It takes thousands of hours to develop planes using just the default MSFS systems, so you’re never going to see a $15 plane with custom systems, especially not with the release frequency they’re targeting.
A really high-fidelity single engine can take as many as 4000 hours to develop using default systems. If you put a price tag on that, say $50 an hour, you’re looking at $200,000 to develop one plane.
When considering the cost of development, it’s understandable how some expectations might not align with the time and resources needed to create a high-quality product.
I understand if it is a $15 plane or there is a deadline due to a certain date that you may not end up with a high fidelity aircraft for these reasons..
I also understand that not everyone wants a high fidelity aircraft or to pay a lot of money. Everyone should have a choice.
However aircraft being released under the Microsoft umbrella (even if it is by another developer) should really have a very minimal number of bugs if any.
And if Microsoft are including an aircraft for free then it really is a great opportunity for them to showcase what they are capable of as the owner of the sim.
Some of these aircraft are absolutely iconic and deserve the best treatment and not ending up broken in the bargain bin.
I think the level of detail is fine for a $9.99-$14.99 plane.
But we could have the best of both worlds if MS would stop encrypting the config files on Local Legends/Famous Flyers. They could still encrypt the models/textures/etc to prevent piracy, but if they’d include the config files then enthusiasts could add details/functionality, as they did with the Premum/Deluxe planes.
Discussion topic here about that. But not sure how many folks are interested in aircraft mods as the request only has 129 votes.