IIRC, Lars did say that MSFS would be a 10 year supported commitment from the MS team.   Meaning that this year, MSFS is almost 1/3 into its supported life cycle.   That's quite far already.  Yet it still feels like a brand new sim.

Edited January 10, 20233 yr by ErichB

MS will pump money into this platform as long as it continues to make money for them. So far, this title seems to be doing quite well, so who knows, but — suffice to say, I think 10 years was a conservative estimate. 

23 minutes ago, Bdub22 said:

MS will pump money into this platform as long as it continues to make money for them. So far, this title seems to be doing quite well, so who knows, but — suffice to say, I think 10 years was a conservative estimate. 

Yes, the ten year thing has been debunked by Jorg and the Asobo team on the twitch sessions and other interviews, even though they said it initially.
They said they were just trying to demonstrate some commitment, but the sim will roll on for as long as people are using it and it is generating revenue - so it is open ended.

I thought they might relaunch MSFS every few years (i.e. we pay again for MSFS 2025 etc.), but it seems the marketplace is generating the income stream, and that will keep on growing.

The main threat to the sim's existence is if there is a change at the top of Microsoft.  If ever Jorg leaves, the sim might not be supported from the top.
Remember the ACES team being disbanded?  And even FSX was unloaded to Dovetail games at the end.
Ironically, as much as PC users might not like it, the sim being on the XBox creates a pretty good anchor for it in the Microsoft inventory.

 

 

51 minutes ago, ErichB said:

IIRC, Lars did say that MSFS would be a 10 year supported commitment from the MS team.   Meaning that this year, MSFS is almost 1/3 into its supported life cycle.   That's quite far already.  Yet it still feels like a brand new sim.

The sim looks brand new because Asobo keeps adding shining new features, at least that's one way to look at it. If you mean the sim doesn't look mature, I agree. It isn't but it is getting there.

What was meant when they said they were "in it for 10 years' was that it was a long term commitment. Probably we should read it as at least 10 years, but as others have stated, as long as the sim makes money chances are it will be supported and even improved, expanded etc.

Microsoft does have a dubious record when it comes to discarding products that don't fit in their executive's plans so hopefully the sim keeps making them loads of money. The cost of the online services for MSFS must be huge but compared to the whole Azure/Bing services it's probably not that significant. If Microsoft can use the same technology for other products we almost are guaranteed long term support.

The sucky part is, MSFS will never be fully independent offline software like past sims, as those days are long gone.

Hopefully Flight Sim Titles from Microsoft will stay around and consistent the next 40 years.

 

One of the big differences is that MSFS is a very popular title on Xbox Gamepass (for both PC and Xbox) which continues to generate generous monthly incomes. The whole market has changed drastically since the old FSX days.  

7 minutes ago, rocketlaunch said:

One of the big differences is that MSFS is a very popular title on Xbox Gamepass (for both PC and Xbox) which continues to generate generous monthly incomes. The whole market has changed drastically since the old FSX days.  

This is true.  Making the title mainstream via the xbox console was a smart move

 

1 hour ago, bobcat999 said:

The main threat to the sim's existence is if there is a change at the top of Microsoft.  If ever Jorg leaves, the sim might not be supported from the top.
Remember the ACES team being disbanded?

Remember that all too well.   Steve Balmer is the guy who killed it off after Billy Boy left.

Many things have improved, but to me it feels like the same sim.

37 minutes ago, DJJose said:

Many things have improved, but to me it feels like the same sim.

No way does it feel like the same sim to me.  

3 hours ago, bobcat999 said:

I thought they might relaunch MSFS every few years (i.e. we pay again for MSFS 2025 etc.), but it seems the marketplace is generating the income stream, and that will keep on growing.

My guess is, they will probably focus on a successor for MSFS to be released around the 10 year mark. Maybe they will release MSFS 2, in 2030. If Microsoft can get all of us to buy a new version of MSFS and make a nice profit off of that, I'm sure that's what they will do.

Also, I have always said Microsoft will target the commercial market at some point. MSFS would be a huge waste, if Microsoft didn't attempt to enter the commercial market. There is a lot of money to be made in the commercial market, and I'm sure Jorge and the execs above him, are aware of this. 

P3D cycle lasted (in my own simming world) more than 8 years. FS2004 - 12 years!!!. 

4 hours ago, bobcat999 said:

Yes, the ten year thing has been debunked by Jorg and the Asobo team on the twitch sessions and other interviews, even though they said it initially.
They said they were just trying to demonstrate some commitment, but the sim will roll on for as long as people are using it and it is generating revenue - so it is open ended.

I thought they might relaunch MSFS every few years (i.e. we pay again for MSFS 2025 etc.), but it seems the marketplace is generating the income stream, and that will keep on growing.

The main threat to the sim's existence is if there is a change at the top of Microsoft.  If ever Jorg leaves, the sim might not be supported from the top.
Remember the ACES team being disbanded?  And even FSX was unloaded to Dovetail games at the end.
Ironically, as much as PC users might not like it, the sim being on the XBox creates a pretty good anchor for it in the Microsoft inventory.

 

 

This is why I still buy add-ons at the Marketplace as much as I can to support the sim. Hopefully, with many others doing the same, the sim can stand the test of time for many years to come. 

1 hour ago, ErichB said:

No way does it feel like the same sim to me.  

What do you mean? How is it different for you?

For me, the airplanes that I flew in the beginning were very good. After the GNS and GTN units were added, the airplanes still feel the same. Some new airplanes have been release the the platform is still MSFS.

The sim scenery & airports are as beautiful as they were when MSFS was released, the live weather has not changed much, and the same issues that I had to deal wit such as poor operating AI & ATC are still there. I still see trees that look like rocks and cars still drive under bridges. I could go on and on, but the positives outweigh the negatives.

Lastly, I enjoy the sim and still cringe after every new WU release.

1 hour ago, abrams_tank said:

Maybe they will release MSFS 2, in 2030. If Microsoft can get all of us to buy a new version of MSFS and make a nice profit off of that, I'm sure that's what they will do.

I think the MSFS architecture is such that it will be able to move a lot with the hardware and times w/o a wholesale re-write.  As satellite data improves, so will it, automatically.  Already the quality of work done not only in scenery, airports, planes, etc is so good it's hard to imagine how they will ultimately improve except in ways which will move w/ the hardware:  higher resolution textures primary.

4 hours ago, ErichB said:

Remember that all too well.   Steve Balmer is the guy who killed it off after Billy Boy left.

That was such a sad day, losing both Flight Simulator and the new Train Simulator in one fell swoop.  Then I had to try and explain to my wife why I was so bummed out 🙁 

It all turned out though, just took some time.

Edited January 10, 20233 yr by regis9