On 9/17/2026 at 10:35 AM, AnkH said:

Same goes with this ridiculous group of simmers who continue to claim that visual quality is not relevant when flying tubeliners. Yet they all use MSFS2024.

I only fly the 738 airliner either the Zibo mod or PMDG aircraft and visual quality IS relevant (especially on short final) yet I find myself spending more and more time in XP12, so we don't all use MS2024. Matter of fact I'm now on leg 34 of my around the world flight in XP12, yet I spent months getting my flight deck working with 2024.... But with the downgrades, mandatory updates that cause issues I find 2024 maps are no longer worth the hassle. Can't answer for anyone else here, but for me... the maps are the ONLY reason I'd use MS2024.

On 9/16/2026 at 4:28 PM, abrams_tank said:

As Jorg said at 1:18:53, they are working on the clouds but can't show their work yet.

From the tone of Jorg's voice, I get that it's a major project and overhaul. I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up in MSFS 2028 (or whatever the next version of MSFS is).

Why are we so sure that Microsoft will be making a new sim every 4 years?

Gents, a gentle reminder that it’s not necessary to quote a full post when replying. Just copy and paste the relevant section. This topic would be half the number of pages if that was done. 😉

When you select a block of text a prompt appears (Quote selection) making it easy peasy. 😁

14 hours ago, simsuper80 said:

Why are we so sure that Microsoft will be making a new sim every 4 years?

Recurring Revenue is the only way to stay in business.

On 9/18/2026 at 5:22 AM, St Mawgan said:

Does everyone reporting this use the same AI traffic software I wonder or is it common to a few of them?

I don’t use any 3rd party traffic and I still see it to varying degrees.

For me, it’s not objectionable, even at crowded airports like KDEN with Ultra aircraft traffic and Ultra aircraft variety. I.e., I can see it in aircraft off in the distance if I spend enough time searching. And yes, once in awhile there WILL be a relatively close aircraft that’s no gear.

But again, on my 2K system, it’s only noticeable and not objectionable.

TBH, I tend to notice the occasional 737 taxiing 5 feet off the tarmac, and then repeatedly hopping 50 feet in the air a few times🤣. I presume this is Live Players and internet latency issues as similar things can happen in DCS World multiplayer servers.

49 minutes ago, UrgentSiesta said:

Recurring Revenue is the only way to stay in business.

Recurring revenue is already achieved through their marketplace. The reason we got 4 years of 2020 is because the architecture of the sim could not handle the changes the community was asking for, without a massive overhauling of it. The career mode certainly required a ton of work, as well as all of the new bells and whistles the new sim got. Four years is not a trend yet and we've barely scratched the surface of what 2024 can do since seven sim updates in, we've mostly gotten bug fixes. I don't think they've made nearly enough money from the current marketplace since it was out of commission for a long time as well.

It is much more significant with the nose gear. This disappears at much closer range than the main undercarriage. I see this frequently, and it makes AI aircraft look like the modern mechanical equivalent of the Tyrannosaurus Rex with its puny arms! Some of the business jet models are affected so badly that they float off the ground with no undercarriage at all at even moderate distances from the observer.

Model Matching.

dd

1 hour ago, Krakin said:

Recurring revenue is already achieved through their marketplace. The reason we got 4 years of 2020 is because the architecture of the sim could not handle the changes the community was asking for, without a massive overhauling of it. The career mode certainly required a ton of work, as well as all of the new bells and whistles the new sim got. Four years is not a trend yet and we've barely scratched the surface of what 2024 can do since seven sim updates in, we've mostly gotten bug fixes. I don't think they've made nearly enough money from the current marketplace since it was out of commission for a long time as well.

Fair point, and I’ll never say never, but unlike other traditional sims…

their monthly operating expenses are sky high:

They are constantly producing free or highly subsidized content (WU, Expert Series, etc)

The very expensive Bing and Azure and internet streaming services are NOT free just because they’re owned by MS. There are tons of hard costs there, and Asobo is getting inter-subsidiary invoices for sure, not to mention all the third party services they consume

Only half of their users are Xbox/PS5, the other half can buy from wherever they want

And the icing on the cake is, of course, that MS is a publicly traded company. Thus shareholder dividends/profits are a GIANT driver of their business decisions.

I highly doubt they’re going to leave all that cash on the table. 🤙

ETA: and all the WU satellite data & photogrammetry doesn’t come free, either. The various govs do charge for it.

Edited September 20Sep 20 by UrgentSiesta

On 9/18/2026 at 8:22 AM, St Mawgan said:

Does everyone reporting this use the same AI traffic software I wonder or is it common to a few of them?

This happens with all aircraft models

9 hours ago, simsuper80 said:

This happens with all aircraft models

Ah ok. Maybe I'll see it one day. I only use default traffic and all my aircraft traffic settings are on medium.

19 hours ago, UrgentSiesta said:

Recurring Revenue is the only way to stay in business.

That doesn't have to be a new sim, it could expansion packs though they'd have to be ones people actually want to buy (that also has the advantage of getting additional revenue from from Game Pass users)

2 hours ago, Matchstick said:

That doesn't have to be a new sim, it could expansion packs though they'd have to be ones people actually want to buy (that also has the advantage of getting additional revenue from from Game Pass users)

No, it doesn't have to be, but requiring a full re-purchase on a regular basis will generate far more revenue that any expansion packs ever would or could as I can't image what "packs" would convince large enough groups of people to buy, AND cost enough money to cover expenses.

Honestly, I believe the only other viable long term source of revenue would be moving to subscriptions - and I know how some have a rather emotional reaction to subscriptions. But honestly, any setup which uses and requires an on-going service, as MSFS does, has to have a way to pay the bills and turn a profit through time. And the old "I bought it, so i should get to use it as long as I want" mentality simply doesn't match to the reality of how so much works today. On-going services which cost serious money to provide require on-going, and reliable revenue streams. It's as simple as that.

Scott

4 hours ago, Matchstick said:

That doesn't have to be a new sim, it could expansion packs though they'd have to be ones people actually want to buy (that also has the advantage of getting additional revenue from from Game Pass users)

When have you seen MS do this with any of their other products, another sim dev, or other game devs do this…? And I’m not sure, but IDK about any that live stream the game to every single player every single time…?

And you guys think MSFS has tech debt…? For e.g., Eagle Dynamics, makers of DCS World, are constantly struggling because their revenue is solely tied to optional expansion packs. What that’s resulted in is a long (long) list of long standing bugs, unfinished addons, un-updated features, announced but never delivered advancements, etc, etc.

It’s turned out to be the polar opposite of MSFS: almost zero free content, a relatively glacial pace of improvement, expensive expansion packs, no global scenery, no live weather, etc, etc.

And notably unlike MSFS, every single dollar of revenue MUST go through their marketplace, enforced by strict API access and DRM.

But hey, you can see all those landing gear as you taxi past the static aircraft into the static weather skies in your $80 fighter jet on a $50 map!

Maybe it’s because they’re a Russian company and they’ve still got some of that Command Economy thinking? 🤣

But in any case, “no thanks” to letting MSFS devolve into the inevitable results of THAT business model.

Edited September 21Sep 21 by UrgentSiesta

7 minutes ago, UrgentSiesta said:

When have you seen MS do this with any of their other products, another sim dev, or other game devs do this…? And I’m not sure, but IDK about any that live stream the game to every single player every single time…?

And you guys think MSFS has tech debt…? For e.g., Eagle Dynamics, makers of DCS World, are constantly struggling because their revenue is solely tied to optional expansion packs. What that’s resulted in is a long (long) list of long standing bugs, unfinished addons, un-updated features, announced but never delivered advancements, etc, etc.

It’s turned out to be the polar opposite of MSFS: almost zero free content, a relatively glacial pace of improvement, expensive expansion packs, no global scenery, no live weather, etc, etc.

And notably unlike MSFS, every single dollar of revenue MUST go through their marketplace, enforced by strict API access and DRM.

But hey, you can see all those landing gear as you taxi past the static aircraft into the static weather skies in your $80 fighter jet on a $50 map!

Maybe it’s because they’re a Russian company and they’ve still got some of that Command Economy thinking? 🤣

But in any case, “no thanks” to letting MSFS devolve into the inevitable results of THAT business model.

As opposed to every 4 years just lying about backwards compatibility and screwing devs with another platform they need to support ?