The series kept getting new entries until 2006 with the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator X. Really, it’s what the series has always been chasing after. This allowed the sim to work towards achieving its ultimate goal of consumer-grade realism. Following the timeline, a new edition would launch every few years when there was a significant jump in graphical power. Microsoft Flight Simulator was and has always been a product of its time - literally. Later that year, Artwick licensed Flight Simulator to Microsoft, and there began the journey of this fledgling series as we know it today. And really, even at that point, it was pushing the boundaries of early ’80s tech with its crude attempt at wireframe 3D graphics. Its humble beginnings gave IBM PC owners the first glimpse at what would become one of the most technologically advanced series ever. Humble beginningsĭeveloped by Bruce Artwick in 1982, the Flight Simulator series is one of the oldest existing game series of all time. Especially when you consider the full scope of what the new Microsoft Flight Simulator truly is. While I can appreciate some of the frustration surrounding the sim, I do think the stance that some have taken is a bit extreme. Despite these efforts, some folks still think that Microsoft Flight Simulator is currently a “glorified beta,” and have even proclaimed they won’t touch it until a year from now. Thus, very quickly, Asobo showed a dedication to consistently improving the sim - a promise that it made even before release. Since launch, though, the development team at Asobo Studios has worked hard and released several hotfixes on a frequent basis, along with two large updates that overhauled certain areas (Japan and the USA, so far). However, there were some critical issues that seemed to affect almost every early adopter, such as performance hiccups, problems with the autopilot system across all planes, and the live-weather functionality being half broken.

And, like many PC titles, these bugs affected some users while completely missing others.

But, is that really the case?Īt launch, Microsoft Flight Simulator had a noticeable number of game-breaking bugs. Some even think that the developer over-promised what the product has actually turned out to be. However, a noticeable amount of members of the flight sim community are not too happy with the current state of the new MSFS. Just before and right after release, Microsoft made sure to beam this new sim everywhere - and it worked, having pulled off a very successful launch. Microsoft Flight Simulator is barely a quarter of a year old at this point, yet the sim has proven to be a massive disturbance to the industry this year.

List of flight simulator pc games