People get puzzled, some love the drama, others are completely lost, and we start seeing weird questions and even weirder answers. Especially after the barrage of content that came out of the MSFS2024 Global Preview Event, the community has been on fire.

I hope I can help some of you and perhaps debunk some of these myths.

Myth #1: it’s a $200 sim

This really puzzles me. I see a lot of people complaining about the fact that this became a $200 sim. I really don’t understand how people got to that conclusion.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will be offered in 4 main flavors and a couple of special editions with physical items.

All the different editions will be based on the exact same sim. What will be different is the amount of content added (aircraft and custom airports):

So, the differences we are paying for between these versions have to do with the fact that we are also getting more content.

It’s not a $200 sim, folks. It’s a $70 sim. If you purchase the Aviator Edition, then yes, you will spend $200. But you also get more content.

Myth #2: it adds nothing new – it should be a free update

I’ve seen a lot of folks looking at the videos and screenshots and basing their assessment solely on those images and the scenery, saying MSFS2024 is not that much of an advance and that it should be a free update.

We did get 40+ updates since the release of MSFS2020, between Sim Updates and World Updates. MSFS2024 is so much more than a sim update or a world update.

Between an architecture revamp, scenery improvements, flight dynamic improvements (yet to be properly assessed), new modes, and a bunch of other stuff I am not listing here but that I covered in my article, the amount of new stuff is staggering.

As someone who has worked as a developer for over 25 years, looking at the architecture change itself I would say that alone had the potential to warrant a new version of the sim. When I start looking at everything else that MS and Asobo did, I have zero doubts.

This is definitely new version material.

Myth #3: we will all need new computers

MSFS2024 - Computer Specs

Ah. Panic mode initiated.

Every time there’s a new version of a sim, people go wild. And with good reason. Especially some 20 years ago when sims were released for systems that didn’t exist yet.

Nonetheless, for MSFS2024 it may not be like that.

Due to all the changes and improvements Asobo made to the engine – which includes better multi-thread/core support, for example – the performance of the sim should be better. According to Sebastian Wloch, CEO of Asobo Studio, “Memory can be a limit because that would crash. But performance, well... There's no limit.”

Of course, there’s also more stuff that the new version of the sim does, so there are some gains that eventually get lost. But I believe that if your system handled MSFS2020 well, it should handle MSFS2024 as well.

Don’t fall into the drama and panic people are falling because they look at the ideal specs and go crazy. You don’t need that. That helps a lot, probably but you don’t need it.

Myth #4: this is a streaming sim?

This one has popped up before for MSFS2020 and it’s back to MSFS2024.

Back then, I wrote an article about it, which is still valid today.

In this case, “streaming” is the act of transferring data from one location to another. We also know it as “downloading”. Saying it like that probably makes more sense to a lot of people out there.

MSFS2024, just like MSFS2020 does, will stream (download) data and textures from servers at the Microsoft cloud system and save it to our computers, which will then use that data/textures to do its thing.

The main difference with MSFS2024 is that a lot less will be installed to start with, and the sim will manage what is needed and fetch it. Asobo is calling it a “Thin Client”, although I think that’s not a good name as it can lead to people misunderstanding what it really is about – especially those with more technological knowledge that know what a Thin Client is.

 This means that managing the local cache becomes more important since we don’t want to have to download the aircraft or scenery we use more often.

I hope Asobo thought of that and marks those portions of data as important, so they are not cleared.

Myth #5: it will all be processed on the server

I believe this comes from a mix of Asobo talking about streaming again and the “Thin Client” concept I mentioned above.

People’s imaginations ran wild, and they started to think – just like with MSFS2020 – that things would be processed on the server side and then streamed to the client side, increasing the dependency on servers.

That dependency is exactly the same as it was. This means that we may still have issues if the servers are down. But that is something Microsoft and Asobo are working on to mitigate and, eventually, solve once and for all.

Everything works as with MSFS2020. Nothing is actually processed on the server and streamed to us. Not the sim logic, anyway.

Myth #6: I can’t do anything I like to because of #@%&!! Career Mode. Microsoft made this a game!!!

Oh boy… We still see this. It’s one of my pet peeves.

But I digress.

Microsoft and Asobo added career mode to the sim and people went crazy. Note that I didn’t say they replaced free flight. I said they added career mode. So, it’s a new feature, which does not affect free flight or any other feature the sim had.

Having more options is good.

“But I wanted X to be handled instead of this!”

We all have something that we’d like to see in the sim, and we don’t have it yet. Shared cockpit with the ability to point at locations in the cockpit to teach other folks, for example. But I am happy that the sim is evolving, regardless.

6 myths out of the way. What else?

Got more myths? Questions? Let me know and I will try to debunk them – or just help you if you are confused!