Mathijs Kok is Leaving Aerosoft

[Stavros 295]

4 hours ago, Abriael said:

Curious to see where he'll land. 

Some people don't like Mathijs because he says it like it is, without sugar coating stuff. That's exactly (one of the reasons) why I like him. 

Incidentally, he was the project manager for several projects, not the marketing/PR manager. 

Given Aerosoft's track record, I'm not sure I'd want "Project Manager - Aerosoft" on my resume if I wanted to actually receive a job offer!

[Skywolf 993]

I always thought that Mathijs owned Aerosoft

[kiwikat 539]

6 hours ago, Krakin said:

Microsoft nabbed him. I'm willing to bet my life savings on it.

I REALLY hope not.

[Bdub22 1,738]

This is quite simple. The owners of Aerosoft understand the money that can be made now with a modern flight simulator like MSFS. It's quite well understood that he wasn't liked in the community because of the way he would interact with his own customers. A lot of us witnessed with our own eyes how he would engage with people that spent money on his products, almost to the point of harassment. It's of no surprise that the people running the show at Aerosoft finally decided that it was in their best interest to right the ship and rid themselves of weight (and attitude) that was dragging the ship down. I see this a positive and look forward to new leadership at Aerosoft. 

[craigeaglefire 204]

I wish Mathijs a lot of friendly wingflex in his future endeavors...

[St Mawgan 1,559]

Kok Simulations, here we come 😇

[omarsmak30 4,069]

9 hours ago, Krakin said:

Microsoft nabbed him. I'm willing to bet my life savings on it.

Please please please please no no no. I don't care about his approach, but his rudeness against the users plus it is ALWAYS the customer fault on anything, really anything is super annoying and counterproductive.

His departure looks to me he was asked to leave (good move by Aerosoft).

[Dominique_K 10,157]

Any real simmer loves a good speculation 😄

Was the rather unexpected Twin Otter withdraw from the catalogue a writing on the wall of this to come ?

And knowing the long story of AS with MS  and what appears like the recent years subcontracting of the ATR and Porter, I wouldn’t be surprised indeed if MSFS was part of the equation. 

[Dominique_K 10,157]

9 hours ago, Abriael said:

 Some people don't like Mathijs because he says it like it is, without sugar coating stuff. That's exactly (one of the reasons) why I like him. 

What you call sugar coating, I call it courtesy. An useful quality when you are in the business of selling stuff. You may not like it but it makes life easier for everybody. When you antagonize part of your public, take years to get rid of a home snarling troll who harasses your customers, something might be wrong.

 

Edited July 6, 2023 by Dominique_K

[g-liner 415]

Like many of the front men in flight sim developers he’s sometimes a bit of a polarising character for sure. Let’s be honest, Flightsim enthusiasts are also often a bit on the fringes of reasonable behaviour also. It often seems a weird relationship some devs have with the customer. I think as flight simmers really want their products and the forums are full of over the top fawning mixed with overly hash critics, it often leads to an uneasy juxtaposition of god complexes mixed with over defensiveness at criticism. 
 

Sometimes flightsim developers aren’t the best communicators. Shock horror! 

Also, it must be frustrating reading and trying to resolve users issues, especially when some are clearly user error or down to a lack of knowledge of how the aircraft works etc. obviously not all are though and customers are the best source of feedback if you want to fix or continue to develop a product. 

I find his enthusiasm for some products pretty impressive. I really enjoyed his N sea project and his love for it really shone through. It was great watching it evolve on the forums and found him to be fantastic at replying to questions and keeping us updated with developments. Hopefully we’ll also get the Gulf of Mexico one at some point still. 

Edited July 6, 2023 by g-liner

[Ricardo41 6,029]

10 hours ago, Abriael said:

Some people don't like Mathijs because he says it like it is, without sugar coating stuff. 

No, he's just plain rude and insults people. Simple as that. No need to sugarcoat this.

[Fiorentoni 4,653]

I will not miss him. Be gone for good!

As for Aerosoft, I guess it can‘t get any worse with whoever replaces him, so maybe there‘s hope.

As for the A330, this will be a total disaster, I feel it.

[omarsmak30 4,069]

48 minutes ago, Ricardo41 said:

No, he's just plain rude and insults people. Simple as that. No need to sugarcoat this.

Not only this, he doesn't admit when the user is right and he's wrong. Back to CRJ, the combination of Hartman and Mr.Kok were the worse thing ever in the fourms whenever you ask a question or really a slight complain. I am happy he's out and I really don't want him in Asobo either (well there is a real possibility he's joining Asobo/MS)

[bobcat999 8,623]

I liked his direct approach.  I just didn't like his arrogance with it, and the way he pushed off valid criticism and blamed it on the user in some cases, when it obviously wasn't.

There was also the issue with the way he got the excellent freeware tweaks removed from Flightsim.to, that actually turned his mediocre Twin Otter into a half decent aircraft.  (the current Captain Sim owners are the only other developers to do this as far as I know).  By the way, what happened to the Twin Otter?  A few months ago he said we would find out in a few weeks.

And that leads me to my final issue with him, his deception sand smoke screens.  Remember when he said the trim wheel Animation in the Twin Otter was not animating as a conscious decision, because doing so would drastically affect the performance / frame rate, especially for Xbox users!  Then this was fixed a few updates later.    You just never knew where you stood with him.  Maybe he was being ironic or just trying to have a joke, but having any communication with him was a waste of time on most occasions, and was very frustrating.

PS.  I will be surprised if he goes to Microsoft, as his 'communication skills' probably wouldn't fit in with their culture.  Wherever he goes, I wish him all the best, but I would be vary wary about doing any business with his new company / employer.

[F737MAX 6,040]

Seen elsewhere:

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