The latest iteration of Microsoft Flight Simulator has reached another major player milestone, with 10 million virtual pilots taking to the skies since its launch. When the simulator launched in August 2020 for PC, it managed to gain over one million players in just two weeks. The popular title has passed the 10 million players mark just over two years later.

The impressive number counts players who have jumped into the sim from the Microsoft Store, Steam, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Cloud Gaming, as well as Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass subscriptions. Unfortunately, Microsoft did not provide any platform numbers to better get an idea of player distribution in its announcement today.

What it has detailed are some of the accomplishments players have made in the sim since its launch, with 40 billion miles being flown in total across 500 million flights. This amounts to 10 million trips around the Earth, or 200 round trips from the Earth to the Sun.

Microsoft Flight Simulator also holds the title of being Microsoft's longest-running franchise, with version 1.0 first landing in 1982. Celebrating its 40th birthday, a 40th Anniversary Edition free upgrade hit the latest iteration of Flight Simulator just last month, bringing helicopters and gliders into the mix for the first time. Free updates that add further enhanced regions and cities continue to roll out as well.

 

https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-flight-simulator-is-now-10-million-players-strong/

 

Microsoft Flight Simulator Celebrates 10 Million Pilots

by Jorg Neumann, Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator • Dec 7, 2022 @ 7:00am

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Microsoft’s longest-running franchise commemorates community accomplishments.

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Microsoft Flight Simulator is thrilled to mark another momentous milestone made possible by our tremendous community. Since the introduction 27 months ago of the latest version of Microsoft Flight Simulator, we have released 27 robust updates to simmers. All completely free!

On November 11, we celebrated our 40th Anniversary with the release of the Microsoft Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary Edition. And, today we are excited to announce that more than 10 million pilots have enjoyed the beauty, awe, and wonder of the world available in Microsoft Flight Simulator across Windows/PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Xbox console.

We would not have reached any of these milestones without the continued support of our amazing community and their ongoing engagement and contributions. Because it’s a day for celebrating numbers, we want to share a few more impressive accomplishments of our community:

• 500 million flights
• 40 billion miles flown
• Equivalent of 10 million trips around the Earth
• Equivalent of 200 round trips from the Earth to the Sun

And we’re just getting started! We have exciting plans for 2023 and beyond. Join the 10 million pilots in Microsoft Flight Simulator today! The sky is calling!

Microsoft Flight Simulator is available for Xbox Series X|S and PC with Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass, Windows, and Steam, and on Xbox One and supported mobile phones, tablets, and lower-spec PCs via Xbox Cloud Gaming.

For the latest information on Microsoft Flight Simulator, stay tuned to @MSFSOfficial on Twitter. 

 

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2022/12/07/microsoft-flight-simulator-celebrates-10-million-pilots/

Edited December 7, 20223 yr by penta_a

Interesting.  I assume it means not 10 million active players, but 10 millions customers since it was released.  Still, money is money 10 million customers!

That is huge. I had no idea there were that many users. 

I think I am more impressed by the 50 flight average per person. Even though I am sure a million or two have just tested it a few times, it shows that very many come back again and again to enjoy it. Great numbers!

15 minutes ago, penta_a said:

• 500 million flights
• 40 billion miles flown

And that's just me alone. 🙂

Gee, we are catching up to XP, I guess. 😉

24 minutes ago, ryanbatc said:

Interesting.  I assume it means not 10 million active players, but 10 millions customers since it was released.  Still, money is money 10 million customers!

10 million unique users is my guess. So including game pass.

I do not believe for a second that there are 10,000,000 individuals who have purchased MSFS.  

6 minutes ago, St Mawgan said:

I do not believe for a second that there are 10,000,000 individuals who have purchased MSFS.  

Remember, it was available through GamePass. I'll bet a large portion of that 10 million are included in that number. 

8 minutes ago, St Mawgan said:

I do not believe for a second that there are 10,000,000 individuals who have purchased MSFS.  

Good because they never claimed that.

1 minute ago, Krakin said:

Good because they never claimed that.

So what do they mean by '10 million players'? 

2 minutes ago, St Mawgan said:

So what do they mean by '10 million players'? 

10 million different persons (accounts) have at least tried MSFS in any way. And that’s huge for sure.

We all are going to benefit from the large scale of users 😉

8 minutes ago, St Mawgan said:

I do not believe for a second that there are 10,000,000 individuals who have purchased MSFS.  

I guess it means that 10 million people have at least once tried it, many of which are probably game pass subscribers who don‘t pay for it directly. It‘s still an impressive number, especially for a flight sim. 

2 minutes ago, St Mawgan said:

So what do they mean by '10 million players'? 

Unique player accounts who have played it whether they paid full price or got access to it through Game Pass.