No need to argue with you. I am just reiterating what was said while you run worst case scenarios through your keyboard.
If things work the way you expect, this whole expo was a lie, and MS will lose the good faith of every single one of their 3rd party devs along with their most loyal Marketplace customers so… I am skeptical of your take, and would rather go on what was said today rather than what you fear and imagine tonight that was not said.
Fair?
I am going on direct words not what i imagine.
There are so many developers and many of them may not even be in the FS business anymore. If the responsibility for checking compatibility lies with the developers and they can also decide on extra fees themselves, then this will probably not work. You can call me pessimistic for that. But I share graspee’s opinion one hundred percent. The statement from Microsoft’s FAQs is no longer correct. And with the amount of add-ons I’ve bought in the last few months, I’m worried about November.
I would be very grateful if Asobo could comment on this topic again. I can imagine that yesterday’s statements unsettled many users.
I feel like most good airplane and airport devs, like, if they are still updating and making new addons, are alive enough to approve their addons to be sold and used in 2024.
That is literally what these folks do for a living.
The key word is, “Living.”
Dead and disappeared devs will see their addons turned to vaporware in 2024.
Devs don’t need to redevelop 3000 addons, they need to check the handful or so they made for compliance, and give MS the ok to sell their work again.
Look at it this way, all the dozens upon dozens of MSFS planes I bought on PC were eventually ported to Xbox except for two. One’s developer vanished, and the other was sold to MS/Asobo to be used in 2024. The rest all came over eventually. Devs keep up with their addons that are for sale. It is literally where their money comes from. That is work they have already done, so it is all but free money for them at this point. Exponentially easier than making another addon from the ground up and going hungry until those profits start to trickle in.
In the past when their announcements have created huge waves they have been slow to respond but they did at least eventually respond.
I don’t think it’s ever been said, but I imagine freeware addons aren’t generally available because they don’t recoup the costs of ingestion and distribution. The new automation process they talked about today could likely reduce that cost barrier.
The choice is up to the developer. In my understanding the 2020 add-ons will work in 2024. But, since 2024 will offer more complex systems and failures etc., I can understand that the devs need some extra money to properly rework the product. I prefer like that, rather than “loosing” some addons because they do not benefit from the possible improvements.
I hope the testing and signing off can start before the release, otherwise the backlog will be insane.
When you buy a software you expect it to be updated for free later, not having to pay more for it over time. This is how game updates work as well. Sony is an outlier for example, charging $10 even for resolution or framerate increases in some of their games, while Microsoft and others keep updating games for free, no matter the size of those updates. So unlike you I’m opposed to paid updates, especially seeing what has come for MSFS add-ons in the form of free updates.
Also, so people don’t lose track, every other place that sells 3rd party addons offers a discount path to folks who owned certain addons in FSX and then bought their MSFS version.
Marketplace could not do that in 2020.
So they were losing sales to PMDG and Just Flight and Orbx.
Folks weren’t just porting their FSX planes unmodified and unimproved to MSFS and charging folks for a new plane. They were rebuilding planes from the ground up, charging full price, and offering discounts to FSX owners.
If devs start trying to charge 2020 owners TWICE for the same plane they will hurt their most loyal customers and lose their future business.
Some things police themselves. 2024 upgrades will likely be priced accordingly and I have to imagine the best devs who have updated their planes the most consistently will do this for free or at a minimal cost unless everything is redone from scratch.
To make my point clear here. I am not criticizing the fact that developers could charge a fee for this extra effort of checking. But I am criticizing the fact that this possibility contradicts Asobo’s statement that migration will be possible at no extra cost. And I, for one, would not have bought nearly as many add-ons recently if I had known this beforehand.
Rest assured you misunderstood what was said. It was a marketing meeting. Marketing speak is weird. It is easily misinterpreted.
Thank you for your assessment! I hope you are right. Nevertheless, I would be pleased if Asobo would also comment on this topic.
They quite literally did. Today.
But seeing the talk after, I imagine they should further clarify.
They were talking to devs today, and simmers heard it with simmer ears, so it was easily misunderstood.
I really don’t understand how people can so easily defend them going back on their word.
Because they didn’t go back on their word.
You are pretending they went back on their word while being told repeatedly what was said.
It is not that the devs will need to convert them. They need to at bare minimum check to make sure that the addon doesn’t crash out the gate, that it will load. They can then hit the Confirm button, and it will go into the queue for 2024. And then Microsoft will check to make sure the addon doesn’t crash out the door and will load.
Developers can choose to do upgrades. So they will have the SDK available in September. They can choose to at that time add new features, and have THAT submitted to the marketplace. But they aren’t required to do that.
The main thing is, developers WILL have to confirm their products are to go to the new sim. That is all. Will all developers choose to do that? Probably not. Like Wing42, the developer has been missing for quite some time. That plane probably won’t go to the 2024 marketplace. Some developers may choose to not submit their addons, such as those developers who have developed something that will now be part of the base sim.
Again, this is all that the developers have to confirm they want their products in the 2024 marketplace. That is all. No conversion work has to be done if the developer doesn’t want to.
One thing they did clearly say but hasn’t really been covered in this thread is that they’ve now fully automated the ingestion process and the initial testing that MS used to do.
This means a developer can upload a new addon or an update via the website and once the automation completes it will immediately be avaliable for them to test.
Once they are satisfied it is ready the developer approves it themselves on the website and the package is automatically included in the next marketplace drop.
This removal of humans in the loop will be a huge win for turnaround times, eliminating backlogs, and allowing developers to experiment and test more effectively.
I am so lost with 2020 vs 2024 labeling on new marketplace… And that 2.500.000 number on screenshots. Ingame currency? I wish they add them to FAQ.
Most addons created for FS2020 will work in the new sim, IIRC the year label indicates which simulator the product was first released for.
Yup. This is also how the game Marketplace works on Xbox, to show what generation of hardware a game was last optimized for. So if you see S/X you know it is for the Series console and won’t run on older hardware. But something made and optimized for the One X is forward compatible with Series console hardware.
They used a lot of words to describe how the MSFS Marketplace is now going to work and flow much more like their Xbox Marketplace and their PC Windows Game Store and use similar icons to show compatibility or lack thereof.
This is just how Xbox Studios online stores have worked for a decade everywhere else but MSFS and Marketplace. And keeping old games compatible with new hardware is part of the brand. So it looks like they want to keep old addons compatible with new sequels in MSFS for the same reason. You can keep selling it as long as it stays compatible.