique use of Azure, as they are doing AI work.  From the Azure website "Powering games like Minecraft, Halo, and Sea of Thieves, Azure enables built-in virtual networking and load balancing. Plus, automatically sync between cloud and on-premises systems."   Those are normal services that other games provide.

 

1 hour ago, Krakin said:

MS has provided real world data in flight sims without asking for more than the cost to purchase.

Do you have more information on this?  I was not aware of this.

2 hours ago, Lorby_SI said:

In these large corporations it is customary that one department has to pay for the products of another one

 

1 hour ago, n4gix said:

That is actually a practice in the U.S. Government, State governments and our military as well...

I describe this as taking the money out of the right pocket and putting it left pocket, and vice versa.