As I see it the best for all users are if they brake away consoles and make it a separate simulator. The hot mess MS/Asobo now are in to is just painfull.

1 hour ago, fakeflyer737 said:

Ill bet the next version of MSFS will only be on console.

I can't imagine any reason to do that. It's like speculating that xbox game pass for PC is getting scrapped too.

1 hour ago, DD_Arthur said:

I don't see any sign of a successor on the horizon yet and I think the only prospect of one at the moment would be tied to the release of a new Xbox console.

I agree with you a bit there. They just got it on PS5 and have work to do to bring the store there up to parity with PC and Xbox. Also future versions of Xbox and PlayStation have been pushed back since the hardware (storage, ram, gpu) production is prioritized for AI Datacenters at the moment. And on the PC front, no major next gen hardware happening soon from Intel or AMD either. No new hardware to push new technologies, I'm thinking 2030.

downside of a new FS every 4 years is having to re-buy addons again lol. But it keeps the machine churning...and...what's the alternative? X-Plane?? 🤢 haha. Seriously though, before these new MSFS iterations, all we had was P3D, before that FSX, before that, the list goes on. The way things are going, even with the problems we have in the sim, it's light years ahead of what we had before, no contest. But, it is funny how problems evolve from "Buffer pool size" and endless tweaks "DX10 enabler" to VRAM issues and slightly first-world problematic satellite imagery. I say hope they keep on releasing simulators, BUT that they support their past sims for a sufficient amount of time before 'forcing' a transition.

18 minutes ago, V1ROTA7E said:

downside of a new FS every 4 years is having to re-buy addons again lol. But it keeps the machine churning...and...what's the alternative? X-Plane?? 🤢 haha.

X-Plane is a way better simulator in tons of ways except visuals. It's not even close. When you drill down into the intricacies of features each sim has, X-Plane almost always does it properly and MSFS does it "ish". Weather for instance. Impact of weather on aircraft. Runway contamination effects on braking + performance. Default airports. Road traffic. Rail traffic. Even lights on the ground are proper 3D models instead of vaguely placed orbs. The list goes on.

Granted MSFS looks very nice at times and benefits from procedurally generated terrain low down, but there's entirely too much shade put on X-Plane when it is in-fact architected extremely well and is a solid platform for the future.

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by FPVSteve

I can't vote as the lowest date is 2028, and for me it is all but over currently with the terrible LOD, the kludge when changing views, and other issues. I barely use it now, and if I do I am hardly in there for 20 minutes before I get fed up of all the idiosyncrasies and quit out.

At least I have saved hundreds in addons over the last few months (since SU4 took it the wrong way). And the marketplace is dead to me anyway after the MScenery scandal that took too long to shut down, and even now still has scams on there. They knew about it for so long but didn't care about us did they?

And I don't particularly want a newer 2028 version so that I have to buy all of my addons again. That was one of the biggest lies they made about 2024. After 30 odd years of flight simming, and quite frankly sick of MS and Asobo. I think I am finally done with it and will move on to other things.

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by bobcat999

7 hours ago, Simicro said:

Hi Mates,

FS2024 was released late 2024 and I think it is one of the best, if not the best iteration of FS.

It's beautiful and stable and there has never been so many addons in all areas (aircrafts, sceneries, utilities,...).

I've invested* in a new hardware late 2024 and it runs FS2024 very well so I hope FS2024 will last very long!

How long do you think FS2024 will last?

Please vote in the poll.

* Needless to say to the amount of investment in addons becomes significant too!

I need points deducted since I failed to read the post before voting! Thought you were talking about next version launch 🤦‍♂️

Since 2020 is still going strong, I think it’s fairly safe to say 2024 will survive at least to 2030.

now here’s the “real” question: what happens to 2020 when 2028 releases…?😎

6 hours ago, MarcG said:

Right at this minute I think MS/Asobo have gone down a rabbit hole they don't know how to get out of, MSFS2024 was supposed to be better in so many ways but it's ended up worse than 2020 in a lot of areas. The LOD system still isn't working as well as it should be, the textures are awful and they've never fixed the 512x512 "issue" if it was that and not just another downgrade on purpose, they're still struggling with Xbox and now PS5 memory management & issues. Career mode is still riddled with bugs and ill thought out game design, their lack of Live Weather development and attention on those very old bugs is shameful, the constant need to downgrade the visuals for PC users is painfully obvious without explanation, the UI is still dreadful, performance is up & down every update, default aircraft still have bugs that should've been fixed long ago, major features & wish list items still unattended for years and the bugs list grows forever more as they love a regression every update without fixing what they broke. I was hoping they'd learn from past mistakes with 2020 but they've carried on with appalling Quality Control and Beta Practices so it's just a constant rinse & repeat scenario where each update is "what have they broken this time?" instead of looking forward to what's new - a stark contrast to other Simulator developers where they could learn a thing or two

After the absolute fiasco of 2024s release and getting it to a decent place eventually with SU4 they've since not done much in terms of taking it forward as they're in a cycle of constant bug fixing, SU5 arguably went backwards in some areas and player numbers (according to Steam) are on a gradual decline (summer months in the northern hemisphere no doubt playing a part of that, but numbers started to decline since a peak January).

So where do they go from here? I would not be surprised if they bin it all off for another round of "New 2028 Release to keep the Shareholders happy", as right now MSFS2024 is still largely a mess that needs a complete reset or at least another 3/4 Sim Updates to rectify. Personally I want them to fix it all so I do not want to see another Full Release which messes up the mod teams again and sees what will no doubt be another messy title, but what they decide is anyones guess as no one saw 2024 coming in the first place.

Now on the flip side it's still got potential to be something truly breathtaking as a whole product should they stick to fixing it up and that's why I linger on relentlessly hoping one day they turn a corner, it does give me great satisfaction on many flights and I'm thoroughly enjoying it a lot more than the above suggests (!). But every now and then I see things that just make me wonder whether Jorg and his team actually play the same product, seconds after an update comes out I notice a major bug....how has that been missed? Why have an internal testing team (if they do indeed have one) if they're not going to listen to their bug reports?

It's brilliant and overall I love it, but 6 years on it's still frustrating as hell when it shouldn't be.

I’ll give you the answer in a nutshell: Xbox and PlayStation players are more than half the player base, AND are the most fickle in terms of ongoing engagement incremental sales.

Oh, AND the Xbox X is relatively ancient.

And if the Steam Machine is any indication on costs, we’ll…

6 hours ago, MarcG said:

As for Flight Sims I really only started with 2020 myself, I have nothing to really compare too in the past

Ah - well I’d wager if you had come from FSX/P3D or XP10/11 that your opinion would be FAR less critical. Particularly in terms of what “should be”…

That doesn’t in any way invalidate your opinion as you’re a paying customer, too.

but as always in life, perspective is everything.

6 hours ago, fakeflyer737 said:

Ill bet the next version of MSFS will only be on console.

Be happy to bet you a case of beer against that. 🤙

The transition from 2020 to 2024 was for me quite rough and drawn out, partly because of the many issues with 2024 and partly because of the decision of developers to continue building 2020 delaying native 2024 installation -- i.e. iFly. I sure hope they do not need to launch another version in 2028, which would likely lead to a teaser announcement next summer and the development cycle would begin again. I hope they give 2024 -- which I am not enjoying -- time to breathe and develop. Let them build additional content or introduced paid features but leave the base sim for a while. I was excited for 2024 but in the end it was a long, difficult haul. I doubt I would rush to a new version if released in 2028 or 2029.

4 hours ago, SiliconSoldier said:

With a next gen MSFS eventually coming, my concern is with potentially new scenery detail, planes, weather, & ATC will render much of the current hardware insufficient, requiring yet another pc upgrade. We're already experiencing out-of-VRAM issues and it will only get worse.

Hardware developers already have either slowed down consumer production or in case of memory / storage, practically given up on us.

I’m running 2024 on the same hardware as 2020.

and it’s a mid-grade machine.

Didn’t need to upgrade hardware, still don’t need to upgrade.

Still getting quite enjoyable quality out of the sim. Certainly better than all the others.

56 minutes ago, bobcat999 said:

And I don't particularly want a newer 2028 version so that I have to buy all of my addons again.

Meh - hyperbole like this diminishes your credibility.

I have a LOT of aircraft addons across several flight sims (literally too many, even tho I limit myself to only Hi Fi addons).

The vast majority of my addons have been upgraded from one sim version to the next at zero cost.

And that includes not only Compatible v2020 builds, but also Native v2024 rebuilds as well.

Yes, there were a handful of devs that asked for paid upgrades, but IIRC, those were in exchange for substantial improvements to the addon to take advantage of new sim capabilities.

I can only remember perhaps a couple where the addon actually broke in 2024 AND a paid upgrade was the only path forward.

Finally, and I stand to be corrected, but I cannot remember EVEN ONE instance of having to re-purchase an addon to get it running in 2024.

59 minutes ago, FPVSteve said:

X-Plane is a way better simulator in tons of ways except visuals.

That may be so in which case and it can then join a long list of products that were technical better than other available options but failed in the market: Betamax, Laserdisc, NeXTStep, Nokia N8 (over early Google Android), and many more.

Markets do not generally reward technical superiority because that is not what they value most, They consistently value convenience and price much more than technical ability; they value alignment and ecosystem over technical specifications; compatibility over innovation; simplicity over engineering sophistication; demonstrated corporate commitment over product quality. This I think is all well known and there are solid, reasonable reasons for each of these.

I am not sure that x-plane wants to be popular, but if it did it has certainly taken the wrong approach to getting there. I tried it a long time ago and encountered a very confusing user interface that seemed to be designed for an engineer. After a few days I just uninstalled it -- the market values simplicity and ease of use over engineering sophistication. I am sure x-plane has come a long way since then is likely no much more user friendly, but at that time that is why it lost my interest. But its language and tone do not seem aimed at mass audience; its ecosystem is still relatively small, even if all the products for it are excellent, it's corporate presence is small compared to Microsoft and these things make a difference. To be clear I am not saying Laminar wants to be popular and large nor do I think they should want to; I agree they are doing excellent work and have in many areas a technically stronger product and in the end that will benefit us all.

4 hours ago, KaptenEk said:

The hot mess MS/Asobo now are in to is just painfull.

Are we using the same sim?