The United Kingdom and Ireland are renowned for their intricate history, iconic architecture, and beautiful landscapes. From the northern reaches of Scotland to the southern tip of England, this region offers a fascinating mosaic of natural, and human made elements. The update includes 16 TIN cities, 79 Points of interest (POIs), and 5 handcrafted airports.

Microsoft Flight Simulator partnered with Bing Maps, Gaya Simulations, and iniBuilds to create this latest spectacular offering for aviators. Microsoft Flight Simulator World Update XVII merges recent aerial imagery, digital elevation modelling (including LiDAR coverage), TIN (triangulated irregular network) surface modeling, and hand-crafted airports.



Continue reading about World Update XVII!

Earlier this week, we hosted our July Developer Livestream on Twitch. If you missed watching it live, you can view the VOD on YouTube below. In addition to answering many questions from the community, our panel also discussed Sim Update 16, the upcoming Boeing 707, and revealed the location of World Update XVII: UK & Ireland!



World Update XVII will release next week on Tuesday, July 23.  Among the many new POIs and bespoke airports included with this FREE update will be Farnborough EGLF, arriving in the sim just in time to celebrate the Farnborough International Airshow!

As a reminder, we are hosting an upcoming community event! If you live near or are able to travel to Cologne, Germany on August 24 and would like an opportunity to mingle with some MSFS team members and other flight sim fans, you can express your interest by filling out the form at this link!

Finally, to any pilots or aviation enthusiasts attending EAA AirVenture Oshkosh next week, all of us here on the MSFS Team wish you safe travels and a wonderful time in Wisconsin! We wish we were there with you!

- MSFS Team

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Enjoy discounted pricing during our Microsoft Flight Simulator Summer Sale!

For 15 Days starting on July 17th, save up to 85% on more than 2550 items.

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 originally planned to host our July Developer Livestream earlier this week, but unfortunately due to a scheduling issue we had to move it to next week instead. The revised date is Wednesday, July 17 at 10:30am PDT (1730 UTC). Be sure to follow our official Twitch channel so you'll be notified when our panel of Jorg, Seb, Martial, and special guests go live to answer questions from the community and discuss future updates to Microsoft Flight Simulator. If you missed the opportunity to pre-submit a question in advance, don't worry! As always, we'll also be taking questions live from Twitch chat during the broadcast.

As a reminder, we first announced last week that we are hosting an upcoming community event! If you live near or are able to travel to Cologne, Germany on August 24 and would like an opportunity to mingle with some MSFS team members and other flight sim fans, you can express your interest by filling out the form at this link!

- MSFS Team

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To simmers in the United States, we'd like to wish you a happy Independence Day! Many of our team members are enjoying the holiday themselves today, so this Development Update will be abbreviated compared to most other weeks. In particular, there are no new or updated Marketplace products releasing today, but a few products did release earlier this week on Monday and Tuesday. Please see the Marketplace section below for more details!

Two of this week's releases come directly from the MSFS team! To celebrate the Fourth of July holiday, City Update 9: Northeastern USA is now available FREE from the in-sim Marketplace. Additionally, we also launched a new aircraft from our Local Legends series, a storied American cargo aircraft: the Curtiss C-46 Commando! This plane is available in the Marketplace for USD $14.99 (discounted pricing for owners of the Deluxe/Premium Deluxe Editions apply).

We recently updated our Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 FAQ page with more information about November's upcoming release, including some additional clarification about how your owned MSFS2020 add-on products (from both the in-sim Marketplace and from external sites) will be transitioned to MSFS2024. Check it out here!

Our next monthly Developer Livestream is coming up next week on Tuesday, July 9 at 10:30am PDT (1730 UTC). Be sure to follow our official Twitch channel so you'll be notified when our panel of Jorg, Seb, Martial, and special guests go live to answer questions from the community and discuss future updates to Microsoft Flight Simulator. We'll be taking questions live from Twitch chat during the broadcast, and you can also use this web form to pre-submit a question to the panel in advance.

Finally, we have an upcoming community event! If you live near or are able to travel to Cologne, Germany on August 24 and would like an opportunity to mingle with some MSFS team members and other flight sim fans, you can express your interest by filling out the form at this link!

- MSFS Team

Click here to continue reading the Development Update!

Microsoft Flight Simulator: City Update IX highlights select locations throughout the northeastern United States with updated aerial imagery, new digital elevation models, and TIN (triangulated irregular network) surface texturing. The update includes the Washington, DC region; Buffalo, New York; Allentown, Pennsylvania area; and the East End of Long Island, New York. They are the latest enhancements to the immersive and ever-improving Microsoft Flight Simulator world experience!

Continue reading about City Update 9!

The Microsoft Flight Simulator team had a fantastic time at FlightSimExpo 2024 in Las Vegas last weekend! Whether you were one of the thousands of simmers who attended the event live or you were able to follow the various product reveals and announcements from your home, we hope you enjoyed the festivities from the expo. We can't thank the FSExpo organizers enough for making us feel welcome at the event, and, of course, we were incredibly humbled and grateful to meet so many Microsoft Flight Simulator fans over the weekend.

In case you missed it, our team presented two seminars during the expo.  On Saturday, Jorg and Seb spoke at length about the upcoming Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and personally introduced many of the development partners who will be assisting Microsoft and Asobo in creating our next generation sim. If you missed the presentation or want to watch it again, you can find it on YouTube here:



On Sunday, Julie, Mabel, and Todd from our Marketplace team delivered a presentation in which they revealed some data analytics from the MSFS2020 Marketplace and also previewed some new changes coming with the MSFS2024 Marketplace. The primary audience for this seminar was third-party developers, but regular simmers may also find the presentation interesting, too. You can watch it on YouTube here:



With all the excitement about MSFS2024, we'd forgive you if you forgot that we're still supporting MSFS2020 as well! Next week, we'll be launching our next City Update! City Update 09: United States Northeast is scheduled for release on July 2, just in time for the USA's Independence Day holiday!

- MSFS Team

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During last weekend's Xbox Games Showcase on June 9, we revealed a new trailer for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and also announced the release date: November 19, 2024. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will be launching simultaneously on all platforms (PC/MS Store, PC/Steam, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox Cloud Gaming) and will be available Day One on PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass. In case you have not yet seen the trailer, you can watch it below:



Earlier today, we released an update to the Douglas C-47D Skytrain, part of the Famous Flyer 9 bundle which launched last week. The update is available via the in-sim Content Manager, and you can find the release notes on our forums here.

Coming up on Monday, June 17, we're excited to host a special Community Fly-In livestream on our Twitch channel featuring guest co-hosts Jon Ostrower and Thomas Nield, co-founders of Yawman. Jon is a veteran journalist who previously covered the aviation industry for the Wall Street Journal. He is now the editor-in-chief of The Air Current and co-host of The Air Show podcast. Thomas formerly worked as a consultant for Southwest Airlines and now teaches Aviation Safety at the University of Southern California. We're thrilled to welcome both Jon and Thomas as guests on our channel! As with all of our Community Fly-Ins, this is an open event, and all sim pilots are welcome to join. Full details can be found in the Community section below. (Note: this event was originally planned for Tuesday, June 11 but has been rescheduled for Monday, June 17.)

Last but certainly not least, next week many members of the Microsoft Flight Simulator team will be at FlightSimExpo in Las Vegas, Nevada! If you're attending in-person, be sure to stop by our booth to speak with our team. We love meeting you and talking about flight simulation! While you're at the booth, you can also try your hand at some in-sim challenges. We'll be giving away many fantastic prizes to the top scorers throughout the weekend. You can find us in booth 502, the biggest booth on the convention floor, so it'll be impossible to miss us.

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Take to the Skies on November 19th with the All-New Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024!

Windows PC, Xbox Series X|S, cloud, or play it day one with Xbox Game Pass.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is the next installment in the Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise. It is the most ambitious consumer flight simulator ever undertaken. It features the largest, most diverse and detailed fleet of aircraft, the most complete representation of airports and air traffic, and the most visually stunning rendition of Earth ever created. This brand-new simulator is designed to take advantage of the latest technologies in simulation, cloud, machine learning, graphics and gaming. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 goes beyond merely operating the aircraft; it will allow simmers to pursue their dream of an aviation career.

With features like aerial firefighting, search and rescue, commercial flights, remote cargo ops, VIP charter service, air racing, and more, simmers will not only be experiencing the joy of flight, but also dive into the pilot career they always dreamed of. The sky is calling! Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 takes off on PC and Xbox Series X|S on November 19, and will be available with Game Pass on console, PC, and cloud on day one.

Yesterday we hosted another Developer Livestream featuring our regular panel of Jorg, Seb, and Martial. They answered many questions from the community and also announced several future updates for Microsoft Flight Simulator including two new City Updates, a new Famous Flyer bundle (more info below) and the next Local Legend, the Boeing 707! In case you missed it live, you can watch the full video on YouTube here:



The new Famous Flyer bundle is available from the in-sim Marketplace now and consists of two aircraft, the C-47D Skytrain and the Waco CG-4A glider. Both of these aircraft played an important role in World War II’s Normandy landings (Operation Overlord) which occurred exactly 80 years ago today on June 6, 1944. In recognition of this anniversary, for every purchase of the Famous Flyer 9 pack made between June 6, 2024 and July 5, 2024, Microsoft will donate 100% of each sale to the USO (https://www.uso.org/). More information about the USO is available by contacting them at info@uso.org.



– MSFS Team

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