Yesterday we learned that a China Eastern 737-800 crashed in Guangxi region. No survivors have been found. With that as a backdrop, Microsoft and Asobo have decided to delay the next World Update release for a couple of days.
Short delay
Microsoft Flight Simulator has come up against plenty of real world events. Anytime anything happens with an airplane, the sim and it’s content, often go under a critical eye. It’s no small wonder that the decision makers behind MSFS felt that they needed to make a small delay.
And so we have a short delay for the sim’s release schedule. Here’s their brief statement released on Twitter (and on the official website).
Some may be disappointed but I think a short delay is probably a good move by their marketing and communications team. Of course the crash of an airliner with no survivors is a terrible tragedy amidst so many recently. Let’s hope for better times for all.
Stormbirds 
This one bugs me. It feels like they are apologizing for something they had nothing to do with.
It is one thing to offer condolences, we are one large aviation community, but to hold up product because of a crash implies that the product is either responsible for or called into question by that crash. I do not see how that is the case here.
It looks like magical thinking, which has no place in a realm where the physical laws must be absolutely respected.
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Yeah, I know what you’re saying. Having a few toes in the PR and communication world myself gives me the perspective that they are likely going to catch some flak either way. So likely the compromise decision was to hold for 48 hours and then release.
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I didn’t even know there was an update scheduled and somehow I can’t quite catch the relation with the crash (well, apart from the obvious). Inner cynic can’t stop singing that China is a big market but he’s a jaded little turd so I won’t listen to him.
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Sentiments reflected as well; if the team wanted to remain neutral on politics and world events, then they should stay as such. No links at all to outside events, just announce an unfortunate delay again and move on. Sure, we’ll roll our eyes a bit and some may stomp feet, but it’s really a minor thing to have a delay. Unfortunately, I don’t see what they’re doing, even if it is well intentioned, resulting in a positive outcome down the road since there’s so much going on in that realm. Hopefully they won’t get too much of a black eye and learn to just keep a sim a sim, respectfully.
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Unfortunately there’s always that “optics” thing. What the MS communications team likely doesn’t want to see is a article about how MSFS launched a major content release a day after an airliner disaster and hundreds dead.
Does that mean that they will have to tiptoe around future releases too? Maybe. Most of these decisions are highly situational.
In any case… 48 hours will be up tomorrow.
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After about 8 months(!) I finally managed to fix my FS2020 install. Loading up the sim now, and it’s s..l..o..w. Assuming it’s done before I crash, I might see some of the fancy new updates tonight.
Going to have to read some reviews on the F-104 available through ORBX. Cruising to BC in a Starfighter is too good to pass on.
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Oh nice! What did you do to fix it?
I haven’t checked out or even know all that much about the F-104. Buyer beware, a lot of the jet fighters that we’ve seen for MSFS haven’t been all that great. A few are.
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A guy on Avsim pointed me to the app/data folders and I cleared out a bunch of leftover garbage and that seemed to do it. Took a good eight-hours to (re)download, super slow, but I just tried it and it looks great. But I’m holding off on the F-104, too much to get reacquainted with and I want to try the F-18.
Now I have to read all your reviews and update articles.
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Interesting and good to hear! I’ve written a few and am catching up on some more content soon. The sim has picked up some great aircraft and scenery packs!
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