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As to A2A products, I'm among those who won't dump the existing sims until there's a reasonable range of A2A products for that sim. Plus I have plenty invested in P3Dv4 to just dump it all next year. FS2020 does look great and promises a lot, but since it appears to be a work in progress, I'll probably wait a year before dipping my toes in that pond.
Cheers,
Mike
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I like planes like a I like tractors. They are both mechanical marvels of engineering, that hold my awe and my interest in equal measure, yet, I do not like to drive tractors or fly planes in real life but I love to watch them from the ground, and from the sides of the road in the case of tractors. One must not be fully vested in system management, or learn the complex handling characteristics, to enjoy aviation. There are plenty of casuals out there and on these very forums that like to just look at the planes from the outside while they fly. Those are the people that make up the bulk of aviation enthusiasts and they run for cover when people start throwing around words like center of gravity, pFactor, and manifold pressure, they just like airplanes, and don't care about all the ins and outs of their operation, and those are the people that will be the target for the new MSFS, and that is not a bad thing because, more people in the hobby is always a good thing. If not for the support by us, the fans of FSX and P3D, I doubt that either would have been developed for for as long as they have been. Flight died a still birth because the community was shut out from the word go, this time around it looks like they have learned that lesson but, even as staunch a supporter of the new MSFS that I am, if they try to monetize it like they did Flight, and like Dovetail did with FSW, I will be the first to turn on the people that made that call but, I won't take it out on the sim itself. Flight was very good, and I flew it for a long time after they pulled the plug until I had to reformat my PC when I rebuilt it, because what it did, it did very well, it was the people on the other side of it that killed it. I am not saying that you have to buy MSFS day one or even month one, but if enough people DON'T buy it, then it will die just like Flight did, with little to no development.
Again, no one is saying you have to dump what you have to add something new. Hell, I have P3Dv3.4, FSX:SE, DCS:World, and now IL2 Sturmovic: Great Battles, and when the time comes I will add the MSFS to that list. I probably have as much time and money tied up in FSX/P3D as anyone else here, and just because I do that doesn't prevent me from moving to something new. Again I will point that the only reason not to get it is out of stubbornness, just like those people that still insist that stuff be made for FS9,though these people are starting to move on, and to P3Dv4 ironically. And for those that are wagging a finger asking, "Why haven't you gone to v4 yet?", I reply, Money was the biggest factor since I hurt my back and can no longer work, I was all set to until I saw what was up with MSFS, now, v3.4 is just fine for me, and when it's time to update it most likely will be to the MSFS. No one producer of add-ons drives my choice of flight sims, unless it's helicopters, then it is DCS all the way, so whether or not A2A goes to the new platform is immaterial to me. If they do great, I'll continue to support them, if they don't, that is fine, I'll fly what ever else I can get my hands on. I fly for the airplanes, and hate long distance flying, and rarely do flights over 45min.
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The great thing about flightsim is that it attracts all sorts of people, from casual but fascinated users who know very little about aviation to serious aviation buffs including pilots and others involved in the aviation business. We're all enthusiasts to one degree or other, but whether one group outnumbers another is both impossible to accurately know and is largely immaterial anyway. Everyone here gets what they want from this hobby, and that's enough. I hope the new MSFS will be financially viable for MS and wish them every success. I see why Flight died quickly, but FSW was a different case and there were more reasons than market acceptance as to why that died. I bought it and was impressed, as far as it went. However, it was still a late alpha version when it was pulled. The most disappointing thing about the FSW episode was the huge number of people who criticised it with no first hand experience of the product. There seams to be a lot of such people around these days and I think they should be ashamed of themselves. Alas the world is full of keyboard warriors today. What I have found is that the people you meet in real life in the aviation world are much nicer than many you come across in the world of social media. That's not a criticism aimed at anyone here, merely an observation. I hope MSFS doesn't go the same way as Flight and FSW as it looks like MS are trying to move the genre on in a way that hasn't been attempted since the early days of flightsim.
As for myself, I reiterate that I'm unlikely to make the move immediately. In my case I have too little time to have multiple flightsims on the go simultaneously. I am one of the more "semi professional" users here and have had my flight training curtailed thanks to having been made redundant from my job. So I know a bit about flying (enough to be dangerous
) and truly appreciate A2A products because of their realism and attention to detail. When I'm on my sim, I wish to fly as well as I can for the most part and improve my knowledge and I think you can't do that with the small amount of time I have available using multiple sims. I'm also one of the many here for whom finances are finite so if I buy a product and some addons, I want to get some use from it. But give it a year or so, and I may well change my mind. Nothing has to be written in stone. We're all different and exist in different circumstances.
Cheers,
Mike
So, there’s nothing stopping MS from licensing the new-generation engine for commercial applications, too.