Well...that ain´t came as expected huh?

[Crusader]

I wonder what happens to any balance you had on the books to purchase any future addons ? Not sure what MS called it .

 

[icycle]

what the hell was MS Flight ?

I don't think it's possible to put it better!

Unfortunately, MS has allowed the genre that they played a big role in defining, pass them by. Guess that shows what can happen when you let the "marketing / product development types", pitch a concept without proper research. They had their opportunities to make it whole, hale, and hearty, but chose the wrong road when they walked away from the community. The road they chose led them right out of the market.

It was, as they say, "Just a matter of time".

Regards
Bill

 

[Cirrus N210MS]

thats amazing

MS Flight didnt last Long at All

 

[Crusader]

I wonder what happens to any balance you had on the books to purchase any future addons ? Not sure what MS called it .

Just found out the answer to my stupid question . Their server is still up and I noticed they just added a Cub yesterday so apparently no more future development . I did think the scenery was good but I wish I had not even gotten involved with it in the first place . I loved their Stearman too.

Rich

 

[Thoe6969]

Well I'm one who tried to support Flight by purchasing the island package and Alaska,only to be really disapointed with the Alaskan scenery.But all the time thinking maybe they would see the light,now I,m sorry I ever gave them a dime

 

[mike_cyul]

Let's hope P3D gets enough support; at least it holds the potential of taking flight simming even further than FSX.


Mike

 

[ryanbatc]

That's what happens when you turn your back on the community.

Excellent post.

 

[Lawman]

That's what happens when you turn your back on the community.

This has nothing to do with "turning your back on the community". Truth is that the community isn't big enough anymore to make it worthwhile for MS to invest money for (comperatively) so little in return for them. Ask yourself this: where would all those add-on developers be if MS hadn't invested in the development of the base program? Flight was a (desperate) effort to get the punters interested in (civilian) flight simulation again. It is not MS that has turned its back on flight simulation, its the (mass) market that has (and did so long ago). And instead of gloating about the demise of Flight, that's the thing we should be worried about: the world at large apparantly doesn't give a flying **** about flightsims. The failure of Flight only confirms what MS was probably expecting. MS most likely will now turn its back on flight simulation(s). And given the state of affairs, I can't blame them for making that sound business decision. They're not a charity. As for Prepared, we're still to see if and under what conditions Lockheed Martin will (be able to) develop it further. IMHO, Prepared at the moment is nothing more but some vague promises by LM and a desperate clinging on to hope by the FS-community.

Just my 2 cents

 

[BPbobafett1982]

As a Flight Simulator user since version 4.0, I have used and enjoyed every version up to FSX. I did purchase P3D when LM released the academic version earlier this year. P3D is FSX with needed refinements which is fantastic. I even spent the time to try out MS Flight, as this "software" had great graphics and a new take on the genre. I found myself going back to FSX or P3D after completing gold in all the challenges, so what incentive is there to keep playing.

Also MS Flight just wasn't as open as I would of liked it to be, I only spent like $4 and used some of my redeemed Bing.com points to get the other add-ons.

I wish that Ace's Studio wasn't disbanded because of what I read from the developer's personal blogs made it sound that FSXI would of leapfrogged the technology and overall user experience of the franchise.

Just my two cents, and I know you don't always get what you want.

Brian

 

[robert41]

No surprise here. Still not sure who Flight was aimed at. Serious flight simmers, serious gamers, I do not think so. Casual flight simmers, casual gamers, maybe. But one thing, if MS would have release more complete AC and scenery each month, Flight might have worked.

 

[dvj]

indeed, that was quick.
Just shows you that you should never trust any market-research based spreadsheet-managment speak...
Personally, I was amazed that flight could't keep me interested for much longer than two hours, and most of that was spent installing it.
I mean, a small part of the world that does not interest me, combined with aircraft that didn't interest me or had no cockpit, and that you could not paint or do anything with, water textures that looked very unrealistic (to me anyway) and ground textures that were not that impressive either, especially compared to my orbx world. OK, so it was smooth, but so is my FSX, so what else was there to like?
Still, too bad for all the people that were laid off, I'm sure they did their best with what they were allowed to do.

I could not agree more.

 

[CodyValkyrie]

Truth is that the community isn't big enough anymore to make it worthwhile for MS to invest money for (comperatively) so little in return for them.

If anything, the Flight Simulator community has grown. You only have to look insofar as the amount of hardware that is available and the addon developers to prove that fact. Mad Catz just announced a major addon that ties in with the MSFS series, and that is a major investement. The problem is twofold. First, Flight aimed directly between two different crowds, enthusiasts and casual gamers, not pinning down either crowd. Second, the simulator is not performing financially as well as hoped (I assume, but with reason). It has probably made some money, but when you compare it to the other Goliaths that they have created, it simply does not on paper "perform" as well. When times get rough, you take your irons out of the fires that are the coolest and put them into the hottest ones. That's just the way it goes.

 

[Lawman]

If anything, the Flight Simulator community has grown. You only have to look insofar as the amount of hardware that is available and the addon developers to prove that fact. Mad Catz just announced a major addon that ties in with the MSFS series, and that is a major investement.

On this part, I respectfully disagree with you. That the number of add-on developers (or add-on products for that matter) is increasing doesn't necessarily mean that the community is increasing as well. I assume you refer to the Mad Catz "Combat Pilot"-add on? To me, that add-on caters to that (hardcore) part of the community that has always wanted to turn MSFS into CFSx and is into multi-player (which makes sense for a "combat" add-on). For Mad Catz, this add-on is probably more a by-product in order to sell their hardware. I don't see the punters shelling out for FSX first and then buy this add-on. Not when you can get the latest FP-shooter for far less and impress your friends with better visual effects.

Again, just my 2 cents and not looking for a "fight".

 

[crashaz]

So much for the theory of dumbing down the sim to make it appeal to the masses.

 

[CodyValkyrie]

On this part, I respectfully disagree with you. That the number of add-on developers (or add-on products for that matter) is increasing doesn't necessarily mean that the community is increasing as well. I assume you refer to the Mad Catz "Combat Pilot"-add on? To me, that add-on caters to that (hardcore) part of the community that has always wanted to turn MSFS into CFSx and is into multi-player (which makes sense for a "combat" add-on). For Mad Catz, this add-on is probably more a by-product in order to sell their hardware. I don't see the punters shelling out for FSX first and then buy this add-on. Not when you can get the latest FP-shooter for far less and impress your friends with better visual effects.

Again, just my 2 cents and not looking for a "fight".

Don't worry, I'm not looking for a fight anyways. Just sharing my thoughts on the industry I have devoted several years to in marketing. I'm quite sure if you compared the numbers of purchasers for the FSX product to those of say, MSFS5.0 they would speak for themselves. Partially this market has come to fruition because the number of simulators has decreased significantly versus what was then a very competitive market. If MSFS wasn't able to produce a fairly decent economy for addon companies, they wouldn't exist to begin with, at least not as thoroughly as we have it now. One only has to look at X-Plane to see that they simply cannot sustain the level of development and addon producers that we have with FSX, hence why everyone has been freaking out for the last few years regarding the closure of ACES and now the loss of development on Flight. What we are seeing is the worry of the developers trickling down to us, the consumers. Hence why companies such as A2A, Orbx and PMDG have made official announcements. I would like to say that the apex of the series however was towards the end of the FS9 run and has been slightly on the decline. Some developers have grown in this environment, such as A2A has frequently said. For the first time in my knowledge, a simulator made a TV spotlight with the FSX release. That to me is unprecedented and indicative of the market.

 

[Lawman]

I think the reason for the "downfall" of flight simulation is that it is no longer a "showcase" product like it used to be in the days when computers were just emerging. Plus, it competes with a lot more other diversions than it had to in the past. I guess the part that annoys me most is the fact that the community views this issue with their own self-interest in mind and utters idiotic statements like "MS betrayed the community". IMHO, however understandable the sentiment, that is an irrational and false argument. MS only does what every company in our capitalist system does and always has done: only invest in those projects that make the most money for the least effort. I think if everyone of us was put in the same position as MS, we all would make exactly the same choice as MS did.

 

[CodyValkyrie]

Lawman, I concur 100% with what you just said, and I believe you said it much more eloquently than I could have. I enjoy FSX and have enjoyed the simulations that MS has produced for a long time. I however have no sentimentalism in that this is still a business at the end of the day. My business will not operate on that nature if I wish to survive, hence why I have been clear with my customers that I support all flight simulation platforms, and HAVE indeed marketed beyond FSX many times. A business that does not move with the market does not survive. My business IS that market. I go where the water takes me or I sink. Simple.

 

[AndyE1976]

Personally I think MS's business plan had a few holes in it and didn't really show an understanding of the market. The only thing that they got right was that there are two types of flight simmer; the casual gamer and the enthusiast (of 'community'). However they tried to capitalize from one without giving enough for the other.

By making Flight a free download they lost any revenue from the casual gamer who just wanted to try it, but not buy any add-ons and the add-ons they did produce were largely just external models, which even the most optimistic developers couldn't have expected to sell well.

By not making Flight into a fully fledged 'FS11' and opening up the development to the many third party developers out there they guaranteed that the enthusiast would be frustrated and quickly go back to FSX. This was their biggest mistake since all the mission and gamey stuff in Flight could have easily lived in an FS11 for the gamer guys without compromising on the fidelity that the community wanted.

It's definitely true that flight sims are not huge sellers like they may once have been, particularly with a lot of gaming taking place on consoles now, but there is a sizeable consumer base using FS9 and FSX who I think retain some hope that there will be a worthy successor that will take the genre into the 64bit era. X-Plane has a strong partner with Aerosoft, but perhaps needs another iteration before it's finally there, so perhaps P3D is where the future lies.

Personally I've just discovered the delights of DCS: A10C - 64bit, fast to load, PMDG like detail and runs like a dream. It wouldn't have been impossible for MS to produce the civilian equivalent.

 

[Thoe6969]

I wonder what happens to any balance you had on the books to purchase any future addons ? Not sure what MS called it .

I had 800 points left and no way in hell was I just going to let Microsucks just keep it so I bought 400 points and got the new cub that should have came with Alaska in the first place.I'll fly it around for a couple days and wipe the whole mess off my harddrive and write it off as a bad experience.

 

[joanvalley]

I wasn't wondering IF MS Flight was going to fail, that was a clear yes to me, but more like WHEN it was going to happen... I feel for the guys that gave it their best shot to give what MS asked of them, and in that sense, I think it was a good idea but greed turned it into a lousy one. Imagine, 3d developers be allowed to continue to sell their products but through a MS marketplace, where MS would provide better and safer transactions for the customers to buy these products and standarize features and quality of the add-on (no more surprises of a bad model after sale). Imagine, if MS with its mighty money power, go after the pirates that make current legal sales of add-ons crumble. Imagine, if MS would have had a customer support dedicated section of their marketplace and pass on a simplified lists of bugs to work on to the developers. Imagine, if MS would have denied 3rd party developers the right to keep making add-ons if they didn't satisfy the customer 100%, also, MS would have settle disputes of sales and/or quality of the product instead. I can see success if MS would have given a "base" terrain area to add-on developers and they would populate and modify those accordingly to better represent that country/area than a default one, and selling this via the marketplace so you would have the option to buy piece by piece of a better looking world.

That and many other considerations could have made MS Flight a success, of course, and not taking away the simulation aspect of it. Then you start dreaming of giving it combat capabilities via further developing, undersea capability too. So you go on and on and on, but the really bad things they did, was to try to keep it for themselves, strip it down of scenery and simulation capabilities, and ultimately, not really listening to the community. I HOPE there was a lesson learnt and MS comes back with not just "something", but FSXI if I may still dream.

Jose.