Microsoft Flight cancelled now?

[ryogahibiki345]

After the beta I knew that it wouldn't last long. They kept saying that "We're trying to bring 'new' gamers to the flying genre', and we kept telling them that it was a bad idea that only the flight sim public at large has kept FSX going for what? 6? 7 years now? They didn't listen and now they are no more. This is how it works people. If you don't listen to what the public is asking for they aren't going to just take what you give them. Money talks and, and...well you know the rest. I'm sorry that Flight never got any helicopters out but then they probably wouldn't have had cockpits either.
@Microsoft: We spoke with our mouths and our money by not buying what we didn't want. Hopefully now you will listen to those that matter in the flight sim genre, the flight sim enthusists. Gamers are just that gamers and FS'ers will always stand seperate from the gaming crowds. If you want to sell a flying game then you'd better put guns on those Pipers and if you want to sell a flight sim then you'd better make it,"As real as it gets."

[torkermax]

That's exactly how I felt after beta testing. But was labeled a naysayer, TOO serious of a simmer etc! I erased it and never gave it another thought. It had/has pretties but no context, no guts. It would be nice to open up its the source code for development. But, consider the scource. Sad to think of all the time and money spent on its development or lack of. It met its destiny.

Part of, no completly what has kept FSX/FS2004 going is third party freeware and payware developers, releasing new and exciting context virtually daily and users advancing the quality and performance of the sim. A hobby!

[dtmicro]

I liked the game for what it was even though it was missing SIM Stuff. I don't see this as a good thing, so sad. They could have always added the more serious SIM stuff later. With all graphics sliders turned up, there was some very impressive auto-gen in that game, better than I've seen with FSX Add-ons so far (FSX airports can beat it), but admittedly I haven't tried every single major FSX scenery add-on. Some of the deep dark pine forests in Alaska were pretty awesome, as well as some of the mountain crevices in Hawaii.

I would like to find OFF-AIRPORT trees and grass and AUTO-GEN for FSX that looks as good as the trees and grass in MS Flight, sure I know there are airports in FSX that look better, I but I like the MASS expansive areas to fly around.

[VERT002]

First of all, let me say that I had no interest in Flight. I never downloaded it, and never used it. That being said, I am sorry to hear of it's demise. I did see Flight with a glimmer of optimism, that had it been successful, one day MS might return to developing a full-fledged sim again for the rest of us. There is very little chance now that MS will ever again develop a flight sim. There was no profit in flight sims anymore for MS. The economy has spoken. I do feel sorry for those people that lost their jobs due to MS's poor management decisions. I hope they find work soon.
Now we must keep our eye on the future and see what other companies can design to keep us happy at our monitors. Will it be XPlane? Will Prepare3D fill the void? Is there a flight sim being developed right now we haven't yet heard about that will blow the doors of everything else? Who knows? I do know I have FSX running well and hopefully, it will serve me well until something new comes along.

[alaskancrab]

Maybe we should wait for an announcement by Microsoft.. and not some politician who isn't in the loop. Clearly 35 people laid off in Canada doesn't effect Redmond Washington.

[brings1]

Well some call it sad. I'm not feeling sad. I feel ripped off.
Why? Because in FSX I never started from Hawai, never from Alaska. I'm from Europe and thats where I did my flying in FSX.
I bought all available DLC to support MS in the hope that in the long run I could buy dlc that appealed some more to me than water, forrests and streams in parts of the world I wouldnt dream visiting even in my worst night mares.

[dtmicro]

There were things to do. I drove the multi-use sea-plane in MS Flight (the ICON as they call it) down a glacier river which descended from the mountains while going 100mph over the water and got jetted out into the ocean. It was pretty fun. There are some fun things to do in the game but have to get creative. I also landed on a very narrow bridge in Anchorage which took 35+ tries to do without crashing.
I landed a plane way below stall speed due to a 70+ mph wind at Hawaii. The wind physics are much better in MS Flight than FSX (At least without add-ons). Landing in a very heavy cross-wind actually could be a challenge and was fun.

For FSX I keep trying supposedly great add-ons and come away dissapointed, but I'm not in this only for the SIM experience. I mean I get it, I do like the SIM Experience, but I also just like flying around scenery for the hell of it. I had played FS 9 and FSX for years, and I think MS Flight could have been something great and new, the base design was very solid, all it needed was to keep being added to.

Even just adding a few things to MS Flight could have been a good start, some cockpits, ATC, some landing controls, and a more variety of planes. Of course third-party allowances for development would have been key, but then I haven't found FSX add-ons to be incredibly awesome either (some are for sure, but I'm still not satisfied with the scenery in FSX add-ons because of poor auto-gen, trees, and grass textures). Sure if you want a flat world like a TileProxy or ET satellite map and add auto-gen on top of it, some potential there, but what a mess and work it is in FSX is to get the graphics looking good. Some of the airports look incredible in FSX, but that is such a small area and I am more of an explorer than to be circling airports all day.

[Anubis]

Well,

The world is full of start-ups who failed to deliver stellar ROI. The fail of MS Flight is simply a consequence of bad choices...

I only feel sorry for the people who worked and put their souls in it, especially developers and artists who had almost no voice in saying what was right or wrong and were directed by incompetent managers and market "strategists" (no third party integration, aircraft without VC, no ATC, real-time weather, collect-the-bonuses, ...)

Thanks God FSX has still plenty to offer, most thanks to the "third party" world that MS Flight cut-off so stupidly.

Paolo

[Adam24]

No. Flight is a great game, I enjoyed the time I spend playing it, and Im planning to buy all the addons for it in the next few years, but Im still in FS. I hope that this will be a lesson for MS, that they will learn, and maybe, one day, well see a nice dvd box saying "Microsoft Flight Simulator 2014". For now, everything is up to us...

[M31]

Cant say I'm too surprised, the project lacked commitment/direction and seemed to show less and less of both as time passed, Alaska without missions, aircraft without VC's ... I wonder how things would be if Bill Gates were still head of MS, he was known to have an interest in this franchise after all ... Joshua Howard's poor people skills to the long term hardcore flight sim enthusiasts never helped either IMHO.

It was probably bad timing and the people working on Flight not knowing (at least for sure) until the last minute, but releasing the Carbon Cub VC yesterday is bound to grind for those that bought it thinking there was a future for Flight after that turn around.

If we ever do get another Flight Simulator from Microsoft I hope they have learned some lessons, Flight was (arguably) not quite a sim and not quite a game either, a lack of focus was its downfall and the inevitable lack of sales too, pity this coincided with MS's latest loss, but they always panic at times like this.

They cancelled MS Train Sim 2 twice, FS11 once (MS Flight was not FS11) its kinda sad, MS Flight had some nice touches, lighting and shadows, but fell so short in so many area's for me.

I'm not gloating about this, just jotting down random thoughts.