The End of an Era ?

...Well, it certainly looks that way, at least for now.

As has been widely reported (for example here, here and here, although there are more) it seems that Microsoft is closing it's Aces Studio, which is the department responsible for the Flight Simulator range, including FS9 and FSX.

What's not totally clear at present is whether or not this will affect Microsoft's ESP (the 'professional' version of FSX aimed at corporate users for 'serious' applications...). I sincerely hope it doesn't, but at present it's not looking good for FSX or ESP (or subsequent versions of each). Perhaps from a business standpoint, both have been a flop. I really can't think of any other reason for the closure, other than that they predict the economy to get far far worse than it already is and are now dumping the least profitable sectors of their business.

Perhaps I ducked out of Flight Simulation just at the right time (be that by bad luck rather than judgement). I certainly don't miss the financial hassles I've been marred with (and continue to be marred with) from that industry if I'm honest.

Whatever the reasons, this does not bode well for the future of Microsoft Flight Simulator. Although some may see it as an open-ended period of stability for the platform, what happens if/when the supplies of FSX run out ? Will anyone produce more copies ? If so, who ?

It's kind of ironic really that the major criticism of X-Plane over the years has been it's continued development, and thus lack of platform stability (with too many versions coming out too soon). Well it appears that X-Plane 9 has stabilised into something of a rather fine simulator indeed, and in my opinion may well be poised to take up some of the following from the MSFS range at some point in the future. I'll certainly be getting back into X-Plane when time permits (although I'd never really left it behind - it's always been my sim of choice...).

TTFN

Disclaimer: The views and opinions I post are the views and opinions of me, and me only, and do not reflect views or opinions of anyone or anything else. Views and opinions are subject to change without notice!