Im sure they do have a very ambitious 10 year plan. I also think that the hardest part is pretty much done for them. It definitely will be hard, but theyve already built the foundation of something groundbreaking.
I think part of the deluge of bugs and the flurry of patches over the last month and a half or so indicates that this sim was overall attracting so much mostly overwhelmingly positive attention (and much negative when held to a higher standard) that Asobo has been pretty much taken by surprise. Everything from server issues, the short fuse patches, content pushes, marketing, 3rd party addons piling on, super-emotional playerbase (good and bad) all seems to show that if not a smashing success, it is almost universally considered a massive leap forward (or just on the cusp of it) if not the future of the flight sim genre. Nearly every 3rd party content developer is churning out (mostly great) addon content in terms of airports and even Carenado has made surprisingly great content in the case of the Mooney as only the 2nd 3rd party plane available.
It’s got everyone laser focused, and its not even out on the new Xbox yet. I can’t sit on microsoft boardroom meetings, but If I had to guess they are all wringing their hands elated but very nervous about the game’s public reception but also its growing pains respectively. Asobo is in a wild spot, they already produced something that is of downright magnificent scale, and they have partners in so many different companies like Navblue, Gaya, Orbx, the airframe manufacturers like textron etc, but they literally have to polish out the rough edges of about 30 airplanes, and a simulated 1-1 planet earth with 200 people. Not counting all the future plans they have.
Ive played now, 200+ hours, and ive only flown seriously maybe 3 planes in basically 2 regions of the planet, and im not the kind of person that just sticks around a couple airports. Not because the other planes and regions dont work or they ■■■■ or anything, but theres just so much to do. It’s not as deep as the payware from X-plane of P3D, yet - and the base game planes probably never will be. But every payware developer that ive read about is constantly pushing for improvements to the SDK to get their stuff in the marketplace as soon as possible. Many have said they know they cant yet, but they are adamant that they want to, and will if at all possible.
There will be DLC, and if they work out the kinks of the base game, that DLC looks like it very much will be worth it. With a stable base game, DLC (for example, Helicopters) can pretty much have a “greater than the sum of its parts” effect on the experience. In the sense that helicopters will instantly allow any player to play whats already base game (the environment) in a completely new way - but its the whole planets worth of cities and rooftops and airports from a completely different perspective all over again. I immediately think about cities like Tokyo that have a helipad on nearly every large building in the photogrammetry, how fun will that be to land helicopters or play an addon that involves shuttling passengers from one building to another. Hopefully that DLC will be exemplifications of novel new gameplay systems as the leap to helicopters would be, this concept should be core to what is offered as DLC; does it expand the platform in a meaningful way.
That being said I understand people’s concern, ive been burned by my passion for other games that had the rug pulled out from under them (by MS even). This does not have any of the hallmarks of that kind of project. Even if it does, one of the main things is that Asobo/Microsoft have taken to heart the fact that the community is what keeps these franchises going. So even if they do not produce additional content or the world servers get shut off way down the line, I think that the torch would be passed to the modders and community anyways… I do not get the walled-garden feel of this title that has doomed so many others… Quite the opposite actually. I see so many groups invested in this from 3rd party content makers, the devs, microsoft, the real life airframe manufacturers, Xbox team etc. That this will likely be milked by everyone who possibly can and we will probably be more than happy to take our pick of exciting new content from whoever it comes from. How much do you think they paid for all the licensing to the manufacturers - or even to Gaya to produce base game airport content that they would normally sell at 20 bucks a pop.
So if I had to guess, id take them at their word about monthly updates, but id expect really big updates like Japan about every 3 months. It’s not like they dont have room to expand the game, they will never run out of stuff to do, sounds like a great business to be in honestly.
DLC wise, I can see the following being possibilities and probably things I would pay extra for: Helicopters, High Altitude/NEO, Vintage Airplane pack (properly polished systems, astronavigation), non-combat military planes, expansion of bush flying (spotting missions, SAR), Carrier landings, Gliders, fighter jets, Major seaplane updates (including global seaplane bases). I mean its not hard to think of things, its debatable whether any one person thinks it worth putting it as DLC, worth its time or should be free. Theres just a lot of directions they could go.
Anyways, yeah I think there is a long term plan to support FS2020, all parties involved are licking their chops thinking about what kind of stuff they can get you to buy. But also, the free updates are probably seen as “platform enhancements” that add value to the things they do sell.
So, enjoy, to whatever extent you can at the moment. Yeah its got major, game breaking bugs, but I cant think of many pieces of legendary software that didnt have legendary bugs. That doesnt make it hurt any less when you get CTD on approach to Haneda after a 2 hour flight. Platform stability is key and it will make or break the long term potential of this sim. But all in all, personally, its mostly just annoying in comparison to the stellar experience of the sim when its properly working. It needs fixed if we are going to enjoy it for what its true potential is.
I expect a lot of content from all sources, maybe for longer than 10 years, but even if MS doesnt do it just look at what people are able to do for free. Heres to hopin’ it all comes together as planned 
