September 21st, 2023 Development Update

This week’s Screenshot Challenge winner is Twitter/X user CpuGeta486! If you’re interested in participating in our weekly Screenshot Challenges, check out the details in the Community section below!

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To begin our update this week, we’d like to acknowledge the tragic crash at the National Championship Air Races last weekend. As you may have heard, there was a fatal accident at the Reno Air Races following the conclusion of the T-6 Gold race on Sunday. On behalf of the entire Microsoft Flight Simulator team, we wish to extend our sincerest condolences to the loved ones of the pilots and the entire Reno “September Family”. Blue Skies and Tailwinds.

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As we announced in the last Development Update, Sim Update 13 has been delayed by one week. It is now slated for release on Thursday, September 28. For those participating in the ongoing SU13 public beta, a new pre-release test build (1.34.16.0) was released yesterday. This build only included one small change which you can read about on our forums here. There is also a small delay to the release of the next aircraft in our Local Legend series. It was originally scheduled to release today, but it will now also be launching next week. The Development Roadmap has been updated to reflect this change.

Also on the schedule for next week is a Developer Livestream! Tune in on Wednesday, September 27 to watch our regular panel of Jorg, Seb, Martial, and special guests talk about the future of Microsoft Flight Simulator and answer some common questions from the community. The livestream will be broadcast on our Twitch channel starting at 10:30am Pacific Time (1730 UTC), and a video recording will be uploaded to our YouTube channel for those who are unable to watch live.

For players who contact our customer support team via Zendesk, you may have recently noticed some changes in the ticket submission process. We always strive for continuous improvement in an effort to serve you better. If you have any feedback (positive or negative) about the new ticketing process, please let us know on the forums.

Lastly, in partnership with Next Level Racing, we are currently running a giveaway on Instagram where one lucky winner will receive the ultimate flight sim set up! For your chance to receive a Premium Deluxe Edition of Microsoft Flight Simulator and a Next Level Racing Flight Simulator Pro, head over to Instagram and follow the instructions in this post. The winner will be chosen on September 26, so be sure to enter prior to then!

– MSFS Team

Development Roadmap

Click here for the web-friendly version of the Development Roadmap.

Marketplace Update

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

There are 42 new and 39 updated products in today’s Marketplace Update. Thursday’s Marketplace update generally goes live before 5pm PT.

42 NEW PRODUCTS: 18 ON PC, 24 ON XBOX
New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox
New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox	New on Xbox
New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox
New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox
New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox
New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox	New on PC and Xbox
New on Xbox	New on Xbox	New on Xbox
New on PC and Xbox	New on Xbox	New on Xbox

39 UPDATED PRODUCTS: 21 ON PC, 18 ON XBOX
Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC	Updated on PC and Xbox
Updated on Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox
Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox
Updated on PC	Updated on PC	Updated on PC and Xbox
Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on Xbox
Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox
Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC and Xbox	Updated on PC
Updated on PC		Updated on PC

Marketplace Backlog

Current Backlog: 687 Total

BACKLOG: NEW PRODUCTS

BACKLOG: UPDATED PRODUCTS

SDK UPDATE

No updates this week.

THIRD PARTY UPDATE

• As of 09/15, we have now approved 234 (+00) third parties into the in-sim marketplace and – so far 203 (+7) have released 2,604 products on PC (+58) and 2,216 on Xbox (+21).
• In total, 3,561 products (+53) have already been released in 3^rd party stores and the in-sim marketplace. Beyond that, another 785 products (+53) from 3^rd party developers are in production (356 announced, 429 unannounced). In total, over 4,356 3^rd party products (+116) have either been released or are in development.
• Airports:
  • 2,128 airports (+42) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 1,885 airports (+27) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 1,339 airports (+10) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 122 airports (-4) beyond the released airports have been announced.
    • 121 airports (+19) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an airport is in production.
• Aircraft:
  • 670 aircraft (+22) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 284 aircraft (+7) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 216 aircraft (+4) have been released in the in-sim PC marketplace.
    • 200 aircraft (+5) have been released in the in-sim Xbox marketplace.
    • 213 aircraft (+0) beyond the released aircraft have been announced.
    • 173 aircraft (+15) are not announced, but the dev let us know that an aircraft is in production.
• Scenery:
  • 1,000 scenery packs (+33) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 938 scenery packs (+10) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 495 scenery packs (+9) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 20 scenery packs (+0) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
    • 42 scenery packs (+23) are not announced but the dev let us know that scenery is in production
• Mission Packs:
  • 204 mission packs (+6) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 185 mission packs (+4) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 123 mission packs (+3) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 0 mission packs (+0) beyond the released missions have been announced.
    • 19 mission packs (+2) are not announced, but the dev let us know that they are in production.
• Livery Packs:
  • 319 livery packs (+13) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 243 livery packs (+5) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 236 livery packs (+5) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 1 livery pack (+0) beyond the released scenery has been announced.
    • 75 livery packs (+8) are not announced, but the dev let us know that scenery is in production.
• Ships & Watercraft:
  • 35 ships & watercraft (+0) are either released or are in various stages of development.
    • 26 ships & watercraft (+0) have been released on the platform so far in various stores.
    • 19 ships & watercraft (+0) have been released in the in-sim marketplace.
    • 0 ships & watercraft (+0) beyond the released scenery have been announced.
    • 9 ships & watercraft (+0) are not announced, but dev let us know that scenery is in production

Community Fly-In

September 20 is recognized as Constitution Day in Nepal! This relatively new public holiday celebrates the adoption of the country’s current constitution in 2015. For our Community Fly-In this week, we’ll be touring some beautiful Nepalese scenery in and around the Himalayas including the capital city of Kathmandu and Mount Everest! Finally, our full-stop landing will be at Lukla (VNLK), one of the most exciting and challenging airports in the world!

Event details are available here. All are welcome to participate!