April 2024 Asobo Developer Livestream

[peloto 213]

Any word about FS24 Replays or VR?

Edited April 24 by peloto

[MarcG 3,021]

3 minutes ago, Fielder said:

700 people at Asobo, Microsoft, and others working on MSFS. I never understood that. $50,000 salary per year times 700 is 35 million USD a year. Seems like that would not leave much room for profit.

Not sure you've got that right unless they just said it? a few Q&As ago it was 175 at MS/Asobo and 500 spread out through their Partners Program (iniBuilds, Gaya etc)

[lwt1971 7,437]

8 minutes ago, Fielder said:

700 people at Asobo, Microsoft, and others working on MSFS. I never understood that. $50,000 salary per year times 700 is 35 million USD a year. Seems like that would not leave much room for profit.

Well just to be clear Jorg said in this stream that 200 ish people are at Asobo, when he then quoted the 700 figure he also included partner companies like iniBuilds, Orbx, etc. So not all of those companies' employees are directly salaried by MS, but of course MS pays flat amounts to the companies I'd guess for specific contracts like the iniBuild aircraft that are default in the sim, etc.

Needless to say, MS has deep pockets, and is clearly investing a lot in both its core teams as well as partnerships to build the MSFS franchise 🙂
 

Edited April 24 by lwt1971

[Fielder 3,692]

Yea, Seb said the number at Asobo who specifically work on the FS sim is around 200. And Jorg jumped in to add that counting MS and partners and Asobo, the number now working on MSFS sim was about 700.

I do believe it was Jorg who first pitched MSFS to Microsoft. And its success in generating revenue must have turned out to be stupendous, based on the resources now being allocated. Jorg's job is probably safe for years, LOL.

 

[Cognita 1,109]

6 minutes ago, Fielder said:

Yea, Seb said the number at Asobo who specifically work on the FS sim is around 200. And Jorg jumped in to add that counting MS and partners and Asobo, the number now working on MSFS sim was about 700

It also does not mean that every one of those people is an FTE dedicated to MSFS. Some may be allocated .5 FTE or .1 FTE for MSFS, depending on what they do, and then they have responsibilities for other titles. 

[Cognita 1,109]

I think I can assume now that SU15, which is going to be delayed yet again, will basically complete core development on 2020, with it now transitioning to legacy. So, all focus is now on 2024. 

[ca_metal 2,029]

3 minutes ago, Cognita said:

I think I can assume now that SU15, which is going to be delayed yet again, will basically complete core development on 2020, with it now transitioning to legacy. So, all focus is now on 2024. 

That's not what they've said. 2020 will get less Sim updates, but there will be other SUs in the next year (he thinks 2 SU per year).

Eventually 2020 will be considered done, but not right now.

Edited April 24 by ca_metal

[Tuskin38 6,577]

World updates will also continue in 2020, but they won't be as high quality as 2024.

Edited April 24 by Tuskin38

[ca_metal 2,029]

Just now, Tuskin38 said:

World updates will also continue in 2020, but they won't be as high quality as 2024.

I think he was talking about the core development, like AAUs and SUs.

[penta_a 429]

30 minutes ago, MarcG said:

Not everyone switches to the next FIFA(FC) game, not everyone switches to the next Madden game etc etc It seems like a totally bizarre waste of energy to me

it is important for them to have both sims run most of the marketplace add ons, that is where the most of the profit comes from, the sim is a platform, you pick what ever suet you based on your budget and hardware capability.

[MarcG 3,021]

2 minutes ago, penta_a said:

it is important for them to have both sims run most of the marketplace add ons, that is where the most of the profit comes from, the sim is a platform, you pick what ever suet you based on your budget and hardware capability.

I guess that can be one angle but I'm not overly convinced, will be interesting to see if they end up de-listing MSFS2020 next year instead. Time will tell.

[mspencer 432]

3 minutes ago, MarcG said:

I guess that can be one angle but I'm not overly convinced, will be interesting to see if they end up de-listing MSFS2020 next year instead. Time will tell.

I'm almost certain they will.

They're treating the sim like an operating system, which IMO is actually brilliant, because the economic engine that keeps MSFS in development is the Marketplace. If you can keep the 2020 base that don't switch to 2024 and pay the $60 entrance fee relatively up-to-date and with the majority of Marketplace addons still working in their simulator, you'll keep driving sales.

Fail to do that and you're leaving money on the table.

It's a very smart GTM strategy, this is the kind of stuff I do for work and I'm impressed by their approach to this.

Edited April 24 by mspencer

[abrams_tank 7,427]

40 minutes ago, Fielder said:

700 people at Asobo, Microsoft, and others working on MSFS. I never understood that. $50,000 salary per year times 700 is 35 million USD a year. Seems like that would not leave much room for profit.

Not all 700 are working for Microsoft full time. Microsoft contracts out some work and once the contract is done, most of the people at the partner companies move on to otner projects where Microsoft isn't paying them. I don't even know if all 200 people at Asobo working on MSFS 2020, are working on it full time (ie. some are obviously working on MSFS 2024, in parallel witn MSFS 2020).

Edited April 24 by abrams_tank

[ca_metal 2,029]

Just now, mspencer said:

I'm almost certain they will.

They're treating the sim like an operating system, which IMO is actually brilliant, because the economic engine that keeps MSFS in development is the Marketplace. If you can keep the 2020 base that don't switch to 2024 and pay the $60 entrance fee relatively up-to-date and with the majority of Marketplace addons still working in their simulator, you'll keep driving sales.

Fail to do that and you're leaving money on the table.

It's a very smart GTM strategy, this is the kind of stuff I do for work and I'm impressed by their approach to this.

I'm not quite sure because FSX: Steam Edition is still there, after almost 10 years. I know it's not the same thing, but still...

[MarcG 3,021]

7 minutes ago, mspencer said:

I'm almost certain they will.

They're treating the sim like an operating system, which IMO is actually brilliant, because the economic engine that keeps MSFS in development is the Marketplace. If you can keep the 2020 base that don't switch to 2024 and pay the $60 entrance fee relatively up-to-date and with the majority of Marketplace addons still working in their simulator, you'll keep driving sales.

Fail to do that and you're leaving money on the table.

It's a very smart GTM strategy, this is the kind of stuff I do for work and I'm impressed by their approach to this.

But do they keep supporting MSFS2020 for ten years like they claimed before release? Keeping that old dog running with a few sparse users whilst they look to create a potential 3rd iteration of the rejuvenated franchise? It's an interesting concept to copy the OS approach, but this is a game at the end of the day and that's the part where I think they're trying something that simply won't work very well. We have to remember a lot of sales come from Xbox, the next gen xbox won't want MSFS2020 on it, it'll want the MSFS2024 and MSFS2024 only.