Microsoft's Flight Simulator, GamerScore Axed
Microsoft's recently announced layoffs have already hit the entertainment division of the company on at least two fronts.
According to Gamasutra sources, Microsoft Flight Simulator, one of the longest running PC simulation / game products, may be coming to an end. Members of the Microsoft "ACES" team, which develops the Flight Simulator franchise, have reported that they were among some of the first laid off immediately after the announcement. Additionally, the "Gamerscore Blog" crew, which ran alongside Microsoft's Major Nelson and Trixie360 to report on Xbox related news, has also been given the axe according to Kotaku.
The Microsoft Flight Simulator series has existed almost as long as Microsoft, and has seen a total of twelve official releases since the original 1.0 version hit store shelves. In the most recent versions, the Flight Simulator franchise has earned a great level of respect in the pilot community as a solid and relatively inexpensive tool to assist both would-be pilots and current pilots in honing their skills. Without the ACES team to continue their work on the next edition of the franchise, the question remains if the series will see its thirteenth release. The ACES team was also actively developing a sequel to Microsoft's Train Simulator from 2001, which may meet the same fate as the flight franchise.
The GamerScore blog team had just recently announced that they would be closing their doors as an outlet and moving on to other positions within the company, however the bad news had only just begun. As per former GamerScore Blog top dog Chris Paladino's recent Twitter updates, the team was ultimately let go before they were able to settle in to any new positions. Major Nelson and Trixie360 however still seem to be employed by the company.
With Microsoft's investments in the entertainment industry steadily declining over recent years, Microsoft may be revealing groundwork for a new business strategy that is less focused on entertainment, and more focused on core applications once again.
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NO!
It took a new administration in Washington to stop Flight and no landing Simulator.
Microsoft seems to be firing all of it's best gaming studios. What the hell is their problem?
Why I oughta. . .
Flight simulators are either technically accurate or easy. Microsoft's was the more technical but it limits market appeal as it's hard to get into unless you are really into airplanes. Technical simulators are very niche products (like FlightGear) in that the community surrounding them gets really into the details even building simulated cockpits with multiple screens and instruments. They have events where some players do nothing but act as dedicated flight controllers for airports.
Train simulators tend to be simpler and can be handled by the "Thomas the Tank Engine" market segment. I would expect the Train Simulator to be finished as it's more likely to succeed but it wouldn't be the first time it was cancelled:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Train_Simulator
Just look at Steve Balmer what a joke.He should be fired as CEO as he is ruining Microsoft.
Look at Microsoft's stock value since last year it has gone down in half especially over Balmer's Vista fiasco.
Axing the Microsoft Flight Simulator series and laying off the employees at Aces Games Studios is complete stupidity.The only reason that I and hundreds of thousands of other customers built a new PC and bought another copy of Windows was to run FSX and get super detailed and complex 3rd party aircraft (especially from a2asimulations).No more flight simulator series then no need for me to build another PC and buy a newer version of Windows.Microsoft you have made a huge strategic blunder.
Here and I was wondering the other day how long it would before the next FS game. This sucks! Hopefully they'll bring it back in a few years.
I wish someone would bring back Mech Warrior, MS why!?!?
If you plan to shut down a franchise, do what the makers of FreeSpace did, go Open Source (LOL Like MS would ever open any of their source) and let the product live on by the people who were your best fans.
There is a TRAIN simulator?? Its on rails, how fun can that be? But come on, keep FS.
Bigtime mistake MS. I that is the only reason I update my widows computer and build new ones. Maybe some 'brilliant' Sony execs have shared their maketing techniques to MS.