I’d have to agree with what the OP says. There shouldn’t be a need for community ‘fixes’ for stock aircraft. At least, not for core functionality to the degree that has proven necessary. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an entertainment-grade aircraft simulator (civilian or military) that didn’t have initial issues concerning such content, particularly when first released, but some of the bugs and missing features that have had to be addressed here clearly shouldn’t have been left to third parties to fix. When they even can be: some things simply can’t be fixed without changes to core code not accessible to outsiders.
In part, this is a reflection of the way the entertainment software market in general currently operates - content is released early, with the expectation that consumers will accept it as it is, and the expectation (or at least, the implication) that it will be fixed later. In the case of MSFS, I think its fair to say that the product was self-evidently released in an unfinished state, and arguably in a worse state than is even the norm for the industry. As to why this occurred, and who was responsible for the decision, I’d assume, lacking evidence to the contrary, that the decision was more likely Microsoft’s than Asobo’s.
Having said that, I would have to also suggest that the willingness for consumers to accept unfinished products - and even their incessant demands to get ‘early access’ - are also part of the problem. There was a time, back when internet access was less universal, and software was distributed on physical media, that developers had little choice but to ‘finish’ a product before it was released. You got what was on the cassette/disk/DVD and if it was bugged or lacking you lived with it. And the developers took the consequences for bad releases in lost sales, and lost reputation. In some ways the developer/customer relationship was much more ‘honest’ then.
I suppose that I’m as much a part of the problem here as anyone else. I bought the sim, despite being aware enough that it wasn’t yet in the sort of state it should have been. I wasn’t an alpha tester, and nor was I privy to what was being said on the private forums, but it was fairly obvious that testers were surprised when the release was announced, and were largely of the opinion that it needed much further work. I made my choice though, knowing this, and while I’ve been as frustrated by some of the issues as others, I’ve managed to get a couple of months’ entertainment out of it so far, and expect this to continue. I also expect Asobo to continue addressing the issues of core functionality that are clearly required, and will be extremely disappointed if they don’t. And meanwhile, I’ll extend my thanks to the modder teams that have put in so much work, rectifying things they probably shouldn’t have to. The willingness for people to chip in, and to look towards extending MSFS way beyond the initial product, is one of the reasons I have confidence in its long-term prospects. Things could have gone a whole lot better, but the situation is far from hopeless.
