Hopefully there will be a tower view as we had before in FSX and P3D.
For me the greatest error they made in MSFS2020, and I think there are a lot of people who would agree with me.
On the other hand: Obviously we have to buy a complete new sim, is there a possibility to upgrade from MSFS2022?
How do they call this: easy money making.
Greets
While it is possible to have a discounted upgrade path, it is not something I recall MS ever doing for a new MSFS sequel in 41 years, and not something Xbox Studios has done for their productions since they became a studio.
I really think folks need to realize game SALES is the main way game studios historically make money.
Since we now have a subscription option in Game Pass, it is becoming clear that is the path to, āFreeā play or discounted purchases through Xbox Studios.
On Game Pass, 2024 is but another season of our favorite sim.
So yeah, odds are better than 0% but not by much.
I donāt think itās anywhere near their greatest error, but I guess it is emblematic of the many ways that the sim feels lacking. Itās definitely something I hope they add back.
Iām not sold on the idea that MSFS 2024 should be free or even heavily discounted if thereās enough packaged into it to warrant a new iteration; however, the opposing perspective has a point. I think there are some big differences between this round and the 41 years of sequels that youāre talking about, so it might not be fair to adhere to that precedent.
MSFS 2020 has been uniquely buggy and still plays like an unfinished beta in many ways. MSFS was ambitious in many regards, such as bringing flight simulation to console and live weather/traffic, but even these core areas are really lacking and need lots of improvement to even be enjoyable to most folks. Furthermore, MSFS 2024 is built off the back of the last iteration from just four years prior, and Iām not 100% sure but I donāt think thatās consistent with precedent.
Asobo deserves credit for many things, but it could be reasonably argued that the product we all bought from them just a few short years ago is still unfinished, so I definitely get why some people feel put off by the thought of paying for a new iteration.
I understand the complaints.
I am just using historical precedent for a discounted upgrade path for the next MSFS and there is none.
If there was a history of doing that, the odds of it happening again would be much higher.
If your point is merely that itās very unlikely to be free, I completely agree. I wouldnāt be surprised by a discount, but youāre right that it would be more likely had it happened before.
New product, new price. Itās 100% normalā¦
I would even be shocked by a discount.
I tried to explain it earlier but it can be hard for PC players to grasp.
Full disclosure, I have flown almost every MSFS since 1.0 (or 2.0ā¦ too young to remember which but the timeline suggests 1.0).
I have had an Xbox since 2001.
I have had Xbox Live since the day it droppedā¦ with the gamer tag in my username.
I have subscribed to Game Pass since day one.
This is simple businessā¦ but from an Xbox Studios perspective. They have Game Pass and anyone who wants to try 2024 before they buy can sign up for a trial or a month when it comes out.
But they donāt expect to gain a LOT of new Game Pass subscribers with 2024ā¦ they just want to appease them with a new AAA first party title. And they probably expect to sell around 2-3 million copies of the game for $60-70 a piece. So they expect to take in a good $100-200 million in sales. That alone should more than cover development costs as I cannot fathom MSFS costing more than $100 million compared to other big game budgets and the total employees in their studios.
So the goal here is to cover costs with sales I imagine, while further supplementing costs and profits with Game Pass players.
As for 2020, they have announced 12 million total players, and the last sales number they announced was 2 million, right before the Xbox version dropped. It is safe to assume MOST players came from Xbox on Game Pass and most people who purchased the game were on PC since no more sales figures have been announced since then and almost everyone on Xbox is on Game Pass.
Soā¦ long post, sorryā¦ Xbox Studios wants their money. Unless you can find a way to discount a new game AND increase sales enough to make that lower price more profitable, I cannot fathom them doing it.
Rewarding prior owners with a discounted price? That would ONLY reduce profits as it doesnāt bring new folks in and it immediately devalues MSFS in the eyes of all potential owners.
The market with room for growth isnāt PC where folks have been flying sims forever, it is on Xbox where folks have only had ONE sim since 2021.
MSFS was absolutely successful but not a HUGE runaway hit. What sim ever is?
But by releasing another sim to further appease the heavily Xbox leaning Game Pass subscribers they have an opportunity to grow their user base while maintaining their PC base. Because where else are PC folks going to go? X-Plane.
I would LOVE MSFS to be free for everyone, but Xbox Studios is profit driven in a way that has Matt Booty and Phil Spencerās fingerprints all over it, and it is quite predictable if you follow their moves.
Thanks for letting me rant. I am fascinated by the business of making a successful sim.
TLDR: If they offer it at a discount from day one, they simply cannot guarantee they will cover development costs with sales alone.
I donāt trust Asobo, anymore
I can understand that a compagny has to,make profit, no doubt about that.
But could it be that this 2024 version is a paste and copy of the 2020 version with some additional features and new interactions?
I know one thing for sure: if there is no tower view, I wonā t buy it.
I guess that all probably depends on how big the discount is. If they make it appear as though itās a simple loyalty discount rather than an indirect admission that their last game is incomplete, they could probably get away with giving a discount to returning players, but Iām not familiar enough with their sales strategy to know if the calculus would favor itā¦ Probably not.
In any case, I hope Asobo fulfills @spitfire2546ās wish for a tower view in 2024. More of that kind of step in the right direction will make paying a lot more palatable to most of the players who feel a bit cheated.
Doesnāt feel that complex to add a simple tower view. Compared to other features in current sim.
I know a tower view has been requested since msfs released 2020. Why would it require a new standalone title to get that feature?
If it is but an incremental update or upgrade, I think the community would rightfully rebel.
If it is a full sequel with the potential for full scale WUs and GOTY or Anniversary Edition style free content like we got with 2020, it is likely cheap at full price. That said, I do not expect them to reinvent the wheel (wing?) this time. 2020 came after a 14 year break. The tech advancements were stunning. This comes after 4 years on the same engine (anlbeit evolved) and will run on the same console hardware.
Really though, we got helicopters, gliders, missions (they arenāt great butā¦), Miegs Field, and it feels like the main CLASSIC MSFS feature that is STILL missing from the sim is tower view!
Some config file for current sim mention settings for tower view. Itās still in the code but not used or something.
I hope so too, and I hope they will include the replay feature which was in fsx but missing in fs2020.
I would imagine that 2024 will have more than just a tower view but probably an ATC ālifestyleā position. It goes with their apparent desire to promote air related fields of employment.
But if tower view alone is what you want, what is wrong with flying the drone into the tower to have a look around like I have done at many airports? Personally I havent seen the need for tower view.
Single key Fly-by is also a view that would be great to have in 2024. I would use that a lot more often than Tower view.
I canāt speak for OP but Iām sure most proponents want it for the added immersion that a tower interior would give, but I agree that it would be little more than an immersive perch to watch planes at unless they added features around the tower view.
I think it would be great if they emphasize multiplayer aspects of the sim that were lost in MSFS 2020. Iām thinking of FSX shared cockpits, multiplayer lobbies with ATC channels that we can talk on, better model matching, etc. I think if multiplayer tried to replicate a more casual version of Vatsim, it would be really cool.
In fact, while Iām at it, Iāll lay out my vision for multiplayer.
Ditch the lobby system from FSX, but bring back many of the old multiplayer elements.
Add a new multiplayer option called simulation (as opposed to āAll Playersā or āLive Playersā) that would be for those of us who want to try our best to fly using real procedures.
Implement a system that allows players to be the ATC, voice chat and all. A player could hop on and stand in as whatever frequency they want, all airspace without an active connection would just be uncontrolled. Those who donāt want to use voice a CPDL (controller pilot data link) that can be built right off of the current in-game text based ATC.
Fix multiplayer model matching with on of the many proposed solutions that already exist. The option that would create the best user experience would be to allow (and encourage) third party devs to upload an external model thatās specifically meant to be seen as a multiplayer model. This model could be slightly less detailed so that it can be quickly downloaded from the cloud to the client whenever a given model/livery is encountered. This sounds complicated, but in a game with so much emphasis on data streaming already it really isnāt that much.
Alternatively, and at the very least, Asobo can improve model matching by either removing the ICAO designator check in the current model matching logic, or at least make sure that Asoboās own aircraft use the correct ICAO designator. For those of you who didnāt know, this is the reason that we see F/A-18s as big generic turbofan aircraft. Asoboās own aircraft fails the ICAO check that Asobo themselves implemented, and this is the case for many other base game aircraft. By the way, this takes 30 second to fix per aircraftā¦ come on Asobo.
Synchronize live weather such that I experience the same updrafts/downdrafts, turbulence, clouds, tornadoes, and other weather conditions as the people Iām flying with.
Well said!
To focus on the OP mentioning tower view. I agree that this legacy straight forward and simple set of cameras were practical and easy to useā¦
But in addition to this, I would suggest a way to be able to āplantā cameras on the map and they land on the highest terrain or object or with custom altitude. We can then rename them and toggle between them or have them selected from a listā¦ and they become fixed views for replays etc.
Just a thoughtā¦