November 24th, 2022 Development Update - Microsoft Flight Simulator

Screenshot by EPPRglider81 (Forum)

To all our virtual aviators in the United States, we here at Microsoft Flight Simulator wish you a very happy Thanksgiving! As many members of our team are US-based and are currently visiting family for the holiday long weekend, this week’s Development Update Blog will be abbreviated. We’ll be back with a full blog post again next week.

We continue to carefully monitor your feedback to the 40^th Anniversary Edition and Sim Update 11. We have an ongoing public beta test to directly address some of your comments and concerns, and we recently released a new beta build (1.29.30.0) with several bug fixes and improvements, mostly for the Airbus A310.

Last Friday, we were delighted to host Jorg and Seb live on our Twitch channel to answer questions from the community and talk about the 2023 Roadmap for upcoming releases. If you missed the livestream, you can watch the archived video on YouTube here, or check out the written transcription here.

Finally, earlier this week we experienced an issue that prevented players from completing new installations of Microsoft Flight Simulator on PC. This issue is now resolved, and installations are once again functioning normally. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience as our support teams worked to get a fix in place.

MSFS Team

Development Roadmap

Click here for the web-friendly version.

Feedback Snapshot

Please see October 27th’s Development Update for the latest version of the Feedback Snapshot. Click here for the web-friendly version of the Feedback Snapshot.

Marketplace Update

Click here for the web-friendly version of the Marketplace Update.

The Marketplace Update will return in next week’s Development Update.

SDK Update

The SDK Update will return in next week’s Development Update.

Third Party Update

As of 11/21, we have now approved 290 (+1) third parties into the in-sim marketplace and – so far 172 (+1) have released 1,569 products on PC (+7) and 1,275 on Xbox (+10).
In total, 2,469 products (+8) have already been released in 3^rd party stores and the in-sim marketplace. Beyond that, another 615 products (+10) from 3^rd party developers are in production (314 announced, 301 unannounced). In total, over 3,084 3^rd party products (+18) have either been released or are in development.
Airports:
- 1,684 airports (+9) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 1,463 airports (+4) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 949 airports (+4) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 115 airports (+2) beyond the released airports have been announced.
  - 106 airports (+3) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.

Aircraft:
- 468 aircraft (+3) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 179 aircraft (+1) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 125 aircraft (+0) have been released in the in-sim PC marketplace.
  - 96 aircraft (+1) have been released in the in-sim Xbox marketplace.
  - 178 aircraft (+1) beyond the released aircraft have been announced.
  - 111 aircraft (+1) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an aircraft is in production.

Scenery:
- 799 scenery packs (+2) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 713 scenery packs (+2) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 250 scenery packs (+2) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 21 scenery packs (+0) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
  - 65 scenery packs (+0) are not announced, but the dev let us know that scenery is in production.

Mission Packs:
- 133mission packs (+4) are either released or are in various stages of development.
  - 114 mission packs (+1) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
  - 42 mission packs (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
  - 0 mission packs (+0) beyond the released missions have been announced.
  - 19 mission packs (+3) are not announced, but the dev let us know that they are in production.

Community Fly-In

There are a few locations around the world that are must-visit locations on every avgeek’s bucket list: Oshkosh, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Kitty Hawk…and a tiny Dutch island in the Caribbean. Sint Maarten’s Maho Beach is famously located directly adjacent to Princess Juliana International Airport (TNCM), and the area is renowned among fans of aviation for being one of the best spots on the entire planet to watch landing jetliners as they pass less than 100 feet (30m) above the beach.

Due to Maho’s popularity with plane spotters, most restaurants and bars at the beach display the arrival information of incoming flights. This week’s fly-in will see our group complete a full-stop landing at Princess Juliana (recently updated in Microsoft Flight Simulator’s 40th Anniversary Edition) as we island hop across the eastern Caribbean. Our flight plan will also include a touch & go at Saba, home of the shortest commercial runway in the world!

Event details here. All are welcome to participate!

Community Video

We always love showcasing “sim vs. reality” videos, and this one comes with a unique twist we don’t often see: the “reality” portion was filmed live from the flight deck of a real Airbus A320. Check out this beautiful side-by-side footage from YouTuber Capt A320 as he flies into Marseille, France in both real life and Microsoft Flight Simulator!