MSFS download numbers

[fppilot 4,368]

3 hours ago, hansb57 said:

So if you have 5000 downloads and 10 updates that MIGHT mean that only 500 different people downloaded 10 different versions.

On the other hand here in this discussion is the evident fact that a clear characteristic of the previous simulators is that they are very mature and the users have very mature collections/installations.  I logged just over 400 hours last year as an example and 72% of those hours were in previous simulations.  I am very close to those figures on a rolling 12 month basis.  However in regard to downloads I am overwhelmingly accumulating MSFS addons. 

As an example, I have well over 300 addon airports for FSX SE and have found little need to look for more.  I have flown into and out of each of them since 2010 (FSX/FSX SE), but the number of new FSX related airports I have flown into in the last year is 5.  I just already have and have had the others.

MSFS is different in that regard.  Despite the higher quality of most MSFS default airports, the community as a whole has been busy making enhancements to them.  That is fantastic to say the least.  I have so far accumulated 138 airport mods for MSFS. The vast majority of those are among airports I have visited in FSX/FSX SE.  So 138 MSFS DL's vs perhaps 5 FSX DL's since MSFS release.  As a statistic that is overwhelming.  But if I were first starting to accumulate for both sims simultaneously the number would be more even. 

I don't need to hear about the age of my previous sim.  I still log more than 70% of my hours there for a variety of reasons.  Depth of systems and modeling in aircraft models ( Realair, A2A, Milviz, and more Carenado than are yet available for MSFS), weather engine and weather textures, avionics, and more.  I am accumulating for MSFS for the promise of the future (lets see what 7/27 brings) and hopes to score an RTX 3 series GPU.

Stats are only stats and can always be stacked in a manner to make a preferred point.  But there also are wider ranges of vision as we see playing out in this topic.  Let's just not see it start to careen.  Not good for the activity.

Edited July 15, 2021 by fppilot

[MDFlier 2,031]

The charts that Michael linked to show that MSFS consistently has 3x to 4x the number users playing than FSX or X-Plane (I think that's the 1st time I ever mentioned XP on Avsim) at any time. I see that as encouraging. If you total up all of the users for all 3 major platforms (lumping FSX/P3D together here), flight simulation as a whole is absolutely booming. 6,548 average users over the past 30 days for all 3 vs. ~2,400 for the 2 legacy platforms. That's pretty close to a 175% increase in average users on Steam alone. I'd love to know how many non Steam users are also online for all 3.  

Almost everyone uses newly purchased software more than usual right after we first install it, and then our usage habits go back to normal. I do most of my flight simming in the fall and winter, less in spring, and hardly at all during the summer (mostly when it rains), so we need to account for seasonal usage as well. When my boat has to sit on land again, I'll be flying much more.

We all know that MSFS has still not reached it's final state. When it gets closer to being "finished", i believe the number of users will increase even more. If Fenix releases the A320 and it turns out to be as good as it appears, and PMDG gets the NGXu into MSFS with the same functionality it currently has in P3d, and companies like A2A get their product line into MSFS, I believe the lid is going to blow off of this thing. Katie bar the door as they say.

The future's so bright, I gotta wear aviators. 😎

[RobJC 2,069]

One thing that has held me back from flying more in MSFS is performance. A lot of people got really excited about MSFS, bought it, tried it, realized they needed to upgrade their pc, and then found out they couldn’t due to shortages. This is why the update on the 27th is so important. 

Given all of that, MSFS is still a huge success and will continue to be a cash cow for many many years to come. They hit a home run with this one.  

[pmb 5,137]

29 minutes ago, RobJC said:

One thing that has held me back from flying more in MSFS is performance. A lot of people got really excited about MSFS, bought it, tried it, realized they needed to upgrade their pc, and then found out they couldn’t due to shortages. This is why the update on the 27th is so important. 

When I first learned about MSFS and saw the video clips I was absolutely convinced I'll need to buy a new machine. I was completely perplexed when I was admitted to the alpha early on - and my machine (see sig) handled the beast perfectly and even with high settings. And it still does. That's the first time in sim history that I can enjoy a current sim on my current machine without waiting for some cray to come around the corner. 

Now this is mostly with GA planes and I would enjoy better performance under VR to raise AA settings a notch or two, but overall I am still surprised what eye candy can be achieved.

So, I would encourage anyone with lacking performance to further investigate if there's some setting thwarting you. I once had this, e.g. when HAGS (Hardware Accelerated Graphics Scheduling) was set to on after some obscure Windows Update. And there may be well a few more potential gremlins waiting to be uncovered.

Kind regards, Michael

[RobJC 2,069]

1 hour ago, pmb said:

When I first learned about MSFS and saw the video clips I was absolutely convinced I'll need to buy a new machine. I was completely perplexed when I was admitted to the alpha early on - and my machine (see sig) handled the beast perfectly and even with high settings. And it still does. That's the first time in sim history that I can enjoy a current sim on my current machine without waiting for some cray to come around the corner. 

Now this is mostly with GA planes and I would enjoy better performance under VR to raise AA settings a notch or two, but overall I am still surprised what eye candy can be achieved.

So, I would encourage anyone with lacking performance to further investigate if there's some setting thwarting you. I once had this, e.g. when HAGS (Hardware Accelerated Graphics Scheduling) was set to on after some obscure Windows Update. And there may be well a few more potential gremlins waiting to be uncovered.

Kind regards, Michael

I agree that you can get decent performance out of the sim depending on your settings, but even after a lot of tweaking I took about a month off due to frustration with stutters. Hopefully the update on the 27th eliminates those!  

[Bobsk8 12,706]

15 minutes ago, RobJC said:

I agree that you can get decent performance out of the sim depending on your settings, but even after a lot of tweaking I took about a month off due to frustration with stutters. Hopefully the update on the 27th eliminates those!  

Started with MSFS. Feb 1. Had tons of CTDs until my GPU was changed, but never had stutters, then and even now. Mine runs smooth as silk.

[RobJC 2,069]

12 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

Started with MSFS. Feb 1. Had tons of CTDs until my GPU was changed, but never had stutters, then and even now. Mine runs smooth as silk.

PC specs?

[DAD 2,650]

8 hours ago, Bobsk8 said:

The number of downloads , averaging them, shows the interest that simmers have in MSFS 2020. That's obvious. 

Within the first six months, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 had more than 2 million users, making it the fastest launch of any version in the nearly 40-year history of the title. 

source: https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/games/blog/microsoft-flight-simulator-the-future-of-game-develop

 

[fppilot 4,368]

37 minutes ago, DAD said:

Within the first six months, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 had more than 2 million users, making it the fastest launch of any version in the nearly 40-year history of the title. 

And just consider how much better off we are now.  Over all those previous versions friends and family squinted there eyes and sometimes asked "now why did you need that newer computer"? 

They no longer need to ask...  LOL!  😜 

Edited July 15, 2021 by fppilot

[heavy1216 35]

MSFS has me hooked. Most times now, I exclusively fly on MSFS unless I hope back in XP and fly the Zibo Mod. I went back into P3Dv5 the other day and was like "yea i'll go fly the FBW A320 in MSFS". I don't know about y'all but it just makes me happy to fly in MSFS. I miss my airliners in P3D sometimes but the scenery just isn't there. MSFS will have you hooked visually. 

[Chock 17,769]

20 hours ago, psolk said:

Maybe it's just me but I don't think I remember ANYTHING in FSX, P3D or XPlane with 275,000 downloads

I should think things like the Tin Mouse 737 and the MJ DC-3 probably surpassed those numbers. Not saying they aren't impressive numbers for MSFS, but it was inevitable that a freebie helicopter was going to get a download figure which was high given the fact that it was the only helicopter available, and that it was free.

Worth bearing in mind too that comparing this, which appears to be the major resource for MSFS downloads, to just one site's download library (i.e. Avsim's) for FSX or P3D stuff, is not really going to be an equivalent figure anyway, since you can also D/L free stuff from a lot of other places too, many of which are trafficked far more than Avsim's library.

[Chock 17,769]

20 hours ago, psolk said:

Maybe it's just me but I don't think I remember ANYTHING in FSX, P3D or XPlane with 275,000 downloads

I should think things like the Tin Mouse 737 and the MJ DC-3 probably surpassed those numbers. Not saying they aren't impressive numbers for MSFS, but it was inevitable that a freebie helicopter was going to get a download figure which was high given the fact that it was the only helicopter available, and that it was free.

Worth bearing in mind too that comparing this, which appears to be the major resource for MSFS downloads, to just one site's download library (i.e. Avsim's) for FSX or P3D stuff, is not really going to be an equivalent figure anyway, since you can also D/L free stuff from a lot of other places too, many of which are trafficked far more than Avsim's library.

[Chock 17,769]

21 hours ago, psolk said:

Maybe it's just me but I don't think I remember ANYTHING in FSX, P3D or XPlane with 275,000 downloads

I should think things like the Tin Mouse 737 and the MJ DC-3 probably surpassed those numbers. Not saying they aren't impressive numbers for MSFS, but it was inevitable that a freebie helicopter was going to get a download figure which was high given the fact that it was the only helicopter available, and that it was free.

Worth bearing in mind too that comparing this, which appears to be the major resource for MSFS downloads, to just one site's download library (i.e. Avsim's) for FSX or P3D stuff, is not really going to be an equivalent figure anyway, since you can also D/L free stuff from a lot of other places too, many of which are trafficked far more than Avsim's library.

18 hours ago, abrams_tank said:

I consider flight simmers that subscribe to Navigraph as more of the "hard core" flight simulator users

I consider flight simmers who subscribe to Navigraph to be annoying rivet-counting pilot-wannabe nerds with a serious sense-of-humour-bypass. 🤣

Not all of them of course, but I'm willing to bet that it is a large ratio. 😉

Edited July 16, 2021 by Chock

[Ricardo41 5,949]

IMHO, no matter how you dice and slice the numbers, it's clear that MSFS is the only flight sim with a healthy commercial future, because:

1) A dedicated development team that actually listens to feedback
2) A terrifically good base simulator - basically, you can enjoy this sim "straight out of the box"
3) A vibrant mod community
4) Relatively modest hardware requirements, i.e., looks good even on lower/low settings
5) Developing more advanced avionics within the sim - e.g., the forthcoming WT G1000 Nxi
6) Will be released for the latest XBox consoles
7) Complex aircraft will be released soon

etc etc.

I also notice a significant decrease in the typical negative threads that we had at the beginning.

[JBDB-MD80 1,473]

Never understood these "gloat" threads. Just enjoy the game/sim as for what is is and don't worry about whats going on over your shoulder or what has been said in the past. Threads like these have "bait the not so welcome" written all over it.