Why we still haven’t begun our Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 review-Nick Gillett-Entertainment – Metro

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 – it’d be nice if it worked before 2025 (Xbox Game Studios)

Two days after it first launched and it’s still impossible to play Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, as it suffers server and other technical problems.

It’s easy to be cynical when publishers withhold review copies until a game’s day of release. The immediate assumption is that they know they’ve got a dud on their hands and are trying to hide it until the last possible moment.

Often that’s exactly why it happens but sometimes there are mitigating circumstances, especially if it’s an online-only game or a developer has been rushing to get it ready to hit an inflexible release date.

In the case of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 its non-availability before launch was explained, by Microsoft, as being due to the online services not being ready and a planned day one patch update for Xbox and PC. As excuses go, that one didn’t sound too worrying. The problem is those online services are still not working and as we write this the game has already been out for two days.

The reality of Flight Simulator 2004’s situation has turned out to be something wearyingly familiar, especially as it comes only a few days after the fourth anniversary of Cyberpunk 2077’s nightmare launch.

On trying to start Flight Simulator 2004, which despite being single-player requires an always-on Internet connection to play it, we were greeted with a static Login Queue screen explaining, ‘Too many users are trying to connect at the same time’. Apparently having a large number of players trying to play a triple-A title on launch day was a situation nobody had considered in advance.

The queue later changed to a server error, and the following day gave way to downloading several gigabytes of assets, which seemed positive until the download froze at 97%. Restarting the game the same thing happened.

Later in the day we were able to complete that process, only to have the game freeze in the set-up menus. Rebooting our Xbox Series X, we got to the same screen in set-up before it froze again. And again. And again.

A number of PC players have managed to load the game, and they’re already complaining of a litany of glitches, broken textures, and performance issues. The fact that it’s been review-bombed down to 1/10 on Steam is perhaps understandable given the scale of disappointment.

Reader Saints Stickman summed it up nicely in Wednesday’s Inbox: ‘So, Microsoft want us all to believe that cloud gaming is the future. Yet they release Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 today and all you get is a message saying, ‘too many users are trying to connect at the same time’.

‘That’s the software installed locally on an Xbox Series X just trying to connect to the servers. If the infrastructure cannot handle that, then how are they ever going to handle streaming the game down too! The only cloud they are in is Cloud Cuckoo Land!’

It also raises the long-standing concern of whether you actually own a game when you buy it digitally, especially when, through no fault of your own, you then can’t play it. The rise of digital purchases shows no sign of stopping and yet Flight Simulator 2024 makes a very clear argument against it.

Reader Cassius2K alludes to exactly that in the same Inbox: ‘In a world where people buy digital and never actually own it, the top version is £199.99. That’s a lot of money.’

It certainly is, and it’s a reminder that rules around digital ownership may need to be tightened up to prevent companies we buy from being able to withdraw rights to a game, film or piece of music whenever they feel like it or happen to be experiencing technical difficulties.

It would be different if there were a built-in compensation process – if your train doesn’t run on time you get a partial refund – but despite prices for games that stretch well over £100, gamers have no recourse except venting their anger on Steam. If you can’t play the game you bought, tough luck. Nothing about that seems fair.

We look forward to reviewing Flight Simulator 2024 and will do so as soon as it’s in a playable state. Unfortunately, we have no idea when that will be.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 – flights have been delayed (Xbox Game Studios)

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