Just use whatever sim makes you happy.

I made my decision to stick with MSFS2020 after testing both 2020 & 2024.

I'll try again in another year. Maybe by then, MSFS2024 will be a completed sim.

19 hours ago, psolk said:

There are some on these forums who literally said 2020 is a dead sim and no different than FS9, FSX and P3d to them...  Actually I think someone called it Dead in this very thread.  

They killed it off the day '24 was released despite it still being very much alive, still getting updates and still being supported.  

It's like I had a 2024 car and once they announced the 2025 models suddenly my 2024 car was undrivable LOL.  

 

MSFS (the 2020 version) is still being sold by Microsoft. It's in the store, the marketing pages are all still up.

It's still being sold around the world and in my country (and many more) it's against consumer law to sell something without a reasonable product lifespan. People saying 2020 is "dead", "unsupported" etc are really misinformed.

I've even seem people concerned that Microsoft will "turn off" the 2020 servers - huh, what???
A key reason for 2020's upcoming update (16) is to complete 2020's use of the unified cloud content - ie 2020 uses the same digital twin, the same weather data from the same servers. It's the simulator user application layer and to what extent and data elements the two generations of the application (2020 or 2024) interacts and renders the Azure cloud content (digital twin, weather data) that is different between 2020 & 2024.

So what do people mean when they fear Microsoft is going to "turn off" the 2020 servers - after application update 16 they are exactly the same servers that are serving 2024.

I myself own both 2020 and 2024. To me both have a different feel and even targeted to slightly different markets.
I never use 2024 (apart from occasionally looking to see if it's improving).

I use 2020 every day.

 

Edited June 12, 2025Jun 12 by mfahey
Fixing typos

1 hour ago, mfahey said:

I've even seem people concerned that Microsoft will "turn off" the 2020 servers - huh, what???

 

I don't think Microsoft or Jorg said they would "turn off" the MSFS 2020 servers. However, at one of the previous FS Expos, they did say that updates for MSFS 2020 will continue until 2028. In this thread, you can see the PowerPoint slide from the FS Expo where they say this:

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/support-for-msfs-2020/690259

From my understanding, they will keep doing World Updates, Sim Updates, etc, for MSFS 2020 up to 2028.  After 2028, they will probably stop with the Sim Updates and World Updates for MSFS 2020, but just keep the servers on for users still using MSFS 2020  And my understanding is, server wise, because Microsoft owns Azure, it's cheap for them to keep the servers running for MSFS 2020, based on this comment from neihhewitt, who seems to have worked with (not worked for, but with) the Azure team before.

Edited June 12, 2025Jun 12 by abrams_tank

2 hours ago, mfahey said:

So what do people mean when they fear Microsoft is going to "turn off" the 2020 servers

They've done it before, with FSX.  And they did it without warning.  All the flight sim forums lit up with posts about it. 

2020 is here to stay for a considerable time.. any assumptions or fears or FUD about MSFS 2020 "servers being turned off" is of the same quality of claims as some who claim that MS/Asobo will intentionally places issues in future 2020 updates (like SU16) in order to "force" people to move to 2024. All horse manure of course, as we saw with SU16 it was a sedate update that didn't rock the boat too much. And then those concern trolling about MS/Asobo completely and suddenly walking away from MSFS like they did FSX, well I guess to be expected I suppose 🙂

MS/Asobo have committed to sticking with the MSFS franchise for the long haul, so we'll have to take that as their modus operandi for now. Of course as with all big businesses, priorities change so there is not a zero possibility of them leaving the flight simulation business again.. but given the sheer amount of investment MS has poured into the MSFS franchise up until now, the sheer amount of 3rd party partnerships they have going, the wider applications of the MSFS digital twin earth beyond flight simulation, etc etc I very highly doubt they'll just suddenly stop everything without warning.

MS/Asobo have also committed to keep updating and *adding* to 2020 for the next few years, even backporting certain new capabilities from 2024 to 2020. At worst in a few years I'd think the updates and fixes to 2020 might slow down or completely stop, but highly unlikely they'd stop/remove the 2020 services in 2028 even, IMO.

2020 is by no means dead.. but it is also safe to say that as 2024 stabilizes and gets fixed SU after SU (SU3 already seems to have brought 2024 to a good place), and as more and more of the popular/good 3rd party aircraft become available for 2024, then naturally users are going to migrate away from 2020 to 2024. And why wouldn't they, as 2024 is a superset of 2020. This obviously is not a knock on 2020, and it will always be the hallmark sim that ushered in a new era of flight simulation.
 

Edited June 12, 2025Jun 12 by lwt1971

7 minutes ago, lwt1971 said:

2020 is here to stay for a considerable time.. any assumptions or fears or FUD about MSFS 2020 "servers being turned off" is of the same quality of claims as some who claim that MS/Asobo will intentionally places issues in future 2020 updates (like SU16) in order to "force" people to move to 2024. All horse manure of course, as we saw with SU16 it was a sedate update that didn't rock the boat too much. And then those concern trolling about MS/Asobo completely and suddenly walking away from MSFS like they did FSX, well I guess to be expected I suppose 🙂

MS/Asobo have committed to sticking with the MSFS franchise for the long haul, so we'll have to take that as their modus operandi for now. Of course as with all big businesses, priorities change so there is not a zero possibility of them leaving the flight simulation business again.. but given the sheer amount of investment MS has poured into the MSFS franchise up until now, the sheer amount of 3rd party partnerships they have going, the wider applications of the MSFS digital twin earth beyond flight simulation, etc etc I very highly doubt they'll just suddenly stop everything without warning.
 

100% agree!

12 hours ago, GoranM said:

They've done it before, with FSX.  And they did it without warning.  All the flight sim forums lit up with posts about it. 

Not true. There were no streaming servers dedicated for FSX use.

Edited June 12, 2025Jun 12 by udidwht

1 hour ago, udidwht said:

Not true. There were no streaming servers dedicated for FSX use.

maybe he means the old MS Gaming Zone lobbies that people used to use for multiplayer.

2 hours ago, udidwht said:

Not true. There were no streaming servers dedicated for FSX use.

 

1 hour ago, FPVSteve said:

maybe he means the old MS Gaming Zone lobbies that people used to use for multiplayer.

Microsoft turned off the authentication and activation servers for FSX a few years after it came out. We were stuck with a “failed to authenticate message” when starting FSX, rendering it useless. It took them over a year to find a solution so we could run it again. 

Edited June 13, 2025Jun 13 by GoranM

According to my standard msfs2024 will be ready in November 2025, one year after the fake launch; in the meantime I'm very happy with MSFS2020

On 6/12/2025 at 12:25 AM, mfahey said:

I've even seem people concerned that Microsoft will "turn off" the 2020 servers - huh, what???

I play 2K Sports PGA Tour 2021.  Its servers will be turned off permanently on Oct 15 or 30th so certainly can happen.  If n when MS does this I'm sure it will be WAY down the road.

21 hours ago, GoranM said:

 

Microsoft turned off the authentication and activation servers for FSX a few years after it came out. We were stuck with a “failed to authenticate message” when starting FSX, rendering it useless. It took them over a year to find a solution so we could run it again. 

Still apples to oranges compared to 2020/2024. There were avenues around the FSX issue even before MS did anything.

6 hours ago, udidwht said:

There were avenues around the FSX issue even before MS did anything.

Can you expand on that?  

FSX was dead for, IIRC, about a year before something was done and we can load it up again.  It was the first time I tried X-Plane, with most of my simming still done in FS9. 

The rage against Microsoft was pretty intense in these forums.

2 hours ago, GoranM said:

The rage against Microsoft was pretty intense in these forums.

It always is.

1 hour ago, bailout said:

It always is.

I noticed.  They rage, and they still buy their products.  

🤷‍♂️