Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is the latest game in the long-running series that spans multiple generations. The game was released on November 19 for fans of all things related to aviation. Sadly for the developers, it has failed to fully take flight on PC. As it stands, the game has achieved a Mostly Negative rating on Steam. With thousands of reviews written for the game, it is clear what the big issues that the once hopeful hobbyists who tried out the game are facing.
What Went Wrong
Of the almost 4,000 current reviews for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, the main complaint comes from disappointed players who can’t even play the game. An endless load screen and login queue plague plane enthusiasts who just want to take to the skies. This is after apparently extremely long installation times that players are blaming on the fact that they had to install the game on Microsoft’s own launcher for the game. Some reviewers reported waiting hours for the game to install when it normally takes their PCs much less time than that with other games.
Reviewers like Jerome Castle, a player who had over 10 in-game hours, said the issues remain beyond the menu and initial loading screen. He’s regaled his tale of woe by making edits to his original review. In edit three, he said, “Finally accessed the menu but had to skip character creation as models wouldn’t load. Training models on a loading screen. Restarted and tried career mode—textures were missing, and it crashed mid-render. Ten hours in, and still no flight time.” He proceeded to call Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 a complete failure in execution. Castle is just one of many players expressing their immense frustrations with the game.
The Response
In a video posted on the official Microsoft Flight Simulator YouTube channel, members of the team behind the game took the time to address the issues. Asobo Studio co-founder and CEO Sebastian Wloch stated that the team has been struggling with getting one of their services in working order. He said a big problem lies within a cache that is used to store data. When the server asks for data from that cache, it does not work promptly.
Wloch said in regard to the November 19 launch, “It’s a cache that has been thoroughly tested during the whole Tech Alpha. We’ve done load tests simulating 200,000 users, and tonight it’s just completely overwhelmed.” It is unclear why the cache would be overwhelmed that much since the peak player count currently stands at almost 25,000 people. The team is working on fixing the issues though. They have tried to restart the services and throttle the number of people who can use them at the same time. It appears these efforts just might be working since, at the time of writing this article, it has recovered from its Overwhelmingly Negative score on Steam.
Conclusion
Even with the failure of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024‘s launch, it is still continuing a beloved series. Hopefully, it can be even more beloved once all the issues are worked out. It’s never a good feeling when something that you’ve worked on for months or years turns out not as great as you hoped it would be. While the frustrations coming from players are understandable, it’s important to keep the feelings of the developers in mind. Since Asobo Studio has vowed to understand and fix what is going on, rest assured that everyone involved is working hard in the background to get the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 fully in the air.
