Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024: A Rocky Launch and the Road to Recovery
The highly anticipated release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 faced significant challenges on launch day, prompting an official response from the development team. Let's delve into the reasons behind the initial difficulties.
Unexpected Demand Overwhelms Servers
Jorg Neumann, head of Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Sebastian Wloch, CEO of Asobo Studio, addressed player concerns in a YouTube video. They acknowledged the immense excitement surrounding the game but admitted to underestimating the sheer number of players attempting to access the game simultaneously. This unexpectedly high volume of users overwhelmed the game's server infrastructure.
Neumann and Wloch explained the technical issues. The game's initial data requests from servers to a central database exceeded its capacity, even though the database had undergone testing with a simulated 200,000 users.
Login Queues and Missing Content
The team attempted to mitigate the problem by increasing server capacity and queue processing speed fivefold. However, this temporary solution proved insufficient as the database cache repeatedly collapsed under the strain. This resulted in extended loading times, often stalling at 97%, requiring players to restart the game.
The reported missing planes and other content stemmed from incomplete data retrieval due to the overloaded servers. Even after navigating the login queue, some players experienced missing assets.
Negative Steam Reviews
The launch issues generated a significant amount of negative feedback on Steam, with players reporting long queues and missing content. Consequently, the game currently holds a "Mostly Negative" rating on the platform.
Despite the setbacks, the development team actively worked to resolve these problems. An update on the Steam page states that the issues have been addressed and that players are now being admitted at a more manageable rate. A sincere apology was issued, and continued communication through social media, forums, and the official website was promised.