Yes that's a good point.
The business model working on top of the cloud game service (i.e. variable) and the content or creative work may just be what has to be settled on first.
There after SDK and collaboration can come into play for whoever wants to join in. It may just be about uncertainties getting fixed as we go - and getting to a quick release of the game platform itself and a game.
Cloud can open up new possibilities when it comes to release management and roadmaps.
May be this just means that potential collaborations extending the game will be dealt with from here ...
Like the game infrastructure or technology is one thing. While the content is another.
I.e. difference between camera and editing technology in movie development and so on (that part of Flight is almost ready now) while movie making (the content and creative use) - and a production line for that (including 3rd parties) is another ...
It may be so ... if so, it's an interesting perspective in possible changes in release management or game publishing for production work.
I.e. concentrate on the platform first - build constructions first. Do a "proof-of-concept movie" using the new moden facilities ... Afterwards recruit folks to make movies and deal with collaborations then ...
So yeah, let's see. It may even take the game to be released first to measure initial demand by counting downloads of a few avialable aircrafts extras and sceneries to see if it a go or no go for some "plays" - i.e. like the A/B audience test's done for movies. I.e. whether the movie get's changed or really what should come quickly out of the production line to meet demand.
It's possible stuff in this "new kind" of game publishing ...
This might just be the challenge for us to understand here ... may be - just may be, Flight is again the new contemporary breed of game infrastructure now all purposed and setup for online. With FSX we where all head and heels over the design for parallel computing and performance scalability.
So let's see if Flight is really some new platform setting a state-of-the-art way for online games on how to roll out content - i.e. potentially matching the huge number of FS stuff out here.
Looks like they are taking there their to do this right - but still releasing as we go (i.e. scrum - focus and release that business-final quality - there's a business risk too in waiting. Just release continously at the start...). So I think I may just lean back for a while - and wait. The way this game is published and distributed is nothing like previous release.
But MS is silent about this. May be about competition in the game industry. And Microsoft has setup a new kind of online business for MGS. And may be Flight is just one of those first works that's going to test it out. If it works for flight - also in a 3rd party collaboration scenario due to number of devs - then it can work for any game.
So all in all - yeah, what reflects right now is just that the digital distribution just makes all this a variable thing - like inherent to software itself.
But here goes the speculation again
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