What, among the following "business models" would you accept or even prefer, for the future of MSFS?

Edited October 19, 2025Oct 19 by jcomm

Happy with the present model. 

Voted 3)

4 minutes ago, jcomm said:

Voted 3)

Why subscription? 

5) The present model, with Marketplace, but the possibility to buy / install and manage addons outside of a centralized Marketplace; And the Marketplace should be a place where I can be sure that no word not allowed like MScenery etc is sold. It should be a qualitiy Marketplace!

28 minutes ago, St Mawgan said:

Why subscription? 

Depending on trhe amount, it would keep the necessary income for MS to have ggod reasons to keep MSFS up & raining for a longer while... invest in better development / testing cycles, implement more effectively the stuff users and developers ask for, have teams dedicated to work with external developers to make response to bugs and limitations as well as requests for new features more effective.

That all needs work, and heck if I have a Navigraph subscription for a lot less, why not an MSFS / XP one?

Present system works fine. People have the choice of marketplace or outside. 

40 minutes ago, jcomm said:

Depending on trhe amount, it would keep the necessary income for MS to have ggod reasons to keep MSFS up & raining for a longer while... invest in better development / testing cycles, implement more effectively the stuff users and developers ask for, have teams dedicated to work with external developers to make response to bugs and limitations as well as requests for new features more effective.

That all needs work, and heck if I have a Navigraph subscription for a lot less, why not an MSFS / XP one?

I think they would lose a lot of customers (me included) and the income generated would be small. 

I like the present 2024 system, especially the choice of streamed or downloaded if you have to buy from the Marketplace. 

1 hour ago, jcomm said:

Voted 3)

Good God, why!?

MSFS already has a subscription model in Xbox Game Pass. 

The further development of all this stuff comes from the 30% cut MS receives from the store. There seems to be absolutely no sign of a slowdown in development.

I like buying from the store too but choice is good. 

You might not be aware of what's been happening over at DCS these last eighteen months but their business model is in trouble. 

Subscription? You can stick it where the sun doesn't shine as far as I'm concerned...

Yea, the present model seems fine to me; it offers people choice in where they purchase and developers options as to where to sell. In fact, I am a little impressed that Microsoft took such an open approach, something after the announcement of 2020 many people did not think they would do. As for revenue, we have no idea how much MSFS earns, but from what I know about how online entertainment divisions work I think they are doing just fine.

Why Subscription, depending on the price?

Because I pay for it in navigraph and I expect their products to be constantly supported, updated, enhanced, tested...

In order to have that in a complex flightsim like MSFS a lot of work is required, and that costs a lot of €€€/$$$ and I don't want the managers at top MS to do with MSFS what they did to one of my preferred ever Sims... Ms FLIGHT...

Ms FLIGHT 's fate created the "Uninstaller" 😁. It was such a disapointment that I started that endless cycle between DCS, P3d, XP, il2... which MSFS broker, and I am now even more addict to FS 2024 than I was to Ms FLIGHT. And yes I also love xp12, and want it tobgrowcand keep getting even better!!!

Edited October 19, 2025Oct 19 by jcomm

2 hours ago, jcomm said:

Because I pay for it in navigraph and I expect their products to be constantly supported, updated, enhanced, tested...

MSFS is already finacially supported through the marketplace, xbox game pass subscriptions and full sales from Steam and the Microsoft Store. 

I genuinely can't see why we would need to add a subscription to the mix.

Explain what the point of your poll is?

Seems like it's pretty useless information unless you're going to lobby Microsoft for some type of change.

 

I really do not understand this attraction to subscriptions for a game like MSFS, the present system is perfectly fine and leaves options to customers.

While a subscription model is understandable for Navigraph because they have every month to update their data, and I presume there is a cost for that, buying the data, updating maps, etc.

MSFS updates are nothing more than refinements to a simulator that should have been released finished, and with regular add-ons such as country or airplane updates that could be payware (eventually) and are or should be left to the discretion of each customer.

I had a Quicken subscription long ago and left totally frustrated, still using the 2020 version, because you never ever know what is cooking, if the proposed upgrades will actually be of any interest to you, and yet you keep paying whether you need it or not.

There is nothing wrong with proposing a paying upgrade and leave it discretionary, you buy it if you need/like it only. That's what is happening with 2024, if you don't need it, don't buy it and keep using 2020, if you desperately want it for any reason, buy it, but at least it is not imposed on you.

Freedom of choice and action is our best friend, don't make suggestions designed to create a handicap for simmers that don't have deep pockets simply because one can selfishly afford it.

2.

I don't see any advantage to changing anything.