Microsoft Flight Simulator will be supported for 10 years
Microsoft is committed to Flight Simulator for the long haul.
Microsoft and Flight Simulator developer Asobo have revealed that the upcoming game will be supported for ten years to come.
In an interview with Ars Technica, Microsoft Flight Simulator head, Jorg Neumann, confirmed that the game will continue to receive new content for years post launch.
In the interview, Neumann also recounted the story of how the reboot was envisioned in the first place. In 2016, after being impressed with the studio's work on HoloLens, Neumann tasked Asobo with creating a prototype of a realistic flight sequence over Seattle. The prototype used Bing satellite data, which ended up powering the full game, and an engine capable of procedurally generating a 3D map.
Later that year, head of Xbox Phil Spencer got to see a video of the prototype in action, and he enthusiastically asked to play it. "Why are we looking at this video?" Phil Spencer said.
After trying the game, Spencer "looked at me, I looked at him, and he said, 'Are we really going back?'"
"If we're doing this, we're in it for the long run. You're in it for the long run," Spencer told Neumann.
Although Microsoft's commitment is certainly promising, there's a lot we still don't know about Flight Simulator. Microsoft has been running closed insider tests for a while, and will continue to do so until closer to launch.
From what we've seen so far, however, the game looks stunning, but plenty of questions about the levels of simulation and accessibility it's going to have remain.
Thanks, PCGamesN.