Microsoft Flight Simulator

News from this year's FlightSimExpo was overwhelmingly shattered by the announcement of Microsoft's return to the flight simulation franchise at E3. The multi-billion dollar corporation opted to formally announce Microsoft Flight Simulator, and news spread around the community like wildfire.

Since its release, Microsoft has spoken out and addressed some concerns from users. To quote these from the website:

We are making Microsoft Flight Simulator. Emphasis on the word SIMULATOR. Designed for PC, optimized for multiplatform support (e.g. Xbox). Yes. We are supporting 3rd Party Content Development and Community Content creation. We are aware of the concerns in the current eco-system and are working to address them. Yes. We genuinely want to work closely with the community in the development of this title. Accessibility is important to us. Whatever your abilities are, if you want to fly, we are going to do whatever we can to make that happen. Yoke and pedals, mouse and keyboard, controller, etc. No pilot should be left behind.

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Users have taken off to forums, social media and other forms of online socialisation to shoot down other simulators, saying they "do not stand a chance," or similar, based on what they sawa in the trailer.

In a CNBC news article, Austin Meyer said "It’s sort of like Ferrari not announcing the next Ferrari at a car show, but instead telling Uber about it."

He was sent many text messages, emails and voicemails from friends, family and users saying that X-Plane had no chance.

Having watched the trailer more closely however, Austin felt a little less flustered: “All the things that are necessary to build a truly dynamic, ever-changing, living, breathing city are literally engineered out of the system, is what it looked like,” and says buildings, cars and shadows didn't look quite right in his eyes.

Microsoft Flight Simulator

His other concern was that Microsoft Flight Simulator does not support the ability to design and build custom aircraft, which X-Plane can do through the extensive use of Plane Maker and Airfoil Maker applications.

You can watch the full trailer, which was announced at E3, below.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is designed for and will release on Windows 10 first, before being ported to their Xbox console. The simulator will be available next year, exclusively under Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass, a subscription-based service.