This x100. I was naive enough to think I could do it (in C/C++ + ASM) long ago, in a 3D terrain engine far away. Three of us tried, hard, for about 4 years. I learned a lot but never got past a prototype terrain engine and basic flight model.
Something complicated, something akin to DCS/F4, is similar to an operating system. If I was to even consider it now I’d need a few million bucks up front and at least 20 people (coders, artistic-types, etc) - and about 5 [busy] years.
You’d need a juggernaut. 
I haven’t really dug around this topic much, but as time goes by it just seems you need, basically, AI to write this software. Maybe they’ve already thought about it (talking something beyond the early, to me, self-writing code). Of course, coding that would be a beast too. I’m way outta touch though.
From working in the gaming industry, two points:
Presales drives budgeting, staffing, etc. The more a title is pre-order or sold, the more likely the publisher is to support it in the long run (assume reasonable sale numbers upon release). I worked on titles that had sequels green lit even before they were released based solely on the presale numbers.
As noted expectations are high, and some people are going to be disappointed. There will be wailing and gnashing of virtual teeth. Just like there is with every product.
For me however:
THEY MADE A NEW MSFS!!! I’m personally fricking ecstatic, even if it’s only a 25% improvement on FSX. I never got on the X-plane or PP3d train, so any improvement is a major step forward from FSX:SE. I get for some it may take a lot for it to compete with their current sim of choice. For me seeing another iteration of one of the most beloved and long running flight sims is enough.
Yup. I’ll buy it for that reason alone. I already know it is better for some of my projects than anything else in some regards. I won’t get specific though.
Pre-ordered the Deluxe Extra Super Fantabulous version.
That sounds absolutely fabulous Beach, but why, WHY did they bring MSFS back? Who was the proponent?
Maybe someone who was a kid and played FS2004 or FSX and decided it was time to push for a sequel. Who knows. Maybe Bill Gates is bored with saving the world with donations. 
I‘m a little sad that LSZH (Zürich) is not on the list. It means my home area north of it is probably going to suck. As in being empty because of data protection laws in germany.
I‘m sure Switzerland and the Alps will be fine, though.
Interesting thing is that when you go on Xbox YT channel and compare their videos from the last week in terms of views you will notice that even top tier games like Far Cry 6 (89k), Gears 5 (92k), Fortnite (102k) or even Cyberpunk (138k) got less views than latest MSFS2020 - over 500k in less than 24h! Either the same people are watching that trailer countless of times or there is a real interest from casual gamers in this title.
You can see many people aready complaining on the pricing of the sim - 5 new aircraft and 5 additional highly-detailed handcrafted airports for additional 30$ (deluxe and premium). Wait till they see prices on PMDG and ORBX add-ons. There will be pure RAGE!
Being pretty opens a lot of doors… all kinds of doors.
If you go to Bing Maps and see the aerial coverage of your area, you can probably expect that detail. The buildings would probably be FS generic and not photoreal, but the terrain should be.
The picture is blurry and at least 5 years old.
I was hoping that LSZH would fix that, as it is about 15 miles from the airport right where the ILS approach starts 
Edit: I meant to reply to Saghen
IIRC they stated somewhere that not only Bing maps is the source for their terrain engine. You might be lucky and get something more recent.
I hereby suggest a thread where we can post real world locations, and MS2020 users can fly there once the sim is released and show them.
Based on that people can decide.
Back when I was on the fence whether to get XP11 or not @BeachAV8R did something like that for me and visited a few places so I could compare them with real life.
I’m interested to see the public product. Sounds like its basically worldwide Bing ortho out of the box with excellent weather effects. Flight models TBD and performance on the everymans PC TBD. Not worth my time until its VR ready though, the Rift S ruined flat screen flying for me forever…
X-Plane is still going to be an important part of my sim lineup. There are some types of flying that really don’t need VR… mainly flying the airliners in an IFR environment, or long treks where we often stick the airplane on autopilot and walk away. The eye candy will make for some great AAR’s when we do our Christmas trek this year.
Totally get that. For me the long haul tube liner stuff receives a healthy dose of time compression so we get to the hands on parts. Xplane with hand controllers in VR is basically what I dreamed about as a kid.
Yes most people don’t know and more importantly mostly don’t care - this has been the state for every game ever so best to save your breath.
In the past I once thought that if only they could understand…
