I have noticed that Microsoft seems to be pushing Games towards Game Pass ??
(Example Call Of Duty).
I am concerned about this.
I dont know how the community thinks about this but for my part I just want to note that should MSFS 2024 be released Game Pass only (monthly subscription) then extremely regretfully this flyer will give it a miss.
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The same thing was speculated about FS2020. I dont even want to talk about it until they say something.
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Itās already been announced for Steam, so youāre safe. 
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To be fair, from a business perspective, especially in the Tech industry, Subscriber / Software-As-A-Service (SAAS) is more profitable to a business than a traditional selling a product as a one-off purchase.
This is because, with the way the MSFS runs with Live weather data, photogrammetry, and multiplayer and live traffic. Thereās a whole lot of upkeep of ārecurring costsā that is difficult to justify when the product being sold are not giving a steady stream of revenue to cover them.
Traditional one-off purchase only profitable because those prices are calculated to cover development costs with a prediction of the product being sold at a certain unit for it to start become profitable. And without an upkeep costs to maintain, thereās no problem.
With live multiplayer games like this. It doesnāt matter how much you price your product, you will always end up spending more on upkeep costs to keep the game running for everyone. But since the product itself are sold to one person once, thereās a finite amount of revenue that they could get, but the upkeep costs will still be there indefinitely for however long the game services need to run.
My assumption why MSFS 2024 is in development is because of that very reason, MSFS has been around for 4 years now, and the people who wants to buy a flight sim would have already bought the sim by now, so the trajectory of new MSFS users are now going down, while the total number of people playing the sim keeps going up, which requires more capacity on the game services to be able to keep up with the increasing traffic.
With MSFS 2024 being sold, even if itās as a one-off purchase, would give them a new revenue stream from existing player to keep paying to play the game for another 4 years. Now what is the difference, if Asobo keeps releasing new MSFS every 4 years, where we have to keep buying them anyway, versus a subscription method that youād pay regularly anyway? Thereās really no stopping them to switch off the online services for MSFS 2020 at anytime, youāll end up with a sim that basically runs offline with generic ground textures.
Whether we like it or not, thatās just the reality of the industry nowadays.
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There are no games that are āgame pass only.ā All games on GamePass are available to purchase and āownā at anytime regardless if you have game pass or not. Game pass is a subscription based plan to rent or use as many games as you see fit from their library. Itās a rental subscription.
I did just unsubscribe from gamepass, as I only use MSFS and Forza. Wasnāt worth the $11 a month for games I already own. I only poked around in a few other titles on game pass. And they just changed the library of games in gamepass to GamePassUltimate. And at $16 a month Iām definitely not going with that when I use the same 3-4 titles.
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Seems like every couple of days we get another topic with unsubstantiated claims and scaremongering.
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Meh Iām buying whatever premium fancy pants version they have day one.
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I can certainly understand that if youāve previously already purchased the game(s), why have a subscription. However, if I added up the money required to purchase the 4-5 games I play now I could easily spread that out over several years at $10/month. The key is that Iāll probably start playing a couple more games covered by gamepass during that time so Iām not loosing money as it keeps rolling forward.
I realized this a few years ago and stopped purchasing games up front and now only use gamepass and personally find it to be quite the value even though Iām not a heavy gamer. Heck - MSFS 2020 is enough value (to me) alone for $10/month and being able to play MSFS 2024 is icing on the cake.
It seems years ago that people grumbled about all the streaming TV subscriptions but now have multiples without batting an eye. Times are changingā¦
I mean, people are grumbling constantly about all the streaming subscriptions. 
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True. Iāve been used to subscription models for much of the software I manage for my company. But most of those are maintenance plans. It makes sense as long as the product is supported, and evolves.
I paid $120 for the MS-Store version of Premium Deluxe, and I expected 3-5 years of use. Letās split the difference and say 4 years.
4 years x 12 months = 48 months.
$120 / 48 = $2.50 / month.
Iām willing to pay that for a monthly maintenance subscription, preferably as an annual subscription of something like $30. I just donāt want a āpay-to-playā model, like the Game Pass only products.
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Youāll definitely here me grumbling about THAT. I donāt know how old you are, but I remember when the first streaming media came to market. Finally, the promise of being able to pay a monthly fee to have no commercials!
It was a BIG FAT LIE.
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I honestly canāt see it happening. MSFS is quite a niche (albeit popular) game, which many (myself included) play exclusively. Iāve no interest in playing anything else so for me, Gamepass just isnāt decent value.
I like the notion of paying once and not having to worry about it again. Not least because itās easier to keep track of your finances that way.
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I used Gamepass when MSFS2020 came out so I could ātestā it so see if I liked it. I have been burned before by buying games or software that didnāt live up to its marketing hype. I will do the same for a month with MSFS2024 if I feel that I even want to try it.
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Most major streaming services have an ad-free tier.
Yeah, these sort of posts are more a reflection of the human condition than any sort of economic reality.
In this particular instance the arguments that weāre going down some sort of subscription model (again) ignore the fact that for Microsoft this is a product that keeps giving thanks to the ingame Market Place.
Microsoft are trousering thirty percent of every transaction. Remind me how long it took for MS to donate one million dollars based on the market place sales of one plane?
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Doubt it. I am not even sure if they are going to put the new COD on gamepass on day one and miss out on huge number of sales.
Edit: I was wrong about the cod part.
Well, it was trueā¦ at the timeā¦
but then they decided on āaltering the deal, Pray they donāt alter it any furtherā.
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I would not argue with any of that. From a business point of view your analysis is of course spot on. But from a personal point of view it seems that everyone wants to move to subscription model. Drawing packages, video editing packages, TV channels etc. Even my local Council is charging me extra for picking up the garden waste bin.
So in the end if you subscribe to it all it tends to mount up.
So I much rather pay a good price up front then monthly fees. (In fact personally I thought MSFS 2020 was surprisingly cheap). Hence me saying that purely from a personal point of view I would probably regretfully decline.
you mean this announcement?;
Available day one on Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Windows 10/11, and Steam. Coming 2024.
Yes I noted that. Doesnt exactly exclude a subscription model, merely announces the various platforms.
(just saying).
The real rumor you need to be concerned with is MS is considering purchasing steam.
Thank God so far itās just that, a rumor.
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