The last MS/Asobo dev update was October 2025, is that right? I noticed how quiet Asobo has become in the past months; yeah, holidays etc. etc. but I tend to recall years past they hit the ground running not too long after the new year COMMUNICATING with the masses. Did I miss an announcement, did they stop doing dev updates? What next, the weekly updates will stop perhaps? Might this be the first steps of a MS Asobo FS market exit? 2024 version, I love it (yes it still needs lots of work but I am grateful for what we have). But they seemed to have dropped weather updates or really *any* "new" stuff except some content. Again, maybe I missed an announcement or heck maybe there was already a new dev update I missed earlier this month or in January? Anyone hear of a March 2026 dev update planned?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORLCiebYh10

 

Personally I feel they've cut back $$$ plus there's no new version releasing so no need for any hype.... remember all the videos leading up to 2020 and 2024 with all these hurricanes and weather events. 

1 hour ago, KERNEL32 said:

The last MS/Asobo dev update was October 2025, is that right? I noticed how quiet Asobo has become in the past months; yeah, holidays etc. etc. but I tend to recall years past they hit the ground running not too long after the new year COMMUNICATING with the masses. Did I miss an announcement, did they stop doing dev updates? What next, the weekly updates will stop perhaps? Might this be the first steps of a MS Asobo FS market exit? 2024 version, I love it (yes it still needs lots of work but I am grateful for what we have). But they seemed to have dropped weather updates or really *any* "new" stuff except some content. Again, maybe I missed an announcement or heck maybe there was already a new dev update I missed earlier this month or in January? Anyone hear of a March 2026 dev update planned?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORLCiebYh10

 

I consider it a normal drawdown following the launch hype of 24. Now the team is mostly working on the SUs I would imagine.

According to press available, Xbox Game Studios/Asobo have been protected from the broader Xbox and MS Sales job cuts that hit last year.

On one side, I'm also eager to have MSFS Developper Livestream, but on the other side I can remember one or two where I was disappointed by the lack of content and news to share. Let's skip livestreams if time is more valuable for MS/Asobo staff.

Edited February 28Feb 28 by vbazillio

I would love to see some Praetor previews..

Weather has been alright but wouldn't mind some updates or improvements to weather.  Still would love to see truly opaque clouds (I know it's a limitation with the current voxel method but maybe a way to just blank out the view while flying through).

A day is coming when MSFS will be a paperweight or at least a downgraded through a then “offline” experience when the servers are no longer deemed profitable… I’m not saying it’s necessarily soon, but it’s Microsoft. 
 

I just want confirmation that they will be replacing those annoying desert brown Bing textures that cover a large section of southern England with more realistic imagery, and that it will be soon. I want England to look like England, not Saudi Arabia.

Chris have you tried the free Map Enhancement tool to replace Bing with ArcGis, Google or even Apple maps can be used for a small fee. It was some time since i did fly in south UK but one of them maps provided a very good result.

 

Yeah I have no idea why there has not been a dev stream this year? Would love to see news on the sim, previews, etc it keeps the love and hype going....right now I feel left in the dust.

Another thing to notice is that we still are not back to the old update release schedule. It used to be a Sim Update followed by a World Update and then rinse and repeat.

Granted 2024 was in dire need of Sim Updates at first, but after 4 I feel it is now at a good state and the old update schedule could resume.

 

But something must have changed. Even Gaya Simulations has now gone back to making sceneries that they sell seperately. They were doing handcrafted airports and POI's for the World Updates and could obviously live off the money they got for that. But now that they seem to have not been given enough work by Asobo, that they have to return to selling airports again.

For me it is more than evident that something changed in the way MS supports MSFS and ASOBO...

I really don't know, or actually care about the future... I am more than aware of how I felt when MS FLIGHT was doomed... Will not happen again with me...

In the meanwhile I have made the decision to go Linux during the next 2 months, Linux for good! While it's possible to run STEAM MSFS in one of the flavours, I am simply not going to invest twice in this platform...

Meaning... I honestly really don't care and will progressively transition to my other simulator platforms while doing the migration to Linux.

In the meanwhile I will keep enjoying my FSLabs and Fenix flights, added by Active Sky FS and BATC + FSLTL. 

 

Edited February 28Feb 28 by jcomm

I always have the feeling they are a bit uncomfortable in these sessions, especially when being asked questions that are a bit awkward for them (who doesn't?). 

But while I like listening to Jorge, who definitely has a lot of passion and drive for the project, I can't say the same for one other member of the 'team', who seems to be constantly irritated on any question, and either doesn't know what is going on or gives long blustering meaningless answers.

I am still waiting for his 'contact' at NVidia to come back from holiday to suggest how they can get rid of the flat panel display blurring issue in DLSS - only been a year!  (by the way, the latest Nvidia DLSS updates definitely DO NOT cure it).
He never follows up with answers when he says 'I don't know, but will find out and report back'.  They might as well drop him from these sessions and save him the irritation.

I've been getting into Vermillion VR painting, feeling that we're now on the Flight Sim downslide (once again) - I think that I need a new hobby. Or, maybe we will see the "other sim" have some incredible breakthroughs - but I doubt that. I'm with you @jcomm ... never again!

I can paint the clouds and skies that I dreamed of flying through in a sim! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1608400/Vermillion__VR_Painting/

From my business experience, senior leadership goes silent when changes are on the way or there is a high degree of uncertainty about future direction. So my speculation is:

1. New XBox CEO so every product is under review and must be rationalized with financial projections, plans, etc. by the leadership of each product.This obviously places a lot of demand on the time commitments of senior leadership, plus creates a degree of uncertainty around budgets, product plans, etc. until this process is completed.

2. Until this is done, Jorge can’t really comment on future plans until they know if they will need to reduce headcount and third party support. If budget cuts are coming, it will take them time to adjust their product strategy with MSFS as a platform. So we get silence until this is figured out. 
 

Alternatively, and on a more positive side, maybe they are experimenting with some new features and until they have confidence in them, they don’t want to set expectations they can’t keep again so we get radio silence. 

Regardless of what’s underway, Chewy responded to people’s apprehension on the MSFS Official Forums by confirming that there are no plans to discontinue MSFS. But something has definitely changed there and let’s hope the cloud is removed soon!

Honestly, we were spoiled with those livestreams. They definitely weren’t perfect, and the language barrier often made it tricky to get points across, but some key bugs only got fixed because we had that direct line of communication.

How many other games or sims have the head of the franchise, the studio CEO, and the exec producer doing a two hour Q&A every month or so? And doing it while the live chat is absolutely toxic.

Whether the streams are completely done or just happening less often, I can’t really say I’m surprised.