I think Lockheed Martin will be fine.

After all it is Prepar3D that powers sims such as the ones in the links below.

https://melbourne.flightexperience.com.au/

And the Simulator Room (last pic in the link).

https://aviationphotodigest.com/raaf-the-next-generation/

I'm now finally dumping FS9, thinking of abandoning X-Plane 11 as well, it is simply a more cartoonish version of FS2020 now.

I will keep FSX and P3D v4 for nostalgic reasons and because I have a ton of add-ons which will be nice to revisit and compare with FS2020 out of interest. But as soon as that novelty wears off, I will probably dump them as well. So yeah, in my case, no more investment in FSX/P3D or X-Plane add-ons. Everything will now be focussed on FS2020

Don't be fooled. P3D makes a lot of money from flight simmers. It's not nothing.

1 hour ago, mazex said:

.I really am feeling bad about the teams at Laminar and Lockheed that for many years has kept this hobby alive. Lockheed has some other sources of income so not so much for them naturally.

Sure - they have known this for a year, but I think that many of us after actually having tried MSFS realize that it really is game over for them. For a year or two before complex aircraft are migrated they have a role to fill. But no third party developer will put down money on new complex content for P3D or XP unless it's easy to migrate from new MSFS models. I sure would stop any such ideas if I was on the board of those companies.

...

I will speak of P3D only, never been interested in XP.

Yes, P3D faces a real challenge, short term and medium term. But we shouldn’t assume that they will stay on their two feet waiting for their demise 

Their consumer market is in danger of shrinking significantly now and there is not much that they can do within a year, except if they work for 5.1  on something groundbreaking, ATC, weather or a more convincing implementation of TrueSKY and WW. The MSF « imperfect » release gives them a little time but they’d better move their behind fast to anchor at least the simmers who have the desire to stay but are uncertain.

Their institutional market faces the same grave danger within two/three years when MSF will be stable enough for MS to enter into it, specially the civil institutional market. The military institutional market is unclear as we don’t know what MS is cooking in their hidden kitchen. MS is also a defense contractor. The LM horizon is v6. 

The good news is that LM has all the enormous technological resources to do at least as well as MS/Asobo. Does the corporate want to put money into it, is the question. I hope but I am doubtful.

Edited August 22, 20205 yr by Dominique_K

37 minutes ago, Adrian123 said:

IMO, MSFS graphics accomplished in 1yr what Xplane has been trying to accomplish in 20+yrs of development. The strong will adapt and survive. I feel bad for Blockbuster and the touch tone phone. 😉

Nope, XP never tried. That's the point. Now they try, but that's just catching up.

Poor Lockheed Martin... Sob... They're down to their last $7.2 Billion... What will become of them?

LM won't be in the slightest bit concerned. P3D is a training solution. If LM wanted P3D to have the new MS FS flight sim's flight model - although god knows why they would, because it's bloody awful at the moment and would make their mission simulator P3D about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike - then they could simply licence the new base sim off MS, as they did with ESP.

Poor Laminar Research... Sniff... Austin... Can barely afford to run... His Ferrari... his Tesla... and his custom-built turbocharged Lancair Evolution. The poor little lamb.

Austin's got fingers in load of pies, so like LM, his sim work is not merely catering for Joe Blow. But even then, his more accessible stuff is a moneyspinner; his mobile phone version of Xplane alone, makes over 100,000 Dollars a month, so he's hardly on the breadline. Besides which, Austin's basically a bit crackers (but still a very nice bloke, a bit like your mad genius uncle or some such). His number one concern is Austin, but not because of ego, just because that's the way he is. Additionally, he's produced films and he's clearly got some political ambitions too. Which means one day he'll probably make his own crazy billionaire version of The Triumph of the Will or something. 🤣

 

Edited August 22, 20205 yr by Chock

10 minutes ago, Dominique_K said:

The good news is that LM has all the enormous technological resources to do at least as well as MS/Asobo.

Do they? Asobo is very specialized in graphics rendering, graphics art techniques, and other gaming development. 

X-Plane v11.50 runs extremely well. I will continue to use XP and it actually works better. I'm sure that it will be improved due to the competition.

10 minutes ago, Slides said:

Do they? Asobo is very specialized in graphics rendering, graphics art techniques, and other gaming development. 

Which is why they made a great Bing Simulator with arcade gaming elements, yeah. 
 

The flight model is a mess so far. Don’t get me wrong, I love the sim’s potential but the planes are way too twitchy and the constant movement in the air feels more like random movement that’s faking something real. 

Edited August 22, 20205 yr by flycln

1 hour ago, mazex said:

But if you do all the research, 3D modelling etc for an aircraft that you release in P3D you should have a good starting point to release it for XP?

But that did not happen -- exceptions are Carenado/Alabeo and Just Flight, and for all three the same X-Plane developer (Dan Klaue / Thranda) made most of the "porting" (or better: re-creation, in terms of workload). Then there are a few MilViz planes and there was a PMDG attempt on a X-Plane 10 aircraft. But the majority of addons has no relation to FSX/P3D at all, so saying "But no third party developer will put down money on new complex content for P3D or XP unless it's easy to migrate from new MSFS models" makes no real sense.

 

Note: I only talk about X-Plane, not FSX/P3D. The step from FSX/P3D to MFS is like a natural evolution, both for users and developers. The step from XP to MFS for users is also quite simple. As I said, I agree with you that several XP users will switch to MFS. But the step from XP to MFS for XP developers (!) does not seem very easy and natural -- it definitely requires work, since developing for XP is really very different.

 

LOL.

The other flightsims might even benefit from the new flight simmers that enter the hobby via FS2020. Also give it some time, the longer you use FS2020 the more problems and peculiarities you will notice. 
 

For now FS2020 is perfect to discover new parts of the world / sightseeing with GA aircraft. However as soon as I compare it with my own X-Plane ‘special spots’ (upgraded with free stuff like OrthoXP and some landmark packs) there are several problems that immediately become apparent. 
 

For those places (Belle-Île LFEA, Saint Valery Vittefleur LFOS, Texel EHTX to name a few) I get way better visuals in freeware upgraded X-Plane. I also can’t believe FS2020 lacks simple stuff like powerlines & railways. That’s data you can get from open street maps for free!

3 minutes ago, boshar said:

I also can’t believe FS2020 lacks simple stuff like powerlines & railways. That’s data you can get from open street maps for free!

Yup, given its go explore VFR ambitions, HT wires should be a major feature of the new sim; they are a massive hazard to low flying aeroplanes and for the people who just want a bit of fun, they're a thing to fly your aeroplane under. I think the statistics are in the thousands for damage to power lines from aircraft each year.

29 minutes ago, flycln said:

(...) feels more like random movement that’s faking something real. 

Newsflash: it is faking something real. That is what a simulator does. 

34 minutes ago, flycln said:

Which is why they made a great Bing Simulator with arcade gaming elements, yeah. 
 

The flight model is a mess so far. Don’t get me wrong, I love the sim’s potential but the planes are way too twitchy and the constant movement in the air feels more like random movement that’s faking something real. 

So basically what I just said, which is that LM doesn't have the skill to do what Asobo did. We're trying to simulate flight in the real world. It's not just an airplane simulator.

If you want you can continue to fly in P3D with its scripted turbulence, wind and ugly graphics.

Oh here's someone with 13,000 hours who disagrees with you.

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/real-world-pilots-please-state-your-feedback-about-the-flight-model/150771/94

"ATP with 13 000 hours, rated on quite a few of the types in the sim, currently on B738’s. I have about 1000 hours instructing on C172’s which is probably the most relevant…and I must say, it really feels like flying a light aircraft all over again. Far, far better feel than my past experience of FS (all the way from the original, to P3D), but I’ve never owned Xplane, only played the demo’s."