It's no secret that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 had a hard time taking off on Xbox and PC as part of its launch a couple of weeks ago, and even though things have calmed down a bit since then, it's still got a ways to go.
A lot of the problems seem to have stemmed from Flight Sim 2024's reliance on cloud streaming, with players pointing out that they'd rather have downloaded a 100GB+ file for a smoother experience (like they did with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020) rather than a 30GB file that's so desperately reliant on stable and fast cloud streaming servers.
However, according to the team behind the game, that was never going to happen. The topic was addressed in a recent Q&A on Twitch, in which Asobo Studio CEO Sebastian Wloch had the following to say about it:
"I would say we didn't really have a choice. The sim is getting so big that going with the 2020 way of doing things... it was just not going to fit into that system."
"I asked the team who was in charge of building the sim that if you wanted to download the entirety of [Flight Simulator] 2024 Standard Edition, right now it's 1.4 terabytes. And that's not all the satellite data, the 3 terabytes of world data... that's just what you would have installed in 2020 [in the initial download]."
Sebastian went on to explain that based on the servers that handle the initial download for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, it would have taken the first players about 25 hours to install all 1.4 terabytes at launch, so it still would have caused problems on release day.
With the system as it is now, the idea is that Flight Simulator 2024 will only stream the content that's necessary for your current experience (which is a lot less than 1.4TB) while also allowing for updates without requiring large downloads every single time. That's obviously when everything's working smoothly though, which clearly didn't happen at launch.
Despite all of that, there are now plans to allow for permanent installs in certain situations — such as when you're got a few planes or airports that you particularly enjoy — although there's no word on whether this feature will be available on Xbox in addition to PC. The rest of the stream goes into a lot more detail about the issues that have been experienced recently, including poor ground textures and even a Quick Resume bug, so it's well worth watching - the excellent Simulation Daily has provided a full recap if you'd rather get the written version.
Give it a bit of time - we're sure Flight Simulator 2024 will be an outstanding package on Xbox and PC before long!