Based on X-Plane and Prepar3D examples, the most likely thing to happen is that MSFS 2020 will receive minimal to no updates when MSFS 2024 is close to release. Additionally, brand-new features will be exclusive to MSFS 2024.
What is officially known is that MSFS 2020 will continue to receive support after MSFS 2024 release, but it’s not known what this support would be, if it would continue to be updated or basically it would continue to be plugged into Microsoft servers. MSFS 2020 will lose support someday obviously, but I believe it won’t be for a couple of years after MSFS 2024 release.
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I don’t think it will be free, but charging >$70 for essentially a mission pack would be outrageous. Let’s see what else are they planning.
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I don’t have a problem, to pay also 60 euros for an new Premium Deluxe package, if I calculate what I’ve spent in the Marketplace over the past three years. A multiple of that. I only see the danger that some existing customers will jump off because they don’t want to upgrade and therefore don’t buy any more add-ons now. They know, or think to know, that support for MSFS 2020 will discontinue, when the 2024 is out.
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I think they will go up to $120 and maybe even higher. They don’t look back.
I think the value of the changes made will warrant a similar price to the original…based on pure conjecture…since that’s all we have at the moment
Sorry, but that is a redicoulus comparison. You can’t simulate a persons movement (all of the limbs, natural movement, 3D environmental awareness 
) in 3D, you always need to make sacrifices, but you know what, we can simulate flight very well …
And why do you assume from a few seconds of trailer that the missions are not accurate? I am genuinely interested in an answer here.
Anyway, both of us just saw a few seconds of trailer, you asume it will be “arcady”, I assume it will be done quite well and will contribute to the franchise… we will see in 2024, I guess 
Support with updates for two different simulators? For the MSFS2020 for a couple of years after MSFS 2024 release? I think that is impossible!
And how do you think they should fund the whole project? What we get so far for FREE, was a tremendous effort an a but load of work with alot of people involved (they need to get payed after all).
So even the 120€ are a steal for what we got so far. And MSFS is in essence a online game, there is hardware (servers) to run, which cost a lot, every single month.
Look at other online games, they usually have a monthly sunscription or pay to win or useless cosmetic items. Do you want to have that in MSFS?
I think, for us customers, a new version for what we need to pay to stay current (the old SW still continus to work), even when it is just a “directors cut”, every few years is the far better deal, don’t you think too?
And the next thing I genuinly do not get in this whole discussion (not only in this thread) is, why a major version jump, we have to pay for, is such a big deal? Did we get P3D v4 → v5 for free, do we get XP11–>XP12 for free, did we get the several MSFS versions back in the eighties and nineties (released nearly every year) for free?
We also invest hundreds or even thausends of € in addons (which are confirmed, will still work - of course, who knew), and suddenly the support of the platform we use and love is too much? I don’t get it.
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I’ll actually add to your statement that msfs 2020 will receive minimal to no updates even until msfs 2024 is released as most likely all the force will go to 2024.
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You forget that MSFS2020 is the ONLY flight simulator so far with a marketplace that Microsoft makes money with it. That’s okay and I accept that too. I’ve already left quite a bit of money there. And Microsoft earned. For add-ons that were from Microsoft itself, the full sum, for those from third-party developers, up to 30 percent, I’ve heard. And I’m sure many others have already invested a lot of money there. Competitors like X-Plane, P3D etc. do NOT have a marketplace with an additional source of income. That’s why they have to keep releasing new versions because it’s the only way for them to finance the development.
There was also no marketplace in FSX or any of its predecessors. At that time, only physical copies were sold, which had to be produced and distributed at great expense. Today there is the internet. The “production costs” are negligible in comparison.
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They never gave free updates from like FS 4 to fS 5. All the sims like xplane or p3d have a upgrade or flat out buy again. I am ok paying for a upgrade, that said I did not really see anything that would be a benefit for me since I mostly fly pmdg planes
The migration of users from MSFS 2020 to MSFS 2024 will be gradual, following the example of other simulators when new versions are released. It won’t be instantaneous.
We don’t know what state MSFS 2024 will be at launch. It could be a buggy mess, it could be that not all addons are compatible, it could be that it’s significantly heavier on frames than MSFS 2020, which may make many prefer to continue using MSFS 2020 until 2024 is improved.
I predict it will take months, maybe even more than a year for MSFS 2024 to surpass MSFS 2020’s ACTIVE users count. To give you an idea, X-Plane 12 will complete a year and still has less than half active users than X-Plane 11, at least on Steam. Reason: Because it has bugs and lower performance than XP11. What guarantees that MSFS 2024 will not go down the same path?
Also, even if it does surpass, there will still be a significant portion of users who will still be using MSFS 2020 for much longer, and in the meantime, Microsoft won’t even consider ending support for MSFS 2020.
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I totally agree with that. I would be surprised if MS supports 2020 once 2024 is stable. Lots of
Overhead to support 2 of them. Its a clever company so we will see. I actually think 2024 is be pretty solid when released.
How did Laminar Research do it on the X-Plane? I checked when the last version 11 was released. I have the 11.0.55.1 from 14.7.2021 on my PC. After that no further update and no support. As far as I remember, the 12th came in September 2022 and I know from my own experience how many updates have been released since then.
What worries me is the fact that MSFS now has two different versions to work on at the same time, 2020 and 2024. In my opinion, this is not possible without new troubles. I’m already afraid of it…
Yes true, but you forgot that Lockheed and Laminar have professional devisions for their flight sims, which they make the bulk of the money with.
And yes, MSFS do have a marketplace, but no one is forced to use it, as this is true for virtually every other online game. There are no external shops for those games, as there are for MSFS.
As I said, what is most likely to happen is that Microsoft will follow Laminar’s example and provide minimal to no updates to MSFS 2020 when MSFS 2024 is close to release. Essentially just what is currently on the roadmap and nothing else. Support for MSFS 2020 would be restricted to troubleshooting and maintaining online services.
I can’t see maintaining two versions of Flight Simulator as something problematic or difficult for Microsoft, given that at one point, they managed to maintain support for four operating systems and their variations at the same time (Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10)
Don’t worry, of course I know that too. But MS also has the income from Gaming Pass. However. That wasn’t my approach. If you have read my first post, you will know what I am about, how I imagine it and why it would make sense to continue only one platform and not have to support two simulators at the same time for years.
I read your post, of course, otherwise I hadn’t commented in that thread.
I admit, I didn’t cover your other point with the two simulator versions.
Let me make up for it:
This is my personal view, I don’t have insights in the workings of MSFS and their development process of course. I can only interpolate from my experience as programmer.
Since this is a server based application, I’d assume that MS do not want to maintain two server instances for two different sims. Therefore I think the two sims are rather identical in terms of deep underlaying tech (basic structure, data management, net code, etc pp).
There may be changes in the graphics engine, even in the physics engine, but large projects like that can handle multiple code versions as far as they do not diverge completly. I worked on similar sized projects and we often had to maintain up to 3 or 4 different versions side by side, with often significant differences. A good code versioning system is key here.
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