MSFS 2024: Rough Launch, Developer Apology

After Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024’s bumpy launch, its head acknowledged the game's problems. Read on to learn more about why these problems occurred.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Head Acknowledges Day-One Launch IssuesHigh User Numbers Overwhelmed MSFS Servers

The much-awaited launch of MSFS 2024 has been hampered by bugs, instability, and server problems. Microsoft Flight Simulator head Jorg Neumann and Asobo Studio's CEO, Sebastian Wloch, released a YouTube video addressing players' concerns.

In the roughly 5-minute Developer Launch Day Update video, Neumann and Wloch explained the game's problems and their planned solutions. Neumann acknowledged the high anticipation but admitted underestimating the player count. "It really has overwhelmed our infrastructure," he said.

To further clarify the issues, Neumann yielded to Wloch. "At the very beginning, when players start, they’re basically requesting data from a server, and that server retrieves it from a database," he said. This database has a cache and was tested with 200,000 simulated users, but the large player count is still overwhelming it.

MSFS Login Queue and Missing Aircraft

Wloch and his team attempted to address this problem by restarting the services and boosting the number of concurrent users. They accomplished this by increasing queue size and speed fivefold. However, "It worked well for maybe half an hour and then all of a sudden the cache collapsed again," said Wloch.

They quickly identified the cause of the incomplete or lengthy loading times. After reaching capacity, the service fails, necessitating repeated restarts and retries. "That creates extremely long initial loading, which is not supposed to be as long," he explained. Over time, the missing data results in the loading screen pausing at 97%, compelling players to restart the game.

Furthermore, the missing aircraft issue reported by players stems from incomplete or blocked content. While some players successfully joined the game, a few aircraft or assets might be absent after clearing the queue screen. "That’s totally not normal, and that’s due to the service and server not responding, and this cache being completely overwhelmed," Wloch asserted.

MSFS 2024 Struggles with Largely Negative Steam Feedback

Due to the aforementioned issues, the game is receiving considerable criticism from Steam players. Some have voiced serious concerns, ranging from lengthy login queues to missing aircraft. Currently, the game has a Mostly Negative rating on the platform.

Despite these significant day-one launch difficulties, the team has been diligently working to address them. "We have resolved the issues and are now onboarding players at a consistent rate," as stated on the game’s Steam page. "We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience. We will keep you updated on our social media channels, forums, and website. Thank you very much for all your feedback and support."