Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 has experienced a turbulent launch on Steam, suffering a significant player exodus within 24 hours. Following its release, the game attracted over 4,000 user reviews, a substantial portion of which were overwhelmingly negative, highlighting severe technical issues. A steep 45% drop in concurrent Steam players â from a peak of 24,863 on launch day to just 13,282 the following day â underscores the magnitude of the problems faced by the highly anticipated simulation title.
The primary culprit appears to be cripplingly long loading times, with many players unable to access the game at all. Asobo Studio, the developer, has acknowledged the issues, attributing them to an overloaded server-side caching system. In a video address, CEO and co-founder Sebastian Wloch explained that while the system underwent stress testing with 200,000 simulated users, the actual launch day traffic overwhelmed the database cache. This resulted in repeated connection attempts and extended loading screens, severely impacting the player experience.
Wloch detailed the attempts to mitigate the issue, including implementing a queuing system to throttle incoming players. He described temporary successes followed by further cache collapses, highlighting the complexity of the problem. He assured players that the queuing system, a temporary measure, will be removed once the underlying server-side issues are resolved. While the initial wave of negative reviews resulted in an "overwhelmingly negative" Steam rating (only 19% positive reviews at launch), this has shown signs of improvement, climbing to 27% positive reviews and a "mostly negative" overall rating, suggesting some progress in addressing the immediate issues. Currently, around 8,000 concurrent players are reported.
The significant player drop, however, remains a significant concern. The 45% decrease represents a substantial loss of engagement in the initial days following the gameâs release. While the long loading times and connectivity issues dominated early criticism, the initial negative response paints a worrying picture for the game's short-term prospects.
The situation echoes past high-profile game launches plagued by technical difficulties. Games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Final Fantasy XIV, for example, have demonstrated the possibility of recovery from initial setbacks. Whether Flight Simulator 2024 can follow a similar trajectory, overcoming the current technical hurdles and regaining player confidence, remains to be seen. Asobo Studio's swift acknowledgement and efforts to address the problems suggest a commitment to resolving the issues, but the long-term impact on the game's success will depend on the speed and effectiveness of their solutions. The coming weeks will be crucial in determining the game's ultimate fate.
