Good question! I’ll take a stab at it. This is purely my own (somewhat) informed opinion, I’m not claiming to be 100% accurate. I’m also simplifying a lot. Let’s get this discussion started and many people should chime in and explain things further.
- MSFS - This is the actual game. In theory, it should be possible to make MSFS a old-fashioned Windows executable, installing the way games and programs used to install. (Download an installer, run it, it places files on your SSD/HDD and you’re done).
However, Microsoft no longer prefers to have their first party games install that way (for many reasons), which brings us to -
- The Microsoft Store - this is a distribution channel. The Store is the way MS wants you to buy the game and have it delivered to your PC. I’m sure MS would want this to be the ONLY way to sell the game, but market realities mean that they need to be on Steam as well.
Up to this point, we are only talking about the two things - the actual files that make up the game, and how those files are delivered to your PC (either MS Store, or Steam. Yes, there was a DVD version as well, but that’s now so far out of date it’s pretty useless).
Now is where the fun begins.
If MSFS was a purely offline game that only ran on your PC and didn’t connect to anything else, you could pretty much stop here and not have to think about Xbox and Windows Gaming Services.
However, we know it’s not that kind of game. The game does the following things that require it to know exactly who you really are.
- Purchases in the in-game marketplace
- Connect to the multiplayer servers where you can see other players on PC and Xbox
- Cloud saves
- Cross-platform play (You can play on PC and Xbox without buying the game twice over)
Besides this, we also know the game itself reaches out to the internet for
- Photogrammetry data
- Weather data
- Flight schedules and live traffic
- Telemetry
Now, I don’t know how Asobo architected this, but in theory, there’s really no need to associate a specific account for these 4 things - the game doesn’t need to know exactly who you are to download PG data, for example.
Given that we have now added a multiplayer + in-game sales component, the game needs to have some way of doing authentication, transferring multiplayer data, etc. Every game these days does this (more or less), and most companies have created infrastructure so that they don’t need to re-invent the wheel every time they create a new game.
Examples are Battle.Net (Blizzard), Rockstar Social Club, and even Steam. Obviously Battle.net and Rockstar Social Club are only used by those companies, but Steam is a good example of a service provider that allows other game developers to use their authentication and communication features.
In theory, Asobo could have used Steam’s infrastructure, or built their own… but why should they when the owner of the MSFS IP has already done all that work, AND Asobo would have to use it anyway since this game is also out on Xbox.
Microsoft has built a similar infrastructure that all their first-party games use. Authentication, player data transfer, cloud saves, achievements… and that infrastructure is the Xbox Gaming infrastructure.
In this context, don’t think of Xbox as the physical box that you buy. When you hear Xbox , just head “Microsoft’s gaming infrastructure that manages player authentication, social network features, cloud saves, purchases, and more”. Xbox is just a brand name here.
So the Windows Gaming Services + Xbox Gaming App provide the APIs you need to perform this kind of authentication and communication between MSFS on your computer and Microsoft’s secure infrastructure. MSFS uses those APIs to get this functionality for “free” - as in, they didn’t need to create a worldwide, secure, legal and regulated (cause you’re dealing with personal information + credit cards + returns… lots of laws apply) infrastructure to manage all this.
High level, here’s how the flow works
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You sign into the MS Store, or Steam, and buy the game. That license is now associated with your user account - either your MS Account, or your Steam account.
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You download the game through the Store or Steam. At this stage, you basically download a 1 GB installer file which is delivered through MS/Steam.
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That installer then loads up and downloads the full game. It authenticates your account before it downloads all the files (that’s how it knows to download Premium Deluxe version you bought). That’s also why you need a MS account at this step, even if you bought it from Steam. Steam doesn’t really deliver anything besides the initial installer.
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After you download the 120 Gb from inside the game, it loads and connects to the Xbox infrastructure, figures out your marketplaces purchases, sees if your friends are online and so forth.
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When you launch a flight, it connects to a separate infrastructure that’s dedicated for this game and downloads the PG data, weather data, etc. I have no idea if it authenticates or not, but I imagine it does to prevent piracy. Not sure on this though.
OK, I’ve written enough. Let’s discuss!
