Microsoft terminate it Flight Sim Studio

[Francous]

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21981

 

This is true i have some friends working on what was going to be FX11 but they lost there 3D artist jobs this morning :( sad news

 

Report: Microsoft Makes Big Cuts At Flight Sim Studio

 

Report: Microsoft Makes Big Cuts At Flight Sim Studio Redmond, Washington-based ACES Studio, the Microsoft-owned internal group behind the venerable Microsoft Flight Simulator series, has been heavily affected by Microsoft's ongoing job cuts.

 

Development sources have told Gamasutra that a large portion of the dev house's staff has been let go - with multiple reports indicating that the entire Flight Simulator team has been axed.

 

The Microsoft-owned Flight Simulator is possibly the game industry's longest-running continuous franchise.

 

The first Microsoft-branded version was released in 1982, and ongoing development stretches back over more than a quarter-century and twelve main versions.

 

The most recent version, Flight Simulator X, was released in 2006 and said to have been a success, with an expansion in 2007. A Microsoft representative had confirmed at that time that further editions of the game were in development.

 

Corroborating the reports, Twitter messages from collaborators of the Flight Simulator workers are claiming that the layoffs occurred earlier today, following Microsoft's announcement that it would immediately cut around 1,400 jobs.

 

The Flight Sim series is well-known not just for its official releases, but for its unusually dedicated fan base, which has produced copious amounts of user mods and resources for players.

 

Also in development at ACES Studio was Microsoft Train Simulator 2, the followup to Kuju's original 2001 game. The sequel was previously speculated to be releasing this year. Furthermore, ACES Studio was responsible for Microsoft ESP, a wide-ranging "visual simulation platform" based on Flight Simulator X technology.

 

The future of the three software lines in or out of house is unclear, particularly given how extensive the ACES Studio layoffs are said to be, but Gamasutra has contacted Microsoft for comment on the report.

[SuperKungFu]

man that sucks. I guess they had to do it since flight genre isn't really popular compared to first person shooters.

[Vekkinho]

If ED has some vacancies...

[Pilotasso]

Look it at the bright side...MS SIM's have always been pretty sterile and now with one less competitor other editors will have extra motivation to fill that gap.

[Acedy]

It is not only sad for their employees (and the sim community of course), if they completely stop to produce further iterations this will likely destroy the whole (small) industry of add-on makers. But who knows, maybe for some this could also be an incentive to move to DCS... :)

 

But let's wait for clarifications, there are alot of options, they could just let it die, they could put it on hold and wait for better times, they could keep a smaller team and slow down development, they could sell the franchise, they could sell the franchise + technology, they could concentrate on the ESP engine and development tools an selling licenses for other companies to use the engine, they could even make the engine open source or at least freely available...

 

Does anyone know if ACES are also the devs of the ESP platform, or are these different teams, i.e. one team developing the general engine/SDK, and ACES using it to build FS?

 

Interesting article about ESP:

http://www.simpilotnet.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=202&Itemid=32

 

Blog entry of Steve Lacey, a former MSFS developer:

http://www.steve-lacey.com/blogarchives/2009/01/the_end_of_an_e.shtml

Edited January 23, 2009 by Acedy

[lucasdigital]

The end of the Flight Simulator line is NOT good news for anybody. Not for Flight Sim enthusiasts, Add-on builders or 'competitors'. The huge marketing power of Microsoft keeps the genre visible. New customers are drawn into flight sims because of the availability and mainstream acceptability of the Flight Simulator product line. Many of these gamers soon find there way to DCS, and other Combat Sim providers. Without this big glossy stepping stone, a valuable stream of new customers will simply stop. We have to hope that the FS line might be released to an independent studio, much like XSI, or returned to active duty in some more economically acceptable form...

[Vekkinho]

I doubt it's "The end of Flight Simulator", this franchise is around for cca 25 years and sold in maaaany copies.

 

FS is pretty expensive, considering the price of the sim itself and price of optional addons. Like Acedy already said, terminating future and current development results in destruction of independent payware addon development groups. Be it small or not, there's lot's of them. During my colledge study I personally contributed in MiG-21bis military simulator development by 6DOFstudio, later adapted for use with FS2004 here in Croatia (check the SOKO Z.I. website: http://www.soko.hr/en/index.htm or go directly to 6DOFStudio pages: http://www.studio6dof.com/) and published by LagoSim. SOKO Z.I. also created Mi-8 and Mi-24 addons and military simulators as those helo's are also used in Croatian AF.

 

In addtion, let's not forget obligatory hardware that's needed to make something out of FS. Remember all throttle quadrants, VRPs, autopilot modules and overhead panels one simply needs to purchase in order to blend in completely with a simulated aircraft. I mean, when you turn your room lights out and lock youself in with cellphones muted, 7.1 sorround speakers blasting ambient sounds with headphones only emitting ATC and nearby traffic you really fly that C-130 you just paid 110€ for!

 

So I completely doubt in FS termination!

 

I belive it's the panic caused by probable period of reduced global economic activity , i.e. recession!

[RedTiger]

I don't know, I'm inclined to agree with lucasdigital. At the big retail stores like Best Buy here in the US, the flight sim section will have about 3 or 4 rows of FSX, 1 row of X-Plane, and MAYBE one or two copies of F4AF, although I haven't see a copy of even that in months. IL2 and LOMAC aren't even available.

 

What this tells me is that for the time being, if there is no MSFS for sale, there might as well be no flight sims for sale.

[Francous]

ACES is terminated..

[Pilotasso]

This also makes me wonder if I should get the rest of the CH setup before the flight controller business is reduced to 2 axis 4 buttons joysticks.

[Boberro]

Sad news :(. I couldn't believe that huge gigant as Microsoft decided to close their studio. They even didn't give chance, and they could - they have money for this.

If in that studio worked well artists, programmers, maybe time to new workers :D

 

So thanks to ED, now we have only them in that segment of area.

Edited January 23, 2009 by Boberro

[diveplane]

sad day shame. hope ed stays strong for years to come.

[192nd_Erdem]

Hasta la vista, baby!

 

I never liked FS, but a sad day indeed.

[Airway]

Poor Saitek.

 

X52 Pro and several othzer items were designed for MSFS but closing the studios doesn't mean that all installed versions will be unvalid immediately. ;)

 

You can still use FSX.

 

I'm lookiung forward to buy some more A2A Simulation Add ons for FSX as they are the best for FSX in my eyes.

[Pilotasso]

You guys have realy to look the thing from another perspective. MSFlight SIM had a huge market and elbowed everyone lese out of the way with MS's large funds. Now that its studio is gone --the fans didnt-- theres a huge market gap to fill. Maybe some not so political overzealous editor(s) can fill the gap with new porduct that does not hog your PC with a sterile world full of pixelized textures. The MS staf may well find job on other editors too, usualy happens.

[tutmeister]

Let's hope this is right, Pilotasso. X-plane just can't fill that void for me, I own the latest version and while it is good it is missing things to make it more immersive.

[Grimes]

The studio ISN'T closed, they just sacked a large portion of the development team as all divisions of Microsoft are taking a hit. Whether or not you want to call them "dead" is up to you guys, but in my mind this is a temporary thing.... Though it might be a while till the next FS. Microsoft would be committing business suicide for that series and the entire economy built around it if it was permanently shut down. There are so much 3rd party support for that game, I'd dare say it has more mods for it than the "Source" engine. It boggles my mind how many addons you can get for that game, specificlythe ones you can go to the store and buy.

 

So try not to look at this as doom and gloom "omg flight simmers are officially screwed" Because thats not the case at all. It may be true we won't see the next version of FS any time soon. But I dare say that gaming could be moung the first markets to rebound from this current economy.

[Rhino104]

From Tom Allensworth on the AVSIM forums.

 

The picture that is emerging is not pretty. Of the over forty ACES members assigned to MSFS, all but six appear to be immediately impacted. Those six will be left to button up the product, burn master DVDS and then be forced to look for employment within the greater MS.

 

Unless a new FS is to come out of Microsoft's ESP, I think we can kiss any future MSFS base products (i.e. FS11) goodbye. ACES was doomed when the XBOX and XBOX 360 became popular.

[Grimes]

Shacknews has an update on this:

 

Update: Microsoft has confirmed that the ACES studio, the team responsible for the Flight Simulator series, has been closed. However, a Microsoft spokesman did confirm that the series will continue, saying: "We are committed to the Flight Simulator franchise which has proven to be a successful PC based game for the last 27 years."

 

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/56901

 

Studio is closed, however FS will live on.

[Vekkinho]

^^^^^^

Like I said...

[diveplane]

looks like 5000 jobs are on the axe list . jesus thats a lot of people.

..........

Microsoft earlier today announced that it would eliminate up to 5,000 jobs due to "the further deterioration of global economic conditions."

..........

trying not to make this political , but this former bush administration has to go down as the worst in history, what a mess to leave behind .

really hope obama can do it, recover and clean the mess left behind, not just for america, but a big change to the world as a whole. unity is the way forward imo.

time for change.

good luck to him.

Edited January 24, 2009 by diveplane

[Tango]

Hi,

 

Don't fall into the trap of "Flight Simulator lives on". A franchise exists in name alone. What product MS choose to market under "Flight Simulator" is entirely up to them. My gut feeling is they'll build it for XBox then port to the PC. They're emphasising LIVE far too much for my liking, and the sacking of the ENTIRE ACES team very strongly suggests they've no interest in carrying on FS in its present form.

 

This is very sad day for the FS world. A lot of stuff was driven off the back of MSFS, whether we like it or not. MS are concentrating on XBox as the gaming platform. FS was the last major title for PC they created. It's now gone.

 

MS are in this purely for the money, and if the money is on the console, that's where they'll go. Sales are all they care about, not quality.

 

A lot of FS expertise has just left MS, and it will be virtually impossible to get it back (short of saying "OOPS - that was a mistake - come back - you're not fired really"). That isn't going to happen. :(

 

We're sure to see FS return at some point, but nothing like we have now. FSX was already heading in the direction of a game rather than a sim. It's clear where MS are heading with this.

 

All we can hope for now is that ED remain strong, and that people turn to other sims (DCS:BS, Falcon 4.0, X-Plane). OK, they're not MSFS, but something has to be better than nothing. IMHO DCS:BS is as good as it gets for sims at the present time, but MS kept flight sims in general on the shelf in front of everyone. Nearly everyone who flies the other sims above, generally had MSFS too. Not everyone with MSFS has the above sims however.

 

Best regards,

Tango.

Edited January 24, 2009 by Tango

[Airway]

financial crisis this way or financial crisis that way - I believe a lot of companies just use this "crisis" to get rid of workers to slim out their companies and increase their profits.

Most of them hasn't to do with the financial crisis at all.

All on the back of the workers.

They just cut of the branch with the lowest profit and they dont care about the workers

[Tango]

I totally agree.

 

Best regards,

Tango.

[Boberro]

financial crisis this way or financial crisis that way - I believe a lot of companies just use this "crisis" to get rid of workers to slim out their companies and increase their profits.

Most of them hasn't to do with the financial crisis at all.

All on the back of the workers.

They just cut of the branch with the lowest profit and they dont care about the workers

 

 

Yep it is sad true.