What you need to know
- This week, two of Xbox's biggest 2024 exclusives launched: STALKER 2 and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. The two games released within 24 hours of one another, but their launches couldn't be more different.
- STALKER 2 is off to a roaring start, with over 110,000+ concurrent players and counting on Steam as well as a #1 placement on the platform's Top Sellers chart. So far, it's got "Mostly Positive" reviews.
- Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, meanwhile, is a complete disaster so far, with most players not even able to get into the game or play for long without countless bugs and crashes. It's also a Top Seller at #5, though it's quickly accrued a very negative review rating.
- Notably, both games are available to play on both Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC with Xbox Game Pass, which is Microsoft's buffet-style gaming subscription service.
This week brought the release of two of Xbox's biggest 2024 Xbox exclusives within 24 hours of one another, but the contrast between their launches couldn't be sharper.
One is STALKER 2, the long-awaited, highly anticipated open-world survival shooter from GSC Game World that's finally out after several years of delays caused by the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. I'm writing this just a few short hours after its launch on Wednesday morning, and its concurrent player count on Steam is already 110,000+ and climbing according to SteamDB data — a very impressive feat for a single player title that's also available to play through Xbox Game Pass. That number is sure to skyrocket even higher going into this weekend, and it will be interesting to see the heights the shooter can reach.
The other is Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, which is, as my colleague Ben Wilson puts it in his review, "an unplayable mess after a disastrous and disgraceful launch on Xbox and PC." The follow-up to Microsoft and Asobo Studio's hit 2020 sim garnered quite a bit of hype before its release on Tuesday, but quickly nosedived post-launch as players couldn't (and still can't) get into the game or play it for long without freezes or crashes. It's so bad that we didn't even give it a review score, as "there's nothing to evaluate."
The stark difference between the launch of STALKER 2 and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is apparent in their Steam review scores. The former has achieved a "Mostly Positive" rating so far with 76% of its 2,035 user reviews giving it the blue thumbs up, while the latter has a crimson "Mostly Negative" rating, as only 20% of its 3,645 reviews are positive. And while it's true that many STALKER 2 players have experienced a variety of performance problems with the sequel, none of them even come close to the ridiculous instability of Flight Simulator.
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It's worth noting that both games are performing well on Steam in terms of revenue, with STALKER 2 at the #1 spot on Steam's Top Sellers chart and Microsoft Flight Simulator in fifth place behind Disney Dreamlight Valley, its new "The Storybook Vale" DLC, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Both were also pretty high on the platform's most-wishlisted games list before they came out, with STALKER 2 holding the fourth place spot for many months. It was only surpassed by Monster Hunter Wilds, Deadlock, and Hollow Knight: Silksong (maybe one day it'll come out...).
I published my review of STALKER 2 a few hours before its release on Wednesday, giving the game a score of 4/5 stars after playing well over 40+ hours of the open-world FPS. In it, I wrote that it "stands tall as one of the most captivating open-world shooters I've ever played, with palpable atmosphere and deeply rewarding exploration that kept me glued to my seat along with addictively intense and dynamic action that kept me on the edge of it."
As someone who's been playing the STALKER games for many years now, it's awesome to see STALKER 2 performing so well, especially knowing the working conditions that GSC Game World has had to contend with amid Russia's ongoing war of aggression. It's definitely not perfect — I've experienced a fair number of noteworthy bugs in my playthrough, and I have some issues with the balance of the game as well — but nevertheless, it's a great game that will only get better over time as the developers tweak it and patch it up. Notably, in an email sent to Windows Central, it was confirmed that 1125 bugs and issues have been resolved with recent patches already, with more fixes on the way.
On the flip side of things, there's Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, which has proven to be a huge disappointment so far. It's a shame to see the sim launch in this disastrous of a state, but hopefully Microsoft and Asobo Studio are able to get the game in a stable, playable state sooner rather than later. Until that happens, though, definitely avoid paying full price for it.
- DEAL: Xbox Game Pass Ultimate 3-month pre-paid cards are just $29.29 at CDKeys, giving you three months for the price of two even after the recent price increase to $19.99/month
The nice thing is that both games are available on both Xbox and PC with Xbox Game Pass, so you can try them out without making a big purchase if you're a subscriber. You'll need Xbox Game Pass Standard to access them on console, PC Game Pass to do so on PC, and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate if you want to play on both and have the option of using Xbox Cloud Gaming as well.
