MS closes Flight Sim studio

via Computer and Video Games


Microsoft has closed its internal Aces Studio, the developer behind the PC Flight Simulator series.

"Following our annual strategy review process, IEB [Interactive Entertainment Business] is making adjustments within our business to align our people against our highest priorities," an MS rep told Edge.

"One specific change is we are implementing is the closure of the Aces Studio, which was responsible for the Flight Simulator franchise."

If you haven't ever sampled any of the Flight Sim titles you'll probably be surprised to know there were an absolute ton of them, and they didn't review badly either.

For those of you that are fans, MS did add that it will continue to invest in the flying genre, although that's all it's saying for now.

"Regarding the future of Flight Simulator, all we're announcing at this time is that we are committed to flying games. You should expect us to continue to invest in enabling great Live experiences on Windows, including flying games, but we have nothing to announce around Flight Simulator specifically at this time."

The studio closure comes as Microsoft revealed plans to get rid of 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months, with 1,400 to be eliminated immediately.