About

Microsoft Flight Simulator, often referred to as Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, is a flight-training video game using a simulated version of the Earth based on data from Bing Maps. Flight Simulator is the eleventh major entry in Microsoft's series of flight sims and was developed by Asobo Studio and published by Xbox Game Studios on August 18th, 2020, for Xbox and Windows platforms.

History

Originally announced at E3 2019 on June 9, 2019, Flight Simulator was the first entry in the series since Flight Simulator X, which was released in 2006. Utilizing technology from Microsoft's HoloLens, Bing Maps and the Photosynth project, the game features mostly accurate locales across the world, including real-world weather conditions and various aircraft.

Release

After its initial announcement, preorders for the PC-version of the game opened up to customers on July 13th, 2020, including standard, deluxe and premium deluxe versions of the title ranging in price from $59.99 to $119.99. Though the Xbox version is slated for a future release, the exact date is currently unknown.

Reception

Upon release, Flight Simulator has been met with widespread positive reception from critics. The game received a 10/10 on IGN,^[7] 5/5 on The Guardian^[8] and 5/5 on VG247.^[9] On August 20th, 2020, the Metacritic^[10] aggregate score for critics was 93/100, but the user score averaged a 6.8/10.

On August 18th, YouTuber gameranx uploaded a video about the game, which praised it for its "impressive" features.

Online Presence

On June 10th, 2019, the /r/MicrosoftFlightSim^[2] subreddit was created by Redditor JRock. Over the next 14 months, the subreddit accumulated more than 26,400 subscribers.

On August 30th, 2019, Microsoft launched social media accounts for the game on Twitter,^[11] Instagram^[12] and Facebook.^[13] The game's Twitter account accumulated over 54,000 followers, 13,200 followers on Instagram and nearly 35,000 followers on Facebook, each within a year of their creation.

On August 18th, 2020, Redditor speedofart_ submitted a post titled "TIFU by sunbathing naked and having my nude body included in a video game that will be played by millions," in which they claimed to have seen themselves sunbathing on their roof nude while playing the game, due to the simulator's use of satellite photographs. The post was subsequently removed after receiving more than 22,000 points (92% upvoted) on /r/tifu.^[3][4]

Players Visiting Jeffrey Epstein's Private Island

Due to its use of real-world satellite imagery for in-game locations, many players have begun visiting the former private island of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. One such example was uploaded on August 18th, 2020, by YouTuber^[5] P3DPilot. The clip (seen below) received over 12,000 views, 325 likes and 90 comments in roughly 48 hours.

That same day, gaming journalist Rod Breslau tweeted^[1] a screenshot of players congregating at Epstein's island (shown below), receiving over 76,000 likes, 11,100 retweets and 316 replies in roughly 48 hours.

On August 19th, Vice^[6] published an article discussing the phenomenon of players visiting the island. In the article, contributor Matthew Gault wrote, "Players have been flocking to one location in recent days for more troubling reasons: Jeffrey Epstein’s private island in Little St. James, U.S. Virgin Islands."

Search Interest

External References