Am I the only one who doesn’t really understand why THIS game, of all games, was so insistent on Cross-platform play?? The whole point of cross-platform, is to fill up games that require a certain amount of people to be playing, simultaneously, to really be fun (or even load at all)
Think Warzone (or any FPS nowadays) You NEED 100 people at once. Sometimes it can be hard at certain times of the day, to find that many people on just one platform. So it makes sense to merge PC and console together- BOOM. No more lack of players.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to go flying with a buddy or two every now and then. But the beauty of MSFS2020 was never built or dependent on Multi-player. It was about flying. Actually learning the systems of an aircraft, learning procedures, and traveling to places that we’ll probably never get to see in real life.
But I don’t understand why they would sacrifice half a year’s work (We’re basically back to, what, SU2? Maybe SU3 for some of us???), and what had become a ■■■■ good simulator just to accomplish it…
You seem to be under the impression that most of the issues people have had with SU5, even the ones that may in some way be related to changes made to the sim to make it work better on Xbox, are connected to “cross-platform” multiplayer specifically. This is not the case.
Of course, disabling multiplayer altogether still wouldn’t make any difference for most of the problems people have had with SU5.
“it’s dumbed down because Xbox argleblargle” has a certain type of kneejerk logic to it, but thinking cross-platform multiplayer specifically is the problem makes no sense.
I used to love flying in multiplayer on FSX with 50 to 100 or so people flying in a region with multiple controllers controlling the ATC, and you could use the ATC view to watch it, or join in on the ATC… An actual push to talk button, and on and on… I really miss those features.
But that doesn’t change the fact that Microsoft totally torpedoed what was already a fantastic sim, just to add Cross-platform multi-player to a game that requires it in NO way.
Again, there’s an argument to be made that some of the problems in the new update are caused by an attempt to make the sim run better on Xbox, but there is no reason to think it was specifically connected to cross-platform multiplayer. If the game “needed” to be “downgraded” for good performance on Xbox that would be the case whether the Xbox user was playing solo or in multiplayer.
The plan was to release the game on Xbox in the first place. Period. The sheer cost of development and continued updates to the game in the future guarantees that a console launch was always part of the whole thing.
Its funny that the parallel you try to draw is bring Warzone into the discussion. Activision saw fit to jump on the Battle Royale bandwagon, considering games like PUBG and Fortnite bring in billions in revenue year over year.
I don’t think the problems are due to multi user play. There are obviously problems with AI and Live Traffic (or were, still haven’t finished the download !), but the actual multiplayer bit seems to work okay. It is not practical to have a different codebase or XBox and PC.
It does have upsides as well as the current problems, more due to a sudden influx which will flatten out, as it will increase the demand for add ons.
I totally disagree that Multiplayer is not a necessary feature
I totally agree that the code bases have to be similar
I’ve argued for a while the target for MSFS was XBox, it makes total sense businesswise for Microsoft for many reasons. PC is important too, but, look who they chose to develop the product. Asobo started as an XBox game developer around the hardware and software. That’s their core talent.
As much as I loved multiplayer in FSX, there were major issues with it, and I am positive major headaches for Microsoft to support it. It makes 100% sense to use a #1 Multiplayer system as the basis around which to develop a core functionality of the product.
This is not an easy problem to solve. It’s going to take a while to get it right. It certainly seems like Microsoft is committed to supporting the development effort to get it right. I’m crossing my fingers on that one.