5 hours ago, Rimshot said:

Because? They're both very similar, but I find Steam to be less of a hassle. Why is MS Store 'hands down' for you? Might help the OP 😉

It doesn't require Steam to be running as well. Mines (MS store) been installed fro day 1 without issue.

If you're not already using Steam, I don't think it makes much sense to create a brand new Steam account just for a single game. You'll also need the Steam app on your phone for their authenticator if you want to secure the account. The Microsoft Store is already on your PC, and if you're on Win11 you're probably already logging in with a Microsoft account that is linked to the store. The store is the easiest option in your situation.

I've been using the store version since 2020 was released and never had an issue. I also always make sure to install in a custom directory and don't mess around with the betas.

20 hours ago, Funky D said:

If you're not already using Steam, I don't think it makes much sense to create a brand new Steam account just for a single game. You'll also need the Steam app on your phone for their authenticator if you want to secure the account. The Microsoft Store is already on your PC, and if you're on Win11 you're probably already logging in with a Microsoft account that is linked to the store. The store is the easiest option in your situation.

I've been using the store version since 2020 was released and never had an issue. I also always make sure to install in a custom directory and don't mess around with the betas.

Thanks to all for their input. I may just dip in with the standard edition on one of the options before diving in for the Aviator Edition and finding out I made the wrong choice.

2 hours ago, Ratsirt said:

I may just dip in with the standard edition on one of the options before diving in for the Aviator Edition and finding out I made the wrong choice.

Just in case you haven't seen it mentioned, you can also do a 14-day trial of Game Pass for $1 which includes MSFS if you want to test it on your system before buying the full version.

18 hours ago, Funky D said:

Just in case you haven't seen it mentioned, you can also do a 14-day trial of Game Pass for $1 which includes MSFS if you want to test it on your system before buying the full version.

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't have any doubt it will work on my system as it is new and more than capable. I just want to go with the choice that will give me the least trouble.

For DCS I don't use Steam and got directly from DCS as 3rd party modules seem to  be more available and integrate better with the non-steam version.

For MSFS 2024 I use Steam. I already have a Steam account with 90% of my games on it with no real difference IMHO with features for MSFS.  Just convenience as I always have Steam up on my desktop anyways and I find that I get game information a little more easily as developer updates and such are fed into the steam page for MSFS.

6 minutes ago, Ratsirt said:

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't have any doubt it will work on my system as it is new and more than capable. I just want to go with the choice that will give me the least trouble.

Some people who decided to become beta testers for 2024 had issues with the store version.  I started with the MS Store in 2020 and now for 2024 and have had zero problems going on 5 years now.  Be careful listening to a few people here who will go out of their way to promote anything but MS every chance they get, because of sour grapes.  In fact I did a poll early on here in 2020 when some were complaining about the Store version and the vast majority even that early on had no problems with the store install.  I've uninstalled/reinstalled MSFS 2020 three times with no issues.

On 4/21/2025 at 10:33 AM, Fielder said:

If you are going to put msfs2024 on both Xbox Console and PC, then the store version on a PC means msfs and all the assets purchased in the marketplace for it on PC, will be free of all charges on the Xbox console. Same thing if moving from store console to store PC.

Where can I get MSFS 2024 at the discounted price?

Do they sell MSFS for Steam?

1 hour ago, Noel said:

Some people who decided to become beta testers for 2024 had issues with the store version.  I started with the MS Store in 2020 and now for 2024 and have had zero problems going on 5 years now.  Be careful listening to a few people here who will go out of their way to promote anything but MS every chance they get, because of sour grapes.  In fact I did a poll early on here in 2020 when some were complaining about the Store version and the vast majority even that early on had no problems with the store install.  I've uninstalled/reinstalled MSFS 2020 three times with no issues.

Thanks for that info.