I’m a bit late with this, but wanted to put my thoughts down on “paper” and I just got around to reading the Navigraph Community survey.
Let’s start with this: I bought the Collector’s Edition of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. €260. That’s not nothing. I was all in – expecting something groundbreaking, something that would justify a brand-new release and kickstart a whole new chapter in flight sim, and yes, I wanted the merch for my man cave too!
And… well, here we are. Months later, I barely touch it.
And it turns out? I’m not alone.
MSFS 2020 Still Rules the Skies
According to the Navigraph Community Survey 2024, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is still the primary sim for more than half of all users—52% to be exact. Meanwhile, MSFS 2024? Just 24.9%. Not bad for a new sim, but when you consider how much hype surrounded the launch, it feels… underwhelming.
Even more telling? When asked what sim users fly most of the time, MSFS 2020 still leads at 55%, while 2024 lags behind at 18%. That’s a massive gap for a title that was positioned as the natural successor.
You don’t need charts to see what’s happening here—people are sticking with what works. And MSFS 2024 in a lot of areas, at least right now, just doesn’t.
What Happened?
Let’s be honest—expectations were huge. Microsoft’s messaging suggested that 2024 would be fully backwards compatible. All your aircraft, all your add-ons? No problem—they’d just work, they said. Maybe a few features wouldn’t carry over and new technology would need to be integrated, but functionally, everything should load up and fly.
Except… that’s not really how it played out. If you fly airliners like I do, you probably found the same thing: many aircraft didn’t work properly at launch, or still don’t. Systems broke. Panels glitched. Liveries vanished. The ‘everything will work’ promise turned into ‘some stuff will kind of load, if you’re lucky.’
Now sure, there’s been progress. Updates are rolling out, developers are adapting. But first impressions matter—and for a lot of simmers, especially those who invested time and money into detailed aircraft like the PMDG 737 or the Fenix A320, MSFS 2024 felt like starting over. Without a good reason to.
I expected that 2024 would be at the same level of completeness as 2020 at a minimum, I thought the new things would have issues and bugs, but I didn’t expect to take a step backwards.
Community Sentiment? Mixed at Best
The survey results paint a pretty clear picture. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 didn’t meet expectations in several critical areas:
- Stability was a major letdown—crashes, freezes, and weird performance hiccups were common.
- ATC improvements? Promised. But more than half of users said it fell short.
- Performance (ironically the most requested improvement) ended up being one of the biggest disappointments. That said SU1 and the SU2 beta has shown that to be improving a LOT.
Yes, the visuals are fantastic. No one’s disputing that. But stunning scenery doesn’t mean much if the systems underneath it are fragile.
Even the willingness to recommend MSFS 2024 was tepid. Only 24% of users rated it positively (7/10 or above), while 16% gave it a low score (3/10 or less). The most common response? A meh-inducing 4–6 out of 10. That says a lot.
What Microsoft Needs to Do
Here’s the thing: I want to love MSFS 2024. I really do. But it needs work. If Microsoft wants to make this the default sim of choice going forward, a few things need to change.
- Fix Compatibility—Properly
If you say all planes will work, make it so. At the very least, provide clear tools and documentation for developers to update their aircraft. Users shouldn’t be beta testing payware they already bought. - Stability, Stability, Stability
A sim crashing on final approach is unforgivable. If this is the future of the platform, it has to be rock solid. Plus if it does crash, tell us why and what caused it not “error 0x00000000C” - Deliver on the Promises
From ATC to weather systems to aircraft mission support, the features need to be more than marketing slides. They need to work – and they need to be consistent across aircraft types and playstyles. - Talk to the Community
Right now, it feels like a lot of frustration could be avoided with better communication. What’s broken? What’s being fixed? Which add-ons are compatible today? Where’s the roadmap? Transparency builds trust. I don’t think the developer updates quite cut the mustard and the forum listing of issues is a bit manual and basic.
Look – I’m not writing this to bash MSFS 2024. I want it to succeed. I paid good money hoping it would. Also for certain types of flying – GA with the planes that are included or have been updated, 2024 can bring a LOT of enjoyment and does work, but the stats speak for themselves.
But as someone who flies mostly airliners and just wants things to work, I’ve found myself back in MSFS 2020 95% of the time.
Maybe things will improve in the coming months. Maybe we’ll look back a year from now and say “wow, 2024 really turned it around.” But for now? It’s a flashy upgrade that feels more like a sidestep.
If you’re still on 2020, you’re not behind—you’re just flying what works.
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