Microsoft Shuts Down "Flight" - PLEASE ONLY POST IN THIS TOPIC

[chumley]

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/a...-columbia.aspx

http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...php?p=31948654

http://kotaku.com/5929141/microsoft-...r+based-studio

[Martin]

_{Boy, that didn't take long!}

[greybeard]

All development on MS Flight has stopped, however they will still continue to support it. Not a lot to support I wouldn't have thought.

It will still be available for download.

I see that they a also going to back pedal on the PC desktop market.

Cheers, Kevin

[Eric C]

I hope the employees that were laid off find something better, but for the whole Flight vision, it's a perfect example of what happens to a project when they completely ignore their consumers and developers input, concerns, and ideas. Any company is nothing without it's strong customer base. So much potential, and absolutely no common sense and direction.

[CLett737]

Pft. That does not surprise me one bit. PC based flying is fun, but the majority of the market are medium to hardcore simmers. Arcade style general flying was never going to work.... bring back the aces development team and work on MFS11.

If I was microsoft, I would produce an update for fsx. Fix the bugs, change the weather system so we get wxr(shoot me down) make it more fps friendly, improve the flight dynamics etc and charge like $5.00 for the update. Haha dreams dont come true unfortunately.

[Arismac]

It seems MS Flight might be coming to an end. It might soon be time for Prepar3D to come out of the closet. We can only hope.

[macca22au]

Prepar3D seems to be well out of the closet, but does not have the marketing that MS is capable of. Losckheed Martin's intent is also more serious in that they are selling into the professional simulator market, and only secondarily to us by way of the developer and Academic versions, which I interpret as permitting me to maintain and develop my pilot skills.

MS has crashed and burned by handing this venerable and successful franchise over to their kid's games division. As an arcade game was never going to bring us back to them, and FSX unsupported is slowly drifting astern. And as the base code has been sold to LM, I assume that they are out of the franchise for ever. What price ACES now, and how ironic that many of that team now work for LM on Prepar3D.

P3D is at least gaining active development and support, it is FSX on vitamins: we can only trust that v2.0 when it emerges will be FSX on steroids. An ever widening developer base is building for both FSX and P3D now, and almost all FSX add-ons can be made to work in P3D. Even those of the companies that are still stubbornly ignoring the existence of P3D. One NGX has a P3 installer, while the other works perfectly in P3D!

P3D still has bugs, some recently inserted, but a new version comes out roughly every six months or less and is making rapid gains. Version 1.4 is expected soon.

I am not a P3D booster, its just that I am getting so much satisfaction from it, that I am still astonished at those simmers and developers who like to pretend it doesn't exist or that it is no advance on FSX - which it most definitely is.

[Arismac]

Try again. The last post vanished. MS have stopped further development of "Flight" according to an unnamed source. Could be very good news for Lockheed Martin and FS Gamers everywhere.

Many factors were considered in the difficult decision to stop development on "Microsoft Flight" and "Project Columbia," but we feel it will help us better align with our long-term goals and development plans. For "Microsoft Flight," we will continue to support the community that has embraced the title and the game will still be available to download for free at http://www.microsoft.com/games/flight/.

[tennyson]

I think you're missing the point Ian.

The professional pit builders market are not sold on it yet and while there are versions coming out and promises being made, to go over to P3D is a big change and you'd want everything to work when you have invested huge amounts of money.

In actual fact, there are quite a few professional simmers looking closely at X-Plane 10, instead of P3D at the moment.

I have, myself dabbled with P3D and had limited success, compared to FSX. I'm putting it on the backburner for now and will re-evaluate when Version 2.0 comes out.

That's the way I see it,

frank

Ohh, and Flight, well, what can you say.

It just missed the boat and was aiming at the wrong people.

Frank

[marith]

I was beginning to think that this might happen but didn't expect it this week.

I'm just glad we have Orbx NZNI to look forward to

[Jay Kae]

Arismac, your post vanished because it was too late and it was merged with the topic already about the demise.

[rockliffe]

The way I see it, MS developed Flight, aimed at the 'gaming' fraternity, but the gaming market doesn't want Cessnas doing adventure flights, they want to be flying Tomcats and F11s and shooting up enemies in dog fights. So the simming community that did want Cessnas and Piper Cubs are the hardcore simmers, which they turned their backs on. BTW I'm with Frank, I'll wait to see P3D version 2.0

[Dukester]

Wow, in some ways I am surprised but then not so surprised. I think the 1st comment over at AVSIM sums it up...

Thoughts do go out to the people who have lost their lively-hood, they did seem quite genuine & definitely passionate of their project. To loose your job doing what the company asked of you must be a hard pill to swallow.

[gandy]

not surprised it has happened tbh as MS stuck there fingers up to the flight sim community with flight and tried to pull an apple type stunt by using a closed business model and ignoring what there customer/developers wanted

I was never going to invest my time or money in flight so i dont care to much.

[Phil Manhart]

Roll on P3D!

Bring on v2!

Sent from my VS920 4G using Tapatalk 2

[macca22au]

Frank and Howard: I may be fortunate, but I am getting so much enjoyment out of P3D that I would never go back to FSX. Although of the same fundamental design, already LM has reduced (for me) the drag on the CPU which is crucial. I have an i7 3690X with the intention of overclocking, but I have found with the Step technology that takes the chip through to 3.9gigs I just don't need to. It is very smooth, except at the highest load airports with dense AI, but although frames drop I get far less stuttering than I ever did with FSX.

To wait for v2.0 may be wise, but I'd hate to miss out on this improved FSX as it slowly develops toward 2.0. I have never really taken to X Plane, but if it ends up being the bees knees then I would unhesitatingly move to it. I am buying pleasure and gritty entertainment, not supporting Brand A against Brand B. Meanwhile I shall watch my C90 turboprop finish crossing the Gulf of Mexico, on track from Key West to Dallas Love Field and hopefully hand fly a 'perfect' ILS!! ASX weather, Plan G to follow, and FSCommander built the plan. What could be better than that.

[Dean (PC Aviator)]

Who didn't see that coming with MS Flight? Was almost a sure thing when Microsoft failed to listen to their real customers. Not to worry. We still have FSX which will continue on bigger and better thanks to all the great add-ons we have available for it.

Prepar3d I don't see making any serious impact until either v2.0+ becomes available, or when they can or are able to offer it to the mass market at an affordable price.

The reality is that right now, I know of very few of our customers that actually use P3D right now. There are magnitudes more X-Plane 10 users at this stage, so that is the only major alternative to FSX at this current stage.

[Jay Kae]

*grins* Do I even need to say it ?

[macca22au]

P3D Academic version is already cheaper than the discounted FSX.

However it will take mass marketing for P3D to take off, I agree.

And Dean I am one customer who does use P3D, but I simply buy FSX add-ons when there is not a P3 installer and use a registry cheat to install them painlessly and smoothly.

However I would like to learn more about x-Plane 10, but the version I bought sometime ago was confined to Hawaii, with a massive scenery and add-on buy to follow. At least this way I continue to get value out of my FSX purchases, and of course Orbx has gone the whole hog. And all the freeware landclass and AFCADs work without a hitch.

I hate standing still, even if it hurts to walk!

[alan2]

I've laid P3d to one side for the time being , not really happy with it as it stands right now, but am waiting for v2 . My fsx has never performed or looked better than what it does at the moment.

[DocBird]

I am not too sad about Flight passing away. I have never “played†it… My regrets are with the developers who lost their jobs.

I am looking forward to see what will be the next step of MS. If MS believes that flying is something for kids than it may be smart of them to team up with LM (or Laminar?) and develop add-ons and missions for P3D v.2 or XP11. The missions could be the a combination of a nice and detailed scenery, a basic plane and a story (like: dog fight, rescue, or bush flying, etc) and decrease the level of reality to “beginnerâ€.

If their intention is to create a closed shop system than it could be their intention to buy some developed product (like Outerra?) and to promote it, creating a third sim.

I believe that it is a good sign for all of us being serious simmers!

[Andy Ri]

It was a bad idea M$ to stop supporting FSX. Let see their next step about flight games, maybe new Flight Simulator with brand new code eh...

[Dean (PC Aviator)]

If LM can effectively market their product then no doubt it is the successor to FSX... but then what kind of agreement did they take on regarding all this when they purchased the ESP code from Microsoft. If they cannot do this or find a way around it, they might struggle to get the word out enough. Time will tell. I'm hoping they can do it as I doubt Microsoft will step back into any kind of civilian flight sim development now.

[rockliffe]

Frank and Howard: I may be fortunate, but I am getting so much enjoyment out of P3D that I would never go back to FSX. Although of the same fundamental design, already LM has reduced (for me) the drag on the CPU which is crucial. I have an i7 3690X with the intention of overclocking, but I have found with the Step technology that takes the chip through to 3.9gigs I just don't need to. It is very smooth, except at the highest load airports with dense AI, but although frames drop I get far less stuttering than I ever did with FSX.

To wait for v2.0 may be wise, but I'd hate to miss out on this improved FSX as it slowly develops toward 2.0. I have never really taken to X Plane, but if it ends up being the bees knees then I would unhesitatingly move to it. I am buying pleasure and gritty entertainment, not supporting Brand A against Brand B. Meanwhile I shall watch my C90 turboprop finish crossing the Gulf of Mexico, on track from Key West to Dallas Love Field and hopefully hand fly a 'perfect' ILS!! ASX weather, Plan G to follow, and FSCommander built the plan. What could be better than that.

I'll be able to 'grill' you in person before long Ian

[scotchegg]

Yep, it is what it is. So here's the gauntlet that's being thrown to ORBX. What are you going to do about it?

Flight was doomed by poor management but at least it showed even a relatively small dev team on a budget could make something far more immersive than FSX, visually and in terms of FM.

ORBX makes fantastic looking scenery, but within an engine that just isn't fit for purpose any more. There are millions to be made from a decent commercial sim with a global approach to environment (lighting and shadows like Flight), FM, planes etc. If the market wasn't there how would ORBX continue to expand from a platform which is nearly 10 years old?

All it needs is a bit of project management. Laminar do the FM. Orbx does the terrain. The old Flight guys do the lighting / weather effects. A2A do warbirds. Carenado do GA planes. Captain Sim and Aerosoft do commercial jets.

Come on JV, you know you want to.

[Guest]

Hi Howard,

I think you maybe have as much scenery if not more than I have. Can you tell me please how long it took you to migrate all your stuff over?

John

[TalbotFlyer]

If it isn't broken don't fix it

I fly FSX using the Orbx scenery in my Cessna Citation Mustang with all the sliders all the way.

It never studders, never crashes and I have a grand time. Why would I want to change that?

[teecee]

I thought Prepar3d was developed as a military tool, the main market being Governments and professional trainers?

Luckily for us they based it on a platform that we all knew and loved, and once again we have a a sim that is alive and kicking, and being improved upon daily.

All that can happen if they continue to keep the "academic" versions going is that we will reap the benefit of a government sponsored program.. surely this is a "win - win" situation for us? We must remember that prior to Prepar3d our developers were taking a big risk by developing for a dying product. Thank goodness that this is no longer the case. Teecee.

[alfieP]

Microsoft have announced that they are cancelling any futher development on this product!

A sad end of a great journey. If only they had listened to the community.

Ian.

[BeesAndButterflies]

Wow, so soon ?!

[Milamber]

I suspect that the take up rate was nowhere near that of FS [choose your version] and that the uptake on FS* didn't meet expectations. Just my two pence worth.

[caribou]

Thanks for posting this info. I'm not surprised - I bought the Hawaii expansion and tried it for a while - again, I'm not surprised. I wonder if they will try for another version of FSX or whatever? Howard

[Marvic]

Too bad for those who use Flight and enjoy it. The reality of it is the ACEs team from Microsoft are now working for Prepar3D. I doubt Microsoft will go back to a new flight sim.

[Wolter van der Spoel]

by the looks of it Microsoft have shot themselves in the foot

[Blitzer]

by the looks of it Microsoft have shot themselves in the foot

Isn't that something that happens when you get too big for your boots?

[Matthew Kane]

I would like to see them try for an FS11 but I don't think they will. They are a very different company today then 20 years ago and a very very different market. Microsoft has also just posted their first ever loss as a publicly traded company.

Majority computer user today use Iphone or Android and uses social media, Desktop computers are less then 10% of total computer sales today.

With the launch of Windows 95 Microsoft made a deal with their computer manufacturing partners that a licence of Windows would be sold with every new PC...Today Windows 8 is being designed for smaller tablets and phones and Microsoft is launching a tablet, turning their backs on their partners in the past.

In order for Microsoft to succeed they need to be back on top with the portable user and currently Android and Apple have them beat. So where does FS11 fit into all this....No where unfortunately.

[Jay Kae]

Another topic that was opened up was merged into this thread

[Charlie P.]

Well to me I guess it's really no supprise. Although I am somewhat dissapointed in the capacity that it had given my father an intrest in virtual aviation..which looks like it will either go away for good, or I might otherwise be able to show him the light that FSX could bring to him instead. All that money...gone. Good thing I never bought any of their addons or even bothered to download it for that matter.

[Rudyjo]

With the end of Flight, some are asking if they might now think about Flight Simulator Eleven.

Microsoft has just had it's first ever year with a negitive income if I have read the report correctly. If this is correct, I doubt that bringing back Flight Simulator will be on the front burner.

For a very interesting story on why Microsoft is where it is now, read the lastest issue of Vanity Fair. The article is called "How Microsoft Lost It's Mojo."

[macca22au]

And they sold the ESP on which Flight Simulator X is based to Lockheed Martin. Obviously we poor owners don't know whether this now excludes MS from its own market.

But I have to correct something I said. P3D is $50 for the academic version, X-Plane in Austalia is $98 ($69.90 in the US and we have the stronger dollar, fo figure) BUT poor old FSX Gold is going out the door at $30.

For someone with a good computer this makes a cheap entry and re-sellers and developers are constantly holding add-on sales. And there is endless forum advice on how to overcome its foibles.

BUT P3D makes me happy, but roll on v2.0 as an upgradable simulator, rather than the v1.xx which requires a re-install at every new dot point. Tedious but Orbx migrator improves the process, and one does get to cull the clutter that we accumulate in FSX, and of course it always runs freer after each clean out.

And Howard I look forward to a friendly discussion very soon. I'll email my train bookings.