155 replies to this topic

[SwitchFX]

This economy has caused a lot of hurt throughout the world. I'm quite surprised such a large company as Microsoft are taking such measures despite the fact they save a lot of money on outsourcing, not being racist here, no, not at all. I still would like to hear it from the horse's mouth.

copilot, on Jan 22 2009, 04:14 PM, said:

MS closed the Flight Sim division today, Jan 22 and has told all employees (couple hundred according to my source) that they have 60 days to find new employment within Microsoft.  All work has been stopped on Flight Sim 11.  

I am associated with a company in the Pacific Northwest with business ties to this division and one of their former employees is a friend of ours.  He is a 10+ year employee.

If possible, can you release contact information for this company and someone we or presumably I can speak to personally?

[FlightSimX]

I'm of quite a few minds about this!

It's not that surprising. FS can't ever have been a money spinner for MS.

In some respects, add-on developers might actually be breathing a sigh of relief. I can't remember any other time when both the current and previous versions of MSFS have been equally popular. It's normally the case that when a new version comes out, almost everyone switches. That's not been the case this time, and a lot of developers are having to produce FSX and FS9 versions of add-ons, with the prospect of an FS11 around the corner. At least now, they know what they've got to deal with and can concentrate and giving us some really good add-ons.

FSX and FS9 (along with X-Plane) are still there. We can still enjoy them, and get more out of them as the cost of hardware comes down and performance increases. In a couple of years, a rig to fly FSX at max detail at 200 FPS will probably be the norm.

So, it's not all bad news for simmers. Nobody's taking away what's already there, so keep simming and enjoy

Cheers,

Mark

[jetblast787]

_haphadon_, on Jan 23 2009, 02:24 AM, said:

I guess untill this economy is fixed this is what we all must accept.

right, i'm off to phone the plumer and electrician not to mention the IT consultant, brb

what makes me wonder is why is a multi billion dollar company who virtually controls all PC's around the world in one way or another is laying off workers. that really makes me wonder and angry at the same time

Edited by Iranair747, 23 January 2009 - 05:50 AM.

[Cell]

It is true. The whole Aces team have been given a 60 days notice. TS2 is now been put on hold so that looks like it's been killed.

I'm shocked but not overly surprised. Big corps are cutting through their business' to keep themselves profitable. Business is business I'm afraid.

Such sad times ahead I feel.

Edited by Mango, 12 February 2009 - 05:15 AM.

[JordanFarmer]

Such a diasater, but then again, who isnt suffering in the downturn. i guess it gives everyone the chance to build great rigs for fsx and third party developers more time to build some great add-ons, weve still got 2 great simulators, so lets hope that we can keep our heads up!

[Jigsaw]

That's sad for the ACES team. I hope they find new and good jobs quickly. Having said that it certainly isn't the end for the Flight Simulator. It will probably be outsourced to another company, like so many things these days, with Microsoft only acting as a publisher and right owner. There will be a new Flight Simulator. Until then we will finally have some great rigs that can run FSX like never before, while extremely talented companies like the REX team and OrbX turn it into our very own FS11. There is still a lot of room left to improve the FSX.

If anything: this means more time for OrbX to cover the whole World with their outstanding scenery and more time to enjoy it! Don't be sad, guys! Rather enjoy the opportunities it will create!

Edited by Jigsaw, 23 January 2009 - 09:27 AM.

[Dredd]

FSX had finally modelled the world, soemthing that FS9 and earllier failed to do, as they treated the earth as a tube, not a ball. It would be a terrible shame if all that went down the pan! On the other hand, this will give the whole addon industry a chance to catch up, as well as giving the opitunity to all the folk out there still struggling with FS9 on aging machines to finally upgrade to what IS a better system (FSX) - a terrible pain in the bum for all the developers in the mean time, as some, not all, will be deviloping two sets of everything, a low res set for FS9, and a hires set for FSX. Maybe, by the time FS11 finally breaks out into the wild, we'll all be runing photo scenery for the whole planet anyway!

[Brad]

pwheeler, on Jan 23 2009, 04:02 AM, said:

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.

One of the first things I thought of as well - perhaps Mr. Gates can toss a measly billion or two toward a new company and devote it to FS (and hire back the ACES team of course) to keep his pet project alive.

I want to thank those of you who have already extended your thoughts and best wishes out to the real people whose jobs and paychecks were just given an expiration date.  The ACES team is an outstanding group of individuals whose hands crafted the core of our hobby.  Let's do all we can to let them know they are appreciated.  Here's hoping Microsoft is smart enough to provide them with places to land elsewhere in the company.

[franthree]

I really would not mind if FSX was around another ten years! By then everyone could own a PC that could run it well! ---What else are you guys looking for in FSXI anyway?--animated baggage handelers

Edited by franthree, 23 January 2009 - 10:51 AM.

[_NW_]

franthree, on Jan 23 2009, 09:51 AM, said:

animated baggage handelers

Animated flight attendants (more specifically..   female ones)

[Nabeel.]

Well, hopefully another company will buy up the rights, or maybe they can make it open-source.
There's always x-plane, I'm sure that may be the focus of some new 3rd party development now

[Cactus]

NWilkinson, on Jan 23 2009, 10:52 AM, said:

Animated flight attendants (more specifically..   female ones)

I can just picture it now... "Hot Coffee Mod" for FS11

[alex330]

I'm very sorry for the ACES employees, hope they'll find a good new job soon.

What concerns FS - the life of FSX has only just begun, look at what it turned into within the last year with the help of freeware and payware addons.
There will come a time when someone else will develop a true successor. It does not have to be 2010.

[APX_004]

Riley, on Jan 23 2009, 12:25 AM, said:

Yay,that means FS9 will stay in date:)

I was thinking the same thing.  

[Hypofx]

FlightSimX, on Jan 23 2009, 05:24 AM, said:

So, it's not all bad news for simmers. Nobody's taking away what's already there, so keep simming and enjoy

This is the point!!!!

Enjoy FS9 with all the addons or FSX, don't worry keep flying!!!!!!

[Jigsaw]

Hypofx, on Jan 23 2009, 05:59 PM, said:

Enjoy FS9 with all the addons or FSX, don't worry keep flying!!!!!!

Roger that!

[.Andrew]

NWilkinson, on Jan 23 2009, 07:52 AM, said:

franthree, on Jan 23 2009, 09:51 AM, said:

animated baggage handelers

Animated flight attendants (more specifically..   female ones)

Check out the Wilco Legacy for FS9, they're way ahead of you

[Noble.]

franthree, on Jan 23 2009, 03:51 PM, said:

I really would not mind if FSX was around another ten years! By then everyone could own a PC that could run it well! ---What else are you guys looking for in FSXI anyway?--animated baggage handelers

The opposite of crap like "Animated Baggage Handlers", I'd actually like a Flight Simulator that simulates a great deal more than FS9/FSX, considering the actual physical side of FSX is practically identical to FS9.

I don't want more "eye-candy" I'd actually just like them to making a decent Flight Simulator without so many limitations that it actually forces 3rd Party software Developers (such as PMDG) to put a hold on how far they could actually take the products.

[Jaggyroad Films]

To be blunt, especially with the recent developments, Microsoft owes little to the FS world. It is only by their graces that we even have a sim that is so moddable. Most of the game/development world isn't so lucky, and we are even luckier that they allow commercial developers to develop for the product without royalties. I thank for for at least taking some time to consider the consumer development market. At this point, asking for a better sim is like pissing in a heavy wind.  They could have canned our ability to develop for MSFS a long time ago and sicked a bunch of laywers on us.

To say that MSFS isn't a decent sim is a bunch of bollocks as well. It's not like all we do is go home, sit down for 5 hours at a time and curse how much we hate our hobby. I dare half of the gripers to go working on any game, engine or development team and tell me that this work is easy. You also have to consider that there is very little money to be made versus other products in the regular consumer market. They might as well go sell a gagillion copies of Halo, develop the game in half the time and rake in the cash. We are seeing this now in the recent development.

Why can't people just be thankful for what they have?

[Copilot]

SwitchFX, on Jan 23 2009, 01:55 AM, said:

This economy has caused a lot of hurt throughout the world. I'm quite surprised such a large company as Microsoft are taking such measures despite the fact they save a lot of money on outsourcing, not being racist here, no, not at all. I still would like to hear it from the horse's mouth.

copilot, on Jan 22 2009, 04:14 PM, said:

MS closed the Flight Sim division today, Jan 22 and has told all employees (couple hundred according to my source) that they have 60 days to find new employment within Microsoft.  All work has been stopped on Flight Sim 11.  

I am associated with a company in the Pacific Northwest with business ties to this division and one of their former employees is a friend of ours.  He is a 10+ year employee.

If possible, can you release contact information for this company and someone we or presumably I can speak to personally?

I am curious for why you need to know considering the way this news hit the big sites yesterday.  Oh well, not a concern of mine.

I no longer work for my own company, so I can say this with full disclosure.  I worked for Kenmore Air.  My contact was a part time sea plane pilot who was our unofficial liaison and who we have been in contact with the last week for a related event.  Yesterday, we called him requesting some information and he told us what went down.