Flight Simulator is one of those games with a dedicated player base that will buy every new installment and expansion. The technicalities that come with flying a modern airplane and the minor differences between two very similar planes are things that get this community excited. Unfortunately, it has been let down with the launch of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.
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The game launched only a few hours ago, but as it stands, it has received ‘Overwhelmingly Negative’ reviews on Steam, with 2,384 reviews at the time of writing. These reviews all come down to the fact that players are unable to play the game due to massive server loads. Most players are stuck looking at the installation menus.
Your Flight Has Been Delayed Due To Technical Issues
Steam reviews for the game are all in the red, with players frustrated about the server issues and the amount of time it takes for the game to install. What further added to this was the fact that the long install time has led to Steam’s two-hour refund period lapsing. And for those who did manage to install it, a lot of elements and assets are missing.
Reviews have been blasting the launch plan of the game, saying that a game that relies so highly on server load should have ideally had a staggered launch, rather than launching globally all at once. Many have even complained that this is a direct result of the always-online approach that the games industry has slowly been moving towards.
“We are aware of user reports of long initial loading times into Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024,” said the MSFS Support Twitter handle. “With so many users initializing the sim concurrently, we have a large number of server requests. We are working to help resolve the issues as soon as possible. For users whose initial load is past 90% and no longer progressing, we recommend a reboot. Otherwise we advise waiting to allow the loading to proceed as normal.”
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 chief Jorg Neumann even put out a video apologizing to fans for the server issues that have plagued the game’s launch day. He assured that the dev team is looking into it and that it should be sorted soon. “We knew the excitement was high for Microsoft Simulator 2024 but, frankly, we completely underestimated how high, and unfortunately, it really has overwhelmed our infrastructure,” he said.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 expands the next-gen series further, adding a host of new technology for hyper-realistic weather and more. It also adds jobs for pilots to undertake, from shuttling skydivers and cargo to mounting daring aerial rescues.