UPDATE: Microsoft has confirmed that the Flight Simulator series will continue and that they are "dedicated" to it. SOURCE.
I have been playing computer games for the last 29 years and ever since I discovered MS Flight Simulator back in 1982, I have patiently waited every few years for my new dose of even more realistic flight models and airplanes. It is sad that newer generations will not have my luck of flying the virtual skies with such realism.
By now, most likely you already heard that the technology sector got hit last Thursday yet again by the recession. This time it was Microsoft laying off around 5000 people in the next 18 months. Not only is this sad news by itself, but it is also bringing down one of the oldest video gaming franchises with it. Microsoft has confirmed to IGN that they are closing Aces Studio. Aces Studio has been the internal division of Microsoft Game Studios that has brought to us Microsoft Flight Simulator for the last 26 years. With the closure of Aces, it is all but certain that the franchise has seen its last day.
Aces studio is just the latest casualty of the closure of the Microsoft’s internal game studios that used to make up the mighty Microsoft Gaming Studios. In the last year and a half, Microsoft has not only closed some minor studios but also closed two other major ones, FASA and Ensembles. Additionally with Bungie branching out, the only major internal studio left is Rare. This latest closure further strengthens Microsoft Gaming Studios console oriented direction.
The flight simulator genre has been dying a slow death for more than a decade now as great simulators like the Microprose’s Falcon series have been all but forgotten. The last gasps of breath for the genre are held almost solely by the folks of 1C and Ubisoft with the IL-2 Sturmivik series while the only other notable flight simulators left are X-Plane and FlightGear.
It appears like Microsoft Flight Simulator X is the last of its kind. R.I.P. MS Flight Simulator, you will be missed.
No related posts.
January 26th, 2009 at 4:27 PM
Flight Sims were replaced with Guitar Sims. Sorry for your loss man
January 26th, 2009 at 7:12 PM
Uhhhhh, this article is wrong.
Microsoft has confirmed that the ACES studio, the team responsible for the Flight Simulator series, has been closed.
However, a Microsoft spokesman did confirm that the series will continue, saying: “We are committed to the Flight Simulator franchise which has proven to be a successful PC based game for the last 27 years.”
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/56901
January 27th, 2009 at 9:11 AM
I stand corrected :)
January 27th, 2009 at 10:16 AM
no worries, i screw up all the time
January 27th, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Well seeing that Arnold is a SENIOR EDITOR he should have simply updated the post as I ended up doing.