At this point leaks are becoming inevitable, because the leakers don't have much to lose. Their alpha access will become meaningless once the game is out, which will be in just one month from now.

It's almost like Microsoft and Asobo don't want to us to see more than a few carefully curated images and clips that don't necessarily convey how MSFS really looks and performs.

 

Edited July 18, 20205 yr by thepilot

On the Flip side, the next 4 weeks are going to fly by anyhow. Pun Intended 😀

I am not a tester (though I would give an arm and a leg to be), but a buying customer. I have pre-ordered the premium deluxe edition like probably most or many of you. I really wish they would lift the nda since we are so close to release. It shouldnt come as a big surprise that im really excited about msfs and currently i need to visit the shadier areas of the web to get my itch scratched. Id rather get my fill directly from ms or the testers openly. 

If they also ban the user's access to the finished version, or even their entire Microsoft account, then there is much to lose actually. I don't know what the exact punishment is, but I'd be surprised if it's just Alpha access being taken away.

Lifting the NDA on an unfinished, buggy pre-release version wouldn't make much sense with release in just a month from now. In fact, I don't think the NDA concerning Alpha footage will ever be lifted.

If lifting the nda a month from release is a big problem i think ms and asobo has bigger problems waiting for them...

You can make alot of changes in a month.  Also,   I think some known streamers will be allowed to stream closer to the release date..  Not so much so that they worry others will intentionally fly from the areas with known bad satellite imagery intentionally to put azure to the test and hightlight flaws. But because they actually know how to fly an airplane.

 

I would say if you have that concern (its legit) then dont pre-order..

Edited July 18, 20205 yr by Wewk584

6 minutes ago, Andreas Stangenes said:

If lifting the nda a month from release is a big problem i think ms and asobo has bigger problems waiting for them...

Lifting the NDA means that footage from the earlier Alpha builds can also be uploaded. At this point it's just not worth the hassle. After all, they're now partnering with content creators to showcase the simulator, which means we could soon have high-quality footage without terrible flying, awful compression and obstructive watermarks.

Nowhere in the universe does it say that when you lift the nda do you have to lift it for prdvious iterations. Ms could simply lift it for all new photage going forward while keeping the nda for previous iterations in effect. 

10 minutes ago, Andreas Stangenes said:

Nowhere in the universe does it say that when you lift the nda do you have to lift it for prdvious iterations. Ms could simply lift it for all new photage going forward while keeping the nda for previous iterations in effect. 

You're right, but do you really expect that footage from an early alpha build would not be uploaded and criticized to the nth degree? Of course it would. I'm just as keen as everyone else to get my hands on this new sim but its 4 weeks, patience is a virtue as they say.

I understand what you are saying, but I dont really agree that we should just wait. By your logic, lifting the nda from here on out while keeping it in effect for previous iterations would be ignored by most people, but simply keeping all of the NDA in effect would make everyone behave and in line? I don't really see why people would respect an nda more if its a blanket nda rather than just specific nda for previous iterations? 

I'm not at all suggesting ignorance by people. But to believe that a previous alpha build would also not be uploaded is a little naïve don't you think. A simple honest mistake of not reading the fine print and uploading a video with the belief that the NDA for MSF had been lifted is all it would take for the critics to latch onto. Although it's easy to read that my logic is about keeping everyone in line, dishonesty and all that which I can assure its not, but I also understand why the NDA may not be lifted in order to keep any critics out of the shooting gallery until the build can be put out to the usual youtube channels for review.

There is no gain for MS/Asobo to lift the NDA. I think you all will just have to wait it out.

I assume what is being tested is probably not the final release. Why would they want to show anything that is not the final product if it could influence preorders. There will always be leakers. That's sad that they agreed to test under an NDA and have chosen to break the rules. Not hardly  surprising in this day and age however. 

I along with many others have no problem waiting it out. Geez it's what about 4 weeks!

 

 

Edited July 18, 20205 yr by tpete61

First of all, the testers now have the Beta v0.9 installed. So, no more Alpha being used at all.

Secondly, the NDA is not going to be rescinded, so no amount of caterwauling is going to make a bit of difference... 😊

Lift the NDA is a very complicated decision. As previously mentioned, not only footage from the beta will be released but also footage from earlier alpha releases months ago, which can contain a multitude of bugs and glitches.

There is something else too. I don't know if I can say this here, but I have a friend who is a beta tester. He didn't explain it to me properly, but it seems that the simulator has two physics modes: Legacy and Modern. He didn't like the Legacy mode. Aircrafts in this mode are very easy to fly, even looking like an arcade game. Modern has much more realistic physics. He said it's very close to X-Plane 11 physics.

So, when the NDA is lifted, how do we know if the physics in the gameplay are in Modern or Legacy mode? People who don't know the information above will think that there is only one physics mode in the simulator. If it's in Legacy mode, they'll complain that it looks like an arcade game.

So, there are several factors to consider. Lift the NDA is not a simple decision and I think MS/Asobo would have more to lose if they choose to lift.

Edited July 18, 20205 yr by edu2703

Yeah and the bank should just give me a few hundreds pounds every week because in the grand scheme of things it's not going to hurt them right?