The End of Flight ?

[Craig]

Its seem Microsoft have pulled the plug on flight and also made some cuts to staff, Its a shame really as it had potential but the DLC just didn't cut it, plus I don't think they understood how there customers wanted new content each week.

Craig

[spad54]

It would appear so. This link was posted at SOH
mobile.theverge.com/gaming/2012/7/25/3187649/microsoft-vancouver-lays-off-staff-cancels-projects

[Deleted]

Hardly surprising really. Now let's hope that either someone acquires the Flight franchise and does it properly (can't see that - too many simmers, who are really the only proper market, alienated already who will never buy the product and concept probably flawed anyway) or LM makes Prepa3ed (or whatever it's called) into the next proper flightsim that FSX wasn't. Are we beginning to see a pattern repeating here from MS? FSX was released when it was half-baked and now Flight as well. So come on now MS, hand over the baton to someone (LM?) who is committed (for now anyway..) to turning out the product that the market actually wants.

[beana51]

It may be so,however yesterday a new plane was added..The Carbon Cub,complete model...It may very well be the "GAME" aspect of "FLIGHT: may be waning,but for many,the "SIM" part may not.Were FLIGHT to shut down tomorrow ,I for one still will have the superior scenery to fly over....For the Nattering Nabobs Of Negativism,other factors are in play...and quite simply "ITS THE ECONOMY STUPID"...As always that is the criteria we must use to judge by....If they are making a profit or not,the costs of operation,and other business practices...However,"FLIGHT" for many has been a big plus....Rather than Hurting FSX,or FS9,it man have had the opposite effect..that is introduce Desk Top Flying to Gamers who may find this far more interesting ,and with greater control of its in put...like the great people who have made FS9,and FSX to the great sim we have now!..They may in fact have a bigger market for their talents!..Like Mark Twain said once " "The Rumors of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated."

[luisfeliztirado]

It's all very nice to comment on this, but it is a sad day for all enthusiasts. Microsoft was the last of the original simulations still on the market and after 30 years, they found that there is no market for a realistic flight simulator. In fact, they realized that 5 years ago when they shut down the ACES team and ended FS.

The self-proclaimed "serious" or "hard-core" simmers, that is to say, airliner simmers, do not represent a sizable number of users and there is no market for a training simulator. FS was that and could never attract a large part of the market because of it.

Flight was a last ditch attempt to address the larger market with a simple, easy to use flight "game" that simulated flight much better than any previous version of FS. but did not fall into the trap of presenting itself as either a training sim or an airliner sim.

The lack of content, the dearth of promotion and marketing to the true market for this type of sim, and the hateful and spiteful reception from the entrenched FS users are probably the more valid reasons for Flight being shut down.

It is too bad, because there are now no comparable alternatives in the realism of the simulation, the breadth of details, the mastery of all aspects of flight that only Microsoft provided. And clearly MGS will not return to this genre for a long time, if at all.

It is a true loss for our community.

Best regards.
Luis

[beana51]

"The lack of content, the dearth of promotion and marketing to the true market for this type of sim, and the hateful and spiteful reception from the entrenched FS users are probably the more valid reasons for Flight being shut down."..

.Yes thats true luisfeliztirado..I believe that!...The same opposition of when FSX was introduced!...It seems there was not a Buck to be made with "FLIGHT" and viewed as as competitor to many,there fore "SHOT DOWN"..Not so with FSX, a vehicle for some to work with and make money!Hence its success!..

The Smothering of the open mind,the new idea,The rigidness of the entrenched,the snobbery,the sheep like actions of many,has always,and will continue to stifle innovation ..Be it here with a toy,or in the real world....It Was A Small thing done.!....Not a good day for Serious and Fun loving desk Top Flight Simming!...YUCK!


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 www.microsoft.com/games/flight/."

[Deleted]

I think you two chaps are defending the indefensible. This was never a fly for free model - it was a pay to fly model and a very expensive one too. There was an utter dearth of everything that people who'd bought such software before had got used to - a large area to fly over, a very wide choice of beautifully modelled scenery and aircraft and LIFE through AI traffic and vehicles. You had to swallow all that and make do with whatever MS fed you - at additional cost - and quite frankly what they did feed you didn't cut it by today's standards.

I have the most sympathy for yet another batch of talented developers that MS has yet again slung out on their ears - why? - because the suits got it wrong again. They are the ones who should be out looking for jobs in a hard market, not the ones who do their bidding, create what they were asked to create and then get fired because what they were asked to do was just plain wrong. And from what I read MS were told by people who knew better than them at the testing and pre-betas that what they were doing was wrong.

So forget all this 'it's the economy stupid' stuff. MS made some very bad managerial decisions so it's time that the franchise went to someone who does have a 'feel' for the market. And just because the market isn't big enough for a 'global megalyth' who only wants to dabble in huge markets (but still makes a loss we now know when its competitors didn't) doesn't mean that it is't big enough for someone else to do well out of it.

But it won't be with a flawed model like Flight - there's only one place where that's heading (IMO of course).

Just came back to say that maybe I've not been very clear in what I'm saying above. The more products there are in the marketplace, the more fragmented it is and the smaller each product's share is likely to be. With Flight gone, the market that's available to a 'new', 'better' product is therefore correspondingly greater. That's what will attract someone else in - and believe me, another will be along I'll betcha before not too long. I can wait.

And another last thing

A few 'moaning minnies' don't kill off a product. In fact they are usually the ones who stand up and point out that the emperor has no clothes. What does kill a product though is when the market that it's aimed at either doesn't actually exist or, as in this case, turns its back on it in droves.

That's me done

[beana51]

;D ;D ;D.Roger..."WELL DONE FER SURE!...and so it is!...for some? its just frustrating,and expressed in many ways. So please let me enjoy my little rant,.BUT Simming and Life goes on..tomorrow all will be forgotten, and we will remain men with our lil toys...Still great FUN,and here on TOH? More so...Cheers my friend!...Vin!

[Deleted]

Vin, what I'm looking forward to is what will come after, for something surely will, maybe we needed the decks to be cleared. I've been told many times by wise friends when things have happened that appeared to knock us sideways, 'things happen for a reason', and more often than not, they've been right. I think that this needed to happen for something truly better to come along and in my naive way, I think it will. I hope I'm not proved wrong....

Best wishes, don't fry to much down there in the Boneyard. We've had a scorcher today that was hotter than forecast and I've had to work all day indoors. Reason is, I've now sold my business and I've committed myself to help the new owner for a while. But the money will come in very handy - you can guess why but keep mum for now eh

Roger

[luisfeliztirado]

Perhaps you read me too quickly, so I shall repeat just for you:

The lack of content, the dearth of promotion and marketing to the true market for this type of sim, and the hateful and spiteful reception from the entrenched FS users are probably the more valid reasons for Flight being shut down.


I wrote was what probably the only positive review of Flight at its release and I clearly mentioned that the lack of content was going to be the main obstacle to success. Many who would otherwise have shown interest could find nothing for them in Flight. Perhaps this is what you said also, so I am glad we agree.

In addition, FS was never a great success; the first version to sell over a million copies was FS 7 and FS 10 probably never sold close to 2 million copies, over the entire lifetime of the product version. Flight was an attempt to attract all those who love the idea of flying but found FS too complex, who did not want to learn to fly, only to get in the air and ... fly!

There was no particular marketing effort to alert these people of the existence of a new product that catered to them. And so it is not surprising if the potential for the game was not attained.

Finally, the community did not, and clearly still does not, understand what was at stake. 30 years ago, there were dozens of flying simulators and games and even 20 years ago, the market was filled with major players and great flying games/simulators. Today, the existing titles can be counted on the fingers of one hand, with some fingers left over.

It was not necessary to support Flight if the user found it of little interest, but the active and pervasive attacks created an atmosphere where the growth of the game and its users was made more difficult.

If you think that we are better off with only one or two publishers of flying games, then this is the dream scenario for you. Only time will tell if you were right.

Best regards.
Luis

[Deleted]

Hi Luis, with respect, you haven't understood what I am trying to say. You are looking at this through the short term eyes of the consumer. Of course you want to have as wide a choice of excellent products as possible. That's what consumerism is all about. But you're not going to get that in this market - it's too small. And those products have to be created and developed before they can be put out into the market for you.

I'm looking at it through the eyes of an (ex) marketing guy. If I'm going to sell my product into a small market and try to make some money, I want that market to be as un-fragmented as possible with as few competors as possible because each one of those, no matter how bad they are, will extract customer bucks from the market leaving less for me.

So no, it is not in the interests of those who truly love and believe in flightsim to have too many bad products hanging around for too long if we really want a committed manufacturer to come in and invest in the next good product that we all need so badly. It was not Flight - the market has spoken no matter what a few might say, and those few can continue playing the game for as long as they want and MS are prepared to indulge them by keeping their servers up. But the rest of us, the great majority, want and hope for something better than Flight and even FSX that was launched with all its bugs. MS has failed us twice now but was still ready to pocket our cash which in the case of Flight, a few were prepared to shell out, probably because they trusted MS and what it said. I didn't and I'll admit that - the model didn't appeal to me in the slightest. And what I and many others want is the flightsim that FSX should have been. Maybe it will come from LM developing the FSX engine as we know they are, I don't know. But in marketing terms, the chance of this happening was reduced IMO all the while Flight was there and draining bucks out of the market.

I'm not trying to be controversial or start a flame war - these are just my opinions and I know that some will not agree. Fact is in life we don't all like the same things and just because you like Flight doesn't mean I have to or mustn't be allowed to say why I don't like it.

Best wishes,

Roger