Microsoft Flight Simulator will return in a new, content creator-friendly form.
The last time Microsoft made a flight simulator game was Flight Simulator X way back in 2006. The tenth game in the legendary Microsoft Flight Simulator line, Flight Simulator X became the de facto flight simulator game, powering countless arcade simulator pods and even commercial simulator pods for over a decade.
And while there’s no doubt that MS Flight Simulator X was the best there ever was, the flight simulator genre had long since become a niche market by the mid-2000s. Microsoft had shelved any plans for a sequel and it seemed like one would never come. This led to the creation of a large enthusiast community that ensured new content was continually added and updated in the form of mods.
But now that’s about to change. Microsoft announced a new Flight Simulator game at this year’s E3 festivities, and that’s got the enthusiast community concerned that all their hard work might be crushed under Microsoft’s foot.
However, a post from the development team wants to assuage those fears. Microsoft plans to offer full community and content creation support with the reborn MS Flight Simulator takes flight sometime in the future.
The Flight Simulator team also took the opportunity to answer a few questions that weren’t addressed during Microsoft’s keynote. First and foremost, they wanted to assure fans that this is a simulator first, game second. Just like Flight Simulator X, the emphasis is on realism, and one suspects that Microsoft already has quite a few commercial buyers lined up itching to get their hands on updated flight simulator software.
Second, Flight Simulator will be built for PC but will be optimized for Xbox One (and possibly even the next generation of Xbox, whenever that arrives).
And third, Flight Simulator will be made with accessibility in mind. You’ll be able to play with any number of preferred controllers, from keyboard and mouse to gamepad to even more esoteric flight sim setups that involve yolks and throttles and pedals. We bet that Microsoft’s award-winning Adaptive Controller will also get the full compatibility treatment.
We’re still very early into Flight Simulator’s development, with a roadmap set to be released in August. Those interested can sign up for Microsoft’s Insiders Program to be first in line when Flight Simulator arrives for early access.