Today I'm building a new computer specifically to run VR in MSFS 2020, DCS, and racing Sims.  I am not a gamer and it appears most folks are getting their games and also MSFS 2020 from Steam.  What is the advantage of getting MSFS 2020 (also DCS and others) from Steam as opposed to just buying MSFS 2020 directly from Microsoft or some other retailer and installing it from a USB stick? 

The update process is much smoother with Steam .

Thanks for the input.

I have Microsoft version, never had any issues with update ( touch wood)

Edited May 27, 20224 yr by Bozdog

I was told by a flight-sim freeware developer, who had bought MSFS through the Microsoft marketplace, that if he could start again, he would buy it through Steam. I honestly can't give you the side-by-side comparison, pros and cons etc. because I simply don't know, but he is well known in the flight sim world, and his word was good enough for me. I bought the sim just before Christmas 2021, installed everything on the same drive ( Steam library and MSFS itself ), and all the updates have been straight forward and hassle-free. But then, as Bozdog says above, many people who've bought directly from MS have had no problems either. If I had to buy again, I'd stick with Steam, and that's really the only recommendation I can give.

Thanks all for your inputs.  I went ahead and bought it from STEAM.  Just finished building and setting up my new computer, so haven't had a chance to use MSFS 2020 yet but looking forward to it.  Will probably first build my VR Sim Cockpit and get all the controls set up and working with it before I start using it.  I've got an HP Reverb G2 V2 so hope that will be sufficient running off my RTX 3080 Ti and i9-10900K.