Despite a miserable release, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 achieves an “overwhelmingly negative” Steam rating

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 was released on Windows PC and Xbox Series X on Tuesday, but it didn’t go smoothly. Actually, it was anything but that: long loading times and a lack of content earned developer Asobo Games’ l atest launch on Steam a predominantly negative review. Some players get stuck on the loading screen for hours According to reports

and when they board, certain planes are missing. Microsoft and Asobo addressed the troubled launch in a blog post and video message to players, saying the servers were completely overwhelmed by the volume of players logging in at once.

“We knew there was a lot of excitement Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024But to be honest, we completely underestimated how high it was and it really overwhelmed our infrastructure.” Microsoft Flight Simulator said boss Jörg Neumann in a video. Asobo CEO Sebastian Wloch added that the team tested its servers and simulated 200,000 players trying to play, but the systems were still “completely overwhelmed” on launch day. To mitigate the problems, Asobo has attempted to restart its services and throttle the number of people who have access Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 once, just to briefly improve the process before things “broke down” again.

This all lines up with the problems reported in Steam reviews: long loading screens, huge queues, missing models both in the character creator and elsewhere, crashes and missing textures. “I can only marvel at the depth of the simulation as it now feels like Boeing was actually involved in building the servers.” one person quipped, referring to Boeing’s recent problems with its aircraft.

Microsoft and Asobo are investigating the issues, which also extend to missing planes in the game. Wloch explained that while the critical systems are responsive for some people, some of the “optional” systems are not responsive, such as: B. several aircraft. “This is not normal, it is because the server is not responding and the cache is completely full,” he said.

Here’s the full statement from Microsoft’s website:

We have worked hard with our partners, including Asobo and others, to bring you a fantastic simulation experience. The excitement surrounding the simulation today was overwhelming, but we encountered an issue with one of our services handling the new systems in the game such as Career Mode and various missions. The server responsible for processing data requests was overloaded, resulting in delays and errors.

This causes players to experience long loading times and missing content such as airplanes. We have solved the problems and are now adding players at a steady pace. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience. We’ll keep you updated on our social channels, forums and website. Thank you for your feedback and support.

Microsoft and Asobo have not yet provided a timeline for the fix, but said they will update players on social media, the website and forums.