It is clear that the MSFS 2024 launch is an unmitigated disaster; ‘Overwhelming Negative’ on steam does not lie, together with negative headlines at places like Tom’s Hardware and in all sorts of gaming and business outlets.
We understand that this is a large and complex game. We also know, however, that there is not an independent publisher for this game and that there is a large team of developers and an enormous development budget. So out of respect for the millions of loyal customers have spent literally hundreds of millions of dollars on a product that clearly doesn’t work, we need the following questions to be answered:-
Why was the server load test carried out with 200,000 simulated users? This is less than 2% of the MSFS 2020 userbase. Did you honestly think that 98% of your customers would be uninterested in your new product on launch day? That was a staggering miscalculation that seems to be completely inexplicable.
It was obvious from the Tech Alpha that there were many issues around plane control and graphical glitches (plenty of screenshots of those in the complaint threads if you doubt me) and it is clear that these are still present now. Why were these not fixed ahead of the full launch?
Why was there no staggered release, e.g. at 8am in each separate time zone, to ease server load problems?
Why was the game released without the marketplace functionality? We are told of a problem being discovered “late” about incompatibility of some third-party addons. These are not new addons, so why were they only being tested so late?
Given that it was clearly apparent in streaming previews that there were serious problems and that the game had not been finished, why was the release not delayed until it had actually been completed? Why go ahead and release an unfinished buggy mess with inadequate server support and seriously damage your reputation and your customer goodwill?
When can we expect the game to be reliably functional, i.e. to be able to login every time we try, not just at some times of day or if we happen to get lucky and for it to work properly when we do?
Finally, what will you do to recover the goodwill of users who have paid substantial sums of money only to be given a dysfunctional substandard mess? We’re talking free planes, refunds etc. here, not just fixing the mess that should not have occurred in the first place. You need to give serious thought to this; if you think if/when it’s finally working people will just forgive and forget you are making another miscalculation.
These are not rhetorical questions, they require actual answers from MS/Asobo.
Mums the word from Jorg. You won’t get an explanation unfortunately. But glad to see more and more are speaking up.
We’re not trying to be negative or hateful. We’re tired of this nonsense of selling us a half baked sim with more
Regressions than 2020 and we’re tired of waiting months and years for things to be fixed.
Flight Sim 2024 is here! It’s been kind of a mess but here we are.
I just got into the game for the first time today, and I’ve seen a lot of big changes that I’m going to have to get used to. A lot of these changes I don’t understand but that’s the entire reason I’m writing this.
For some background info. I’m an Xbox user, series X.
I’ve been having a lot of issues so I’ll just list them off.
1- I have been struggling to understand the setup of the settings and configuration page. I have a Thrustmaster captains pack that isn’t properly calibrated in the new version. A lot of the calibration issues are with the axises such as rudder and throttle, I’m also having auto brk and engine selector issues.
2-How do I open the checklists? In 2020, I had the ability to open up the checklists so I could track what I have done and what I’m doing. Is there a way to do this?
3- The EFB- How do I use it? I have tried to use it but for some reason when I try to, the game just assumes that I’m trying to look around in the game.
Any help is greatly appreciated. I will be more than happy to provide some clarification if needed.
I agree. It’s rediculous that we are still sitting 20-30+ minutes just to load one new missions. This is not a download issue as I am monitoring network traffic and it’s non-existent. The servers are clearly non-responsive and over loaded. Sending 32kb and receiving 48kb responses or less. This “can I have what I asked for? No, not yet approach is unacceptable. I can’t even imagine what it must be like for those trying to DL new planes, scenes, etc.
No they don’t. A week or so from now it’ll be clear that this is just a ridiculous over-reaction to a videogame having launch teething problems. It’s not the end of the world like so many of you are making it out to be. Grab a little perspective here, eh?
Specifically addressing point 6: The game has been reliably functional for me since Wednesday morning. I’ve logged in over 30 times at various times of the day, without a single queue or crash or wait or anything. Reliably at the world menu one minute and thirtyish seconds after I hit play.
I’m delighted it’s functional for you, but it isn’t functional for many other people. The perspective that the community have paid tens of millions of dollars for something that doesn’t work, but they shouldn’t expect any sort of explanation for that just because it’s a game, is bizarre to say the least. Some of us believe you should get what you pay for at the time stated and if you don’t, the other party should explain why. Throwing around insults like ‘ridiculous over-reaction’ does not help the situation.
It’s evidently clear with the hundreds (already) of bug reports that they needed a large chunk of users to help them find, diagnose and reproduce them. The fact this release is not labelled as “Early Access” suggests it is version v1.0, so why are there soooo many basic bugs released?
Where is the communication about an urgent fix (ignoring the server side, I’m talking about actual in game bugs)?
People should not have to pay €100+ just to be beta testers from day one.
The other party has explained why. Servers have been overloaded due to higher-than-expected demand. Why do you feel you are owed more than that? Would getting more than that make all of your launch issues go away?
You can use it beforehand to plan flights and setup the details of the plane like cargo/passenger load, fuel, etc. I haven’t messed around with it too much but plan to this weekend. The recommendation given to me for flight planning was to setup the flight plan online and then load it into the sim since it’s easier.
There’s an issue with the EFB causing some menu weirdness where it looks around the map like you said, I think it happens when you click to select something like an airport and type on the Xbox keyboard and then when it goes back to the EFB, it just stands there and you have to press B to get out of it. It was raised as a bug so hopefully that gets fixed.
I’ll try report back on what else I find out about it once I start to really use it this weekend.
Yes, most of your questions involve internal decisions, and nobody NEEDS an answer, you just want… what?
The performance questions have all been answered – will so many users wanting to try this new sim at once, it isn’t surprising that the system didn’t cope.
Now we are going into the weekend, and there’s a brand-new batch of users finally getting to have a look, so the servers are going to be hammered all weekend. After that, things are bound to settle down slowly as everyone gets back to normal flying. I’ve had a great few days testing the sim, after the initial issues, and I’m looking forward to getting back to this early next week – the perks of being retired!
Speaking of age, can I just ask a quick question of the original poster, I don’t wish to offend you, but I am wondering what age bracket you are in – roughly. There is a certain type of post, similar to yours, which makes me wonder whether the poster is too young to have learnt that a game is a game, technical things happen, and normally this particular company has fixed major thing in the past. Nobody needs to demand answers, or in other cases demand that someone is fired, or anyone needs an abject apology.
Those who report on issues as simple facts, and offer constructive ideas if they have them, stand a much better chance of getting heard. Even if they never hear from anyone officially.
I wouldn’t say that we need answers or demand them, but I do think it would go a long way with the user base if in the next Dev stream, they reviewed the issues and just gave a quick answer on what happened, how they fixed it, what they learned from it and then can move on to what’s coming. I don’t expect that soon either because they are still working overtime trying to get the game in a state where the servers are working perfectly.
Also I’m not surprised or as disappointed about the release issues because this is commonplace for every mid-upper level game these days. I can’t think of one AAA game that didn’t have server issues at launch as it’s the unfortunate aspect of more games going online only. But a “hey we’re sorry about what happened, here’s what we’ve fixed, and here’s what we’re working on next” would be a nice gesture to the customer fan base.
Self-important posts like these always crack me up. These questions don’t require anything at all. Just relax and let the waves calm down for a bit. Does it suck? Sure. Does this happen with just about every massive game launch these days? Yep.
I am however confident it will all improve over time. I’ll keep an eye on its progress and buy in later once things have improved to the point of matching the promise. Having said that, I suspect VR will remain the ugly stepchild of this title with no real care an attention.
Great Post and yes they do have a lot to Answer for. but they will keep there heads down. because the truth will never come out im afraid I just wish I had never brought this Product its a real disgrace. and even now i still cant FLY.