155 replies to this topic

[ARanc]

flyhalf, on Jan 22 2009, 11:35 PM, said:

Let me throw this out there....

This might be just what the FS franchise needs. A long pause to have a look at ourselves.

May be good for us simmers, but what about companies like Aerosoft, Orbx, and Wilco. Many of these people rely on FS for their income.

[flyhalf]

Yes interesting ramifications aren't they but considering they are still making FS9 products, I think between 9 and X there's plenty of future work for them even if 11 doesn't happen.

[Falcon1184]

Cortez, on Jan 22 2009, 11:34 PM, said:

Falcon1184, on Jan 22 2009, 08:29 PM, said:

You guys are crying about nothing.  If MFS goes away something will take its place.  Once everyone starts throwing their money towards XPlane or something like that, it'll become just as good or even better, if its not already.  Not worried.  If theres money and a product to be made, someone will make it.

We're not crying about "nothing"
This is obviously something, or else you wouldn't be here. MSFS is the dominant flight simulator to the common person.
But partially right, it's not a guarantee that something WILL become good or just as good. It's kinda hard to live upto MSFS IMO, even the dreaded FSX

You act like your life is over.  Back in the 90's there were other flight simulators that were just as good or even better.  I bought MSFS 98 when it first came out.  It was pretty good.  Then I saw Sierra pro pilot in the store and picked that up.  I found it to be much better in more areas.  Now look at XPlane.  They are doing fairly well.  Dropping MSFS definitely sucks, but I don't feel its that big a deal.  Other sims will pick up the slack, you'll see.  And with that said, I'm not convinced microsoft flight sim is over.

[ARanc]

Well the best we can do is wait. FSX is still very new to many people, and some people still stick solely to FS9. Maybe in 2-3 years we can start worrying if nothing happens. But I'm almost sure that if MS completely ditches FS someone else will pickup where they left off.

[Jaggyroad Films]

I have been taking calls, making calls and sending messages like crazy since I heard. This will be one of a roller coaster ride to say the least for business. It might even end up that this lands me more work...

Edited by Valkyrie321, 23 January 2009 - 12:02 AM.

[Prancer]

I don't see the big deal in pausing production for awhile. I mean, instead of re-releasing basically the same game with slightly better graphics over and over, give them time to explore a bit.

[GOZR]

Well yes it's true, friends that were working on FS11 are not longer making 3D aircrafts for M$ they lost there jobs this morning ....
If any 3 dr party want to hire some 3d artist from M$ on some project let me know..

Thx

[Jaggyroad Films]

GOZR, I'm always scouting for my clients. You bet your silver dollar I am interested.

Edited by Valkyrie321, 23 January 2009 - 12:13 AM.

[avalon]

This is sad news, very much.

But as others have suggested, this is too huge of a community and it will not be discarded.

Microsoft can afford to let go of this either temporarily or permanently - it isn't their niche.  

But other companies will indeed pick it up, carry it on and make it better than ever - IF Microsoft doesn't pick it back up again themselves in a period of time.

But by then, it may be too late for MS - either way, us simmers and those to come, will benefit.  

This is too huge of a community and if it isn't maintained by the original creators, the community itself will spawn its own software descendant(s).

[03SVTCobra]

I can't say I'm all that upset at the move. Fiscally it wasn't the best choice for Microsoft, looking at their accounting records there were far less profitable parts of the company that could have been cut.

However, as a poor college student I can't afford to build a new system every 2 years in the hopes of running decent FPS on the latest and greatest MSFS.

Hopefully this will slow down the FS community long enough to develop some awesome add ons for FS9 and FSX.

[bkircher]

Ouch, this is a worldwide blow for us simmers. We'll see how it goes, "when" the economy recovers. I hope this isnt the end.

[sgupta]

Just read this on http://ve3d.ign.com/...-Simulator-Crew

This is so sad...  Just purchased FSX Gold as my first real flight sim, after trying the trial, and the amount of care that went into this product is unbelievable...  I'm really sorry for the team, because...they're amazing...with an amazing product, and even a newbie can see that...  Very sad news.  Best wishes to the whole team and high hopes they get jobs worthy of 'em.

In general, the sim market (whether sci-fi or realistic) has suffered so much, and it's pretty devastating.  I started out on space sims...the Wing Commanders and X-Wings and MechWarrior 2's of the world...and that genre's just...disappeared...and it's pretty depressing.  Action games are great and I enjoy those too, but...sims just can't go by the wayside.  Yeah, they're complex, and even hard, but that's really what the PC excels at.

Edited by sgupta, 23 January 2009 - 01:31 AM.

[Toyuko]

My god this was a total shock to me.

Well Guys its Official Flight Simulator is Dead (R.I.P Microsoft Flight Simulator 1977-2009)  

Quote from Steve Lacey (ex-developer): "Microsoft Flight Simulator is dead."

http://www.steve-lac...d_of_an_e.shtml

[TheBigTurkey]

I like this,now people like me with ok computers can keep playing FS9 and not worry about it being crushed by FS25.

[Brad]

As long as Microsoft doesn't stop publishing copies of FSX, we'll be fine.  FS9 is hardly EOL'd even now, so as long as FSX stays on store shelves until Microsoft can afford to continue development of FS11, FSX will continue to sell and our development community will continue to put food on the table.

I'd like to hear something official out of Redmond about FSX's EOL being extended...

[rabbitweasel]

If only this were announced on April 1st we would just be flaming some user for bogus content. But as this is posted on one of the other 364 days of the year, it's truly disappointing. I'm sure there will be future development on a flight sim whether by Microsoft or by another developer. There's also Xplane. At the most extreme end, we could all convert to Xplane and complain about it's use of OpenGL and 70+Gigabytes with it's world spanning textures. I'm just hopeful that if another flight sim is developed it's as in depth as Microsoft's. FSX might have seemed a bit more 'arcade' in gameplay but the game still had as much depth as could be imagined in a game. I'll probably go Xplane over a casual flight sim like Pilotwings. BTW, there hasn't been a Pilotwings game in over a decade now I believe? Pilotwings GCN got cancelled in 2006 and hopefully Wii Motorsports Airplane hasn't been canned either from the lack of media over a long while.

Edited by rabbitweasel, 23 January 2009 - 02:25 AM.

[.Andrew]

I still use FS9 faithfully

By the time I can afford a supercomputer to run FSX, though, ACES will have rebanded and be working on FS11  

[Reject]

As much as I feel for the ACES people who find themselves in this ackward situation, I have to say that for the community as a whole, it doesnt spell disaster.

With no new version to come in the immidiate future, the development of new planes, addons etc will be bound to FS9/X. These versions already have a big following, this (bad) news will prolong the lifespan of both FS9 as well as FSX.

In reality, software has a much, much later expiration date than what is commonly being advertised. One very clear example of that is an old racing sim called Grand Prix Legends, released in 1998. Because it was simply stunning, and therefor lacked any real competition for years, development was focused on GPL. The thing that perhaps differs is that every addon and mod was freeware, however it did make GPL last for way over the average lifetime of software in general.

By constantly releasing new versions of the same game, the companies are saying "out with the old, in with the new". Only thing is that in this day and age, "old" could mean 8 months. The constant chase of new sales may be very good for the company (and in certain terms also for the end user), but it also means that development (especially by third-party enthusiasts and companies) just barely gets going before they have to cope with a with version which means new compability issues and whatnot.

Even though Flight Simulators, generally speaking, is a very small niche on the market, it still has a good and steady following. This board is one proof of that, VATSIM certainly another. I don't see any reason for immidiate panic; whats so bad with the current versions of FS9 and FSX? Sure, there are some flaws, I guess. But trust me...come MFS11 (or other) Im definately sure we'll find enough flaws there to rant about as well. If you're already bored with the current version of flight sim, well...online flying I think never gets old, and now we could have future updates to the current versions to liven it up (think REX?)

Continue to enjoy FS9 and FSX. Atleast know you know that if you spend $40 on that addon you always wanted, you know it will last longer before you start having anxieties wether or not to update your Flight Sim and render that addon useless.

[pwheeler]

This is very sad news indeed. I wish all the ACES employees good luck for the future and my thanks for all their hard work.

I'm sure MSFS will be back. Its just got too much of a market to just throw it away. In fact the community has been growing since the release of FSX. Not to mention the large proportion of adults in the community who have more money to spare than the younger generation that make up most gaming communities.

This may be a blessing in disguise for 3rd party devs though, who probably already have their backs up against the wall with the current financial crisis. People will be far more willing to part with their money for new addons if they know there is no new sim on the horizon. The emphasis will now be on them to bring new content to the community.

Once the economic situation improves I'm sure the doors at ACES will reopen.

(forever the optimist!)

Can't help thinking that if Bill was still at the helm this might not have happened. I'm sure he has a soft spot for his company's oldest product.

[AlexKitch]

A lot of the ACES team are busy with Train Simulator 2 in any case, which still has the green light as far as I'm aware.

I'm sure that once the financial climate stabilizes, Microsoft will begin work on the franchise again.  You have to understand that, in the grand scheme of things, Flight Simulator is a notoriously expensive and specialist game to make.  The PC market is hardly brimming with profit opportunities at the moment, with most of the industry going to console slowly but surely.  PC games are a dying art whether you want to believe it or not, and it makes sense to prioritize other avenues for the time-being.

Flight Simulator is no more?  Don't count on it ;-)  But think post 2010.