Steam users share how the game "successfully simulates experiencing a 5-hour layover."
In an ironic twist of fate, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 launched earlier today (November 19), only to crash upon takeoff.
The game had a hefty price tag of US $69.99 (going up to $199.99 for specific versions), yet it was unable to deliver a playable experience on day one of launch, with many players citing issues with running or even downloading the game.
"Overwhelmingly Negative" reviews on Steam
Currently, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is tagged as "Overwhelmingly Negative" on Steam. Steam users shared their experiences, with many complaining that they were unable to download the game at all. On the other hand, some who managed to download the game could not boot it up due to server issues, and plenty of others were missing content and menu items that were crucial for the game to run smoothly.
In his review, Steam user Jerome Castle said that he had waited an hour before being placed in a login queue because "Too many users are trying to connect at the same time."
"As an international flyer, I'm well accustomed to airport queues, but none have ever dragged on like this—three hours and counting. No queue number, no progress bar—just an endless void of waiting."
Another Steam user, Stal2k, shared that they waited for 4.2 hours and was "unclear where I'm at in the [downloading] process."
Still more players, like Steam user Merker, had to download the game twice (or more than twice) to get it working, but needed help with issues like a missing cursor anyway.
For context, Microsoft only allowed players to download the game on its launcher instead of Steam, and did not allow players to pre-download anything before launch day. This caused a server overload, with many players attempting to download or run the game simultaneously.
Steam User Orange Dog also shared a potential fix for some of these issues, considering that the game is being downloaded to the user's C Drive by default. However, the solution may involve more technical steps than most players are willing to take, and does not promise surefire results.
Microsoft Flight Simulator devs share an update
A few hours after launch, the game shared a video in which Jorg Neumann, Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator, Sebastian Wloch, CEO of ASOBO, and "Jayne/Jummivana" Senior Community Manager shared crucial updates for the players and explained what was going on.
"We knew the excitement was high for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, but frankly, we completely underestimated how high, and it really has overwhelmed our infrastructure," Jorg Neumann shared. Sebastian Wloch also relayed in the stream that the game experienced a server overload, and that all the missing content and aircraft came down to an issue with incomplete data.
Wloch also shared what actions had been taken so far to improve the server issues, like restarting the affected systems and controlling user access speed, which provided a temporary fix that eventually failed. However, the investigation is still ongoing, and according to Wloch, the team is still actively trying to work on a solution.
"We're really sorry, we want to apologize," Neumann said at the end of the stream, sharing how they jumped onto a live stream because they wanted to "be as transparent and as honest as possible." Admitting that the launch had "some problems today," he assured the players that the team is actively working on it.
