2 weeks Ago By Paul Thurrott
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is now available for preorder on Xbox Series X|S and PC, ahead of its November 19 launch. There are multiple editions of the game, and the Standard Edition will be available on day one to those with current Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass, or Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions. “Since we launched in 2020, we have seen 15 million people come to the simulation and be interested in what we do,” .
“When you compare that number to the previous biggest launch we had, which was , it took 16 years to get to 5 million users. So there has been an explosion in the flight simulation hobby, and it’s because of the community and excitement that everybody’s bringing.” Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.
99) as a special welcome gift! According to a write-up on , is a “graphical leap forward” from an already impressive looking game, with “a jaw-dropping enhancement of the ground detail, the inclusion of worldwide ship traffic, the first-ever implementation of helipads, glider airports, oil rigs, and vertical obstructions around the world all the way to the addition of dozens of animal species worldwide.” The game’s representation of Earth is in effect “a digital twin,” with a claimed 4000x the detail previously provided. Tiny stones, rocks, gravel, and grass are all modeled in 3D, there’s a large cast of human characters, domestic and wild animals, and locally significant vehicles.
There’s even real-time ship tracking so you can see cargo ships moving around as they do in real life, and the new game will deliver a Career System that mimics how real-world pilots start their aviation careers. Given all the additional detail, will lean heavily on cloud streaming and reduce its installation size to just 30 GB. By streaming only the areas necessary for your flight path in high detail, Microsoft can save a lot of disk space while maintaining the quality it wants.
And unlike with , you won’t need to install World Updates, as those will stream as well. Standard Edition costs $69.99, and it comes with 70 aircraft and 150 upgraded airports.
Deluxe Edition is $99.99 and will include 10 additional aircraft and five extra airports. Premium Deluxe costs $129.
99 and will have another 15 aircraft (for a total of 95). And Aviator Edition includes everything from the Premium Deluxe Edition plus the entire fleet of 30 Microsoft-published Marketplace aircraft developed for between 2021 and 2024, for a cost of $199.99.
Each is available separately for Xbox Series X|S or Windows 10/11 on PC. Paul Thurrott is an award-winning technology journalist and blogger with 30 years of industry experience and the author of 30 books. He is the owner of and the host of three tech podcasts: with Leo Laporte and Richard Campbell, , and with Brad Sams.
He was formerly the senior technology analyst at Windows IT Pro and the creator of the SuperSite for Windows from 1999 to 2014 and the Major Domo of Thurrott.com while at BWW Media Group from 2015 to 2023. You can reach Paul via , or .
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