The latest developer update from the Microsoft and Asobo teams on the future of Microsoft Flight Simulator gives us some interesting insights into the near term of what is to come for the sim. There’s news about iniBuilds A320neo V2 and we have some new roadmap items for upcoming releases. Let’s have a look!

Sim update 15 is bringing the A320neo V2 to release

Previously planned for the last sim update, Microsoft held back iniBuilds A320neo for stability reasons. It sounds like stability has improved to the point that the new airliner is now ready to go into the latest sim update and they have inserted it into the roadmap. Great news!

As noted in the new Development Roadmap below, Sim Update 15 is now targeted to launch on March 26th, alongside the release of the hotly anticipated iniBuilds A320 NEO!

Microsoft Flight Simulator Feb 29 Developer Update

You may recall that late last year it was announced that iniBuilds and Microsoft were pairing up to bring another airliner to the sim. The A320neo that first shipped with Microsoft Flight Simulator in 2020 was a barebones product, something that worked but was missing a lot of features. Since then, we’ve seen Microsoft and Asobo together with various third parties such as Working Title and now iniBuilds help boost the 747-8i and 787-10 with more features and realism. The same thing is happening to the A320neo though it is being done with a complete revamp. The old aircraft will stay in for compatibility reasons while the new one will supplant it in others. A new free airliner from iniBuilds sounds like a great idea!

The next Sim Update is scheduled to launch on March 26 and the latest beta patch notes show off some small but notable fixes and updates.

Also on the roadmap

We’ve got some new items on the roadmap over the next couple of months. It starts with March 13 where we’ll see the next Developer Livestream. You know the basics as this is where Jorg, Seb, Martial and Jayne answer questions and talk about what is coming next to the sim.

Then we have the A320neo V2 and Sim Update 15 coming on the 26th of March. There’s a bit of a break after that and then the next round of content comes to us on April 17. There we have City Update 06 and Local Legend 15. Neither of those have been revealed just yet so it’ll be interesting to see what comes our way.

Things get fuzzier as we move into the future but we know that World Update 17 and Local Legend 16 are due in May as well.

I’m very curious to see what developers will be involved in bringing forward new aircraft. Will we see some truly unique airplanes or some classics that have been well tread before?

Flight Sim 2024 speculation

I’ve seen a lot of speculation out there on the exact release date for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. Announced last year, the follow-up title to the current sim promises close compatibility for almost all add-ons while touting new mission systems and advancements to the simulation of aircraft, weather and more.

We actually don’t know the full scope of what 2024 is going to offer but what we had teased at FSExpo 2023 was exciting with machine learning technologies helping to further boost realism and detail.

The latest roadmap makes no mention of it but we do know its coming. Until then it seems like its full steam ahead on content and sim updates to the current simulation. I think that’s great to see and suggests strongly that we’ll still be flying our favourite add-ons even as we move from the old sim to the new one. Should be interesting to see the progression!

If I were to make a guess, the new sim is likely to land sometime in the fall of this year. Unless major delays are announced. We’ll see if that prediction holds true!