It's been more than a decade since the last Microsoft Flight Simulator game and it seems that developer Asobo Studio is taking this sequel seriously. In a new update posted to YouTube yesterday, the developer confirmed that Flight Simulator 2020 will contain roughly 37,000 airports for gamers to land at. For those unaware, that's basically every single airport on Earth.
Sven Mestas, lead game designer on this newest installment, explained how some of these airports have been given more detail due to their importance in the world. "Because some airports deserve more attention, we made a selection of 80 airports based on the most played and busiest ones. We gave these airports more realism by naming the taxiways and signs according to official IDs and providing them more accurate surface definition."
So while not all 37,000 of these destinations will be 100% accurate to their real-life counterparts, Asobo isn't skimping out on the big ones. You can expect the likes of LAX, JFK International, Beijing Capital International, and the Dubai International Airport to be eerily close. That's the kind of attention to detail that simulation players love to see.
It's been a long time since Microsoft Flight Simulator was last heard of. The previous installment, Flight Simulator X, cut down a lot of the series' standard versions and created a game many weren't too pleased with. It was definitely graphically impressive, but it had such little content that it felt empty. 2020 looks to change that.
This certainly isn't going to be a game for everyone, but I appreciate how far Asobo is going to live up to the legacy of this series. Older entries from the 90s were some of the most graphically impressive games on the market. They also had an immense scale that was completely unheard of at the time. Bringing all of that back with updated technology is going to be a sight to behold.
Currently, Flight Simulator 2020 is coming to PC sometime this year with an eventual Xbox One port in the cards. Asobo is promising ray-tracing technology will be implemented and hopes to have VR support sometime in the future.
Source: YouTube