Microsoft Flight Simulator receives its PC release date with a stunning new trailer

Microsoft has announced that  Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) will be releasing on PC on August 18th, bringing with it stunning visuals, up to 30 aircraft and up to 40 airports on day-1. 

On PC, Microsoft Flight Simulator will be available on Windows 10 and through Xbox Game Pass, though Microsoft hasn’t ruled out releasing the game on either the Epic Games Store or Steam. On Xbox One, Microsoft Flight Simulator will be released at a later date. 

One of the biggest selling points of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is its spectacular visuals, blending state-of-the-art physics simulators with next-level graphics to deliver the best-looking aircraft simulations to date. Below is a full 4K trailer for the game, which has been recorded using a high-end PC.

Microsoft Flight Simulator will be released in three versions, Standard Edition, which ships with 20 flyable aircraft and 30 airports (this version ships with Xbox Game Pass). The game’s Deluxe Edition ships with five additional aircraft and five extra international airports, and the game’s Premium Edition ships with ten more aircraft than the standard edition and ten more international airports. These versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator will cost $59.99, $89.99, and $119.99 respectively.    

Microsoft Flight Simulator is coming o Xbox One and Windows 10, with a release date in 2020 for PC and a set of high-end PC system requirements, even for the game’s so-called “Min Spec”. 

Storage-wise, Microsoft has listed a whopping 150GB storage requirement, while listing 150GB of SSD storage in the game’s “ideal spec”. That’s a lot of storage for a modern title, but that’s the cost of Microsoft Flight Simulator’s highly detailed world map and its wealth of global airports. 

GPU-wise, the game will require a minimum of a Radeon RX 570 and a Geforce GTX 770, both of which are a lot more powerful than Microsoft’s Xbox One console.  On the CPU-side, AMD’s Ryzen 3 1200 and Intel i5-4460 are listed in Microsoft Flight Simulator’s minimum specs, which are also on the high side for a game that’s supposed to release on Xbox One. 

To play Microsoft Flight Simulator on PC, Microsoft recommends 16GB of system memory, an AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or an Intel i5-8400, a Radeon RX 590 or a Geforce GTX 970 and an internet connection of 20Mbps or greater. 

On the high-end, Microsoft has also created an “ideal spec” for Flight Simulator, asking users for eight-core processors, 32GB of system memory, 8GB of VRAM and a fast 50Mbps internet connection. Add that to the 150GB of SSD storage that we mentioned earlier, and we have an extremely high set of PC system requirements.