Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 was released with "overwhelmingly negative" reviews on Steam

On November 19, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 was released on PC and Xbox Series. Steam users criticized the new flight simulator. Only 14% of the players who left reviews rated it positively.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024

The main reason for discontent is the overly long loading times. Steam users complain that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 did not have a full pre-load, allowing only a minimal number of files to be downloaded in advance. Additionally, within the game itself, 150 GB of the launcher needs to be downloaded. The loading of this can take several hours, which Steam counts as gameplay time, resulting in the inability to request a refund by the time the game actually launches.

The developers of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 have already acknowledged the loading difficulties. They explained that too many players are attempting to launch the flight simulator simultaneously, overloading the servers. Currently, Asobo Studio is working on solving the issue. Developers also advised those whose loading process stalled at over 90% to restart their systems.

According to data from SteamDB, at its peak, 24,863 people were playing the Steam version of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 simultaneously. For comparison, the peak concurrent users for the Microsoft Flight Simulator released in 2020 was 2.5 times higher — 61,829 people.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 online on Steam