#1 Enable Joystick/HOTAS/Rudder Peddle/Track IR support. As is the control scheme for galactic Starfighter is probably the worst decision in gaming history. Seriously whomever came up with that idea should be fired immediately because he or she has no clue as to what gamers want. People play games like Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen, DCS series, Falcon BMS, Flight Simulator, ETC because people want FLIGHT SIMULATORS. I already know what your argument is going to be.......but Belthorian not everyone owns a joystick! My answer is simple THIS IS THE PC GAMING COMMUNITY, anyone who plays a flight simulator has MULTIPLE joysticks, By not having joystick/HOTAS/Rudder Peddle/Track IR support you automatically alienated 90% of your target market.
#2 Enable cockpit view. Playing a game where your flying aircraft from a third person point of view does the exact same thing as no joystick support. It removes the immersion factor. Look at any great flight sim in the history of gaming and your not going to find any timeless classic that are third person.
#3 Offer varying levels of difficulty including a hard core sim mode. Look at the greatest combat flight sim game ever made Microproses Falcon 5. Originally released in 1998 Falcon 5 has survived the demise of it's company and has been kept alive by an enthusiastic community for 17 YEARS. The community has continuously updated the game to take advantage of new hardware and technology. It is still the most realistic flight simulator ever made. Flight simmers are the most fanatically loyal gamers if they find a great product they will play that product for YEARS. That should be your target market, not the casual player who goes after whatever new shiny object is dangled in front of their face. If Galactic Starfighter was a high fidelity space combat sim you would attract a large core of flight combat sim players who would play it for years.
#4 Offer PVP AND PVE events in Galactic Starfighter. While PVP is fun things like lag and the general repetitive nature get old quickly. A PVE Galactic Starfighter campaign would be awesome. A storyline from a pilots perspective, involving capital ships, escort, strike missions, fighter sweeps, recon. Just having PVP eliminated a huge percentage of the potential player base. While the concept of PVP is great the reality is often something different. Nobody likes the in game harassment and trash talking they are often subjected to. Even when you do well you are often targeted for harassment. People get mad that they got killed and send all sorts of nasty comments to the person who killed them.
In closing the decision to roll out Galactic Starfighters as it currently is was possibly the worst decision in gaming history. Fix it by making it a space combat sim with joystick/HOTAS/rudder peddle/Track IR support, there is already an excellent model to base it off of, the GREATEST space combat sim ever made X-wing VS Tie Fighter. If someone is crying because they don't have a joystick.....GOOD those are not the people you want to cater to. Flight/Combat sim players are your target market. It will provide you with a whole new player base, many of which will subscribe just to play Galactic Starfighter. Even the free to play flight sim crowd will still buy stuff from the cash shop in the form of micro transactions.