Tomorrow we will be releasing the free 40th Anniversary Edition update to Microsoft Flight Simulator. This is the biggest update to MSFS since its initial release in 2020, and it has been a huge labor of love and source of pride for the development team. To our millions of loyal fans and sim pilots, from those who have been with us since the start with MSFS 1.0 way back in 1982, to those who embarked on their first simulated flight with the latest version in 2020, thank you for being part of this journey with us. The sky is calling!

The 40th Anniversary Edition update will be released at 8am PST (1600Z) on Friday. See this chart for the release time in various different global cities. The size of the update will be about 22 GiB (for Premium Deluxe) and users will require 40 GiB of free space. Release notes will be made available at launch time, as will an update to our Known Issues list.

As a friendly reminder, those players who are taking part in the optional SU11 beta test will be migrated to the new release build approximately one hour after it goes live.

MSFS Team

Click here to continue reading the Development Update!

Want to know when the Microsoft Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary update will be available in your region? We've got you covered with a global release times guide!

• Seattle: 8:00AM (PST)
• New York: 11:00AM (EST)
• São Paulo: 1:00pm (BRT)
• London: 4:00pm (BST)
• Amsterdam: 5:00PM (CET)
• Cape Town: 6:00PM (SAST)

• Singapore: 12:00AM (SGT)
• Tokyo: 1:00AM (JST)
• Sydney: 3:00AM (AEST)
• Wellington: 5:00AM (NZST)

It’s the final countdown! The launch of the highly-anticipated 40^th Anniversary Edition is only one week away, and we couldn’t be more excited. Helicopters, gliders, a new study-level Airbus A310, several fan-favourite planes from previous editions of MSFS, classic airports, missions, and more are all coming as part of this free update on November 11. In conjunction with the 40^th Anniversary Edition, we will also be releasing Sim Update 11 at the same time, which includes dozens of bug fixes and other improvements to the base sim.

Leading up to the launch of the 40^th Anniversary Edition, we have a contest in partnership with Thrustmaster. We’re giving away one of the brand new TCA Captain Pack Airbus Edition throttle and sidestick plus a digital copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator Premium Deluxe Edition. These new Thrustmaster peripherals are now compatible with both PC and Xbox and include several other new features compared to the previous TCA Airbus Edition products. All you have to do to enter is follow both @MSFSOfficial and @TMThrustmaster on Twitter and retweet this tweet. Good luck! 

As a reminder, we have a Dev Q&A livestream coming up on November 18. If you would like to ask questions to our panel of Jorg, Seb, Martial, plus some special guests, please submit and upvote questions in our official forums.

MSFS Team

Click here to continue reading the Development Update!

Enjoy discounted pricing on Marketplace content from 4Simmers!

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To purchase these discounted items, visit the Microsoft Flight Simulator Marketplace, select ‘Featured’, scroll down to ‘Special Offers’, then select ‘See All’ and look for the savings.

We are now only two weeks away from the November 11th launch of the 40th Anniversary Edition. This free update comes with a wealth of new features and content, including official support for gliders. To learn more about how we brought these unpowered aircraft to Microsoft Flight Simulator in the most realistic way possible, be sure to watch our new Feature Discovery Series video linked below. This video contains interviews with several Asobo developers as they discuss the process of creating the looks, sounds, instruments, and flight model of gliders.

Public beta testing for Sim Update 11 remains ongoing. SU11 will be released simultaneously with the 40th Anniversary Edition on November 11th and contains many bug fixes and improvements to the core sim code, including changes to the weather system to add thermals to the sim, essential for glider flight! Thank you to everyone who is participating in the public test and reporting your feedback.

In Marketplace news, the Eurofighter Typhoon from CJSimulations is now available. While the Typhoon is CJSimulations’ first product in the Marketplace, it comes from a veteran developer who has previously worked on several other popular MSFS addons. We’re very excited to bring this modern fighter jet to the Marketplace for both PC and Xbox!

And lastly, earlier this week we announced that the date for our next Developer Q&A is November 18th, and our next SDK Q&A is on November 23rd! You can submit and vote on questions for our Developer Q&A here, and questions for our SDK Q&A here!

MSFS Team

Click here to continue reading the Development Update!

Enjoy discounted pricing on Marketplace content from Got Friends!


For seven days starting on October 21st save up to 40% on the following items:

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To purchase these discounted items, visit the Microsoft Flight Simulator Marketplace, select ‘Featured’, scroll down to ‘Special Offers’, then select ‘See All’ and look for the savings.


Thank you so much for helping me with this!

The dev team remains hard at work preparing for the release of the upcoming 40th Anniversary Edition which is scheduled to launch on November 11. A part of this includes bringing fixes and improvements to the ongoing Sim Update 11 beta. As a direct result from player feedback from last week's first public test build, we released a new beta build (1.29.25.0) of Sim Update 11 to testers earlier today.

Thank you to everyone who has participated in the Sim Update 11 beta and reported issues on the forums. The information, feedback and bug reports are incredibly valuable and have already helped us identify and resolve some issues in Sim Update 11.

You can read the full release notes for the new build here.

MSFS Team

Click here to continue reading the Development Update!

Enjoy discounted pricing on Marketplace content from Flightbeam.

For seven days starting on October 14^th, save up to 33% on the following items:

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• NZWN Wellington Airport

Enjoy discounted pricing on Marketplace content from FSoares

For seven days starting on October 7th save up to 33% on the following items:

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To purchase these discounted items, visit the Microsoft Flight Simulator Marketplace, select ‘Featured’, scroll down to ‘Special Offers’, then select ‘See All’ and look for the savings.

Get your maple syrup and poutine ready, because World Update XI: Canada is here! (We don't recommend mixing them together, but we won't tell you what to do.) This free add-on is available in the in-sim Maketplace, and the update brings with it 12 new photogrammetry cities, 87 hand-crafted points of interest, 5 hand crafted airports, and more! Further information and release notes for World Update XI can be found here.

Alongside WUXI, today we also released Local Legend VII: the Cessna 195 Businessliner! This classic-looking plane was the first all-aluminum aircraft developed by Cessna, and has been wonderfully recreated in Microsoft Flight Simulator by our friends at Carenado. It is available now in the in-sim Marketplace for USD $14.99. If you'd like to learn more about the Cessna 195 Businessliner, check out our article on the plane!


We hope you enjoy the new update, and we'd love to hear your feedback on it! You can leave your thoughts here for World Update XI: Canada, and here for the C195 Businessliner.

MSFS Team


Click here to continue reading the Development Update!