Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 News

[p][/p][p]Today we’re pleased to premiere the latest entry in our Partnership Series of videos! This time, we’re thrilled to highlight Heart Aerospace and their hybrid-electric ES-30 airplane. Capable of flying with zero CO2 emissions on routes up to 200 km and with significantly reduced emissions compared to conventional aircraft on routes up to 800 km, the ES-30 is poised to help usher in a new era of environmentally-sustainable aviation. The Heart ES-30 is included as a flyable aircraft in the Standard Edition of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and it was recently updated with Sim Update 2! You can learn more about this revolutionary hybrid-electric plane by watching our Partnership Series video below.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]We’re also excited to announce a new product created in partnership with Next Level Racing, the Flight Simulator Cockpit – Microsoft Flight Simulator Edition! Fully compatible with most popular flight control peripherals from vendors including Honeycomb, Logitech, Moza, Thrustmaster, and more (peripherals sold separately), the Flight Simulator Cockpit – Microsoft Flight Simulator Edition was designed to provide the ultimate in comfort and immersion to serious simmers. Whether you enjoy flying long haul airliners, general aviation aircraft, helicopters, military jets, or anything else, consider adding the Next Level Racing Flight Simulator Cockpit – Microsoft Flight Simulator Edition to your sim setup! You can read more details here.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]– MSFS Team[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p]Click here to continue reading the Development Update![/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[p][/p][p]As announced in last week’s Development Update blog, work on Sim Update 16 for Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) continues. On Tuesday, we released a new pre-release test build (1.39.2.0) to those enrolled in the public beta. If you missed it earlier, you can read the release notes here.[/p][p]There was not a new Sim Update 3 beta build for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 released this week, but development work continues on that version, too. Thank you to everyone who has been participating in either beta test and providing your impressions and bug repots on our forums. As always, if you are part of either public beta test, please vote in the forum surveys (links below). Your feedback really matters and helps the dev team immensely![/p]

• [p]MSFS 2024 SU3 Beta Surveys[/p]
• [p]MSFS (2020) SU16 Beta Surveys[/p]

[p]– MSFS Team[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p]Click here to continue reading the Development Update![/p][p][/p][p][/p]

Since last week's Development Update blog, we have released two new Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Sim Update 3 test builds to volunteer community beta testers. If you haven't seen them yet, you can read the release notes for each of these builds here:

• Sim Update 3 Beta (1.5.3.0) Release Notes - May 23rd, 2025
  
• Sim Update 3 Beta (1.5.4.0) Release Notes - May 29, 2025

We always appreciate those of you who choose to join our public tests and share your feedback and bug reports on our official forums. If you are taking part in the SU3 beta, please be sure to vote in the forum surveys about your overall impressions with the test builds and performance/stability on your preferred platform.

In MSFS (2020) news, there was not a new Sim Update 16 pre-release build released to testers this week, but the team's work on upcoming beta builds continues. As with MSFS 2024 SU3 beta participants, we encourage everyone enrolled in the SU16 beta to vote in the forum surveys.

No matter what build you're flying on this weekend -- MSFS 2024 SU2 release or SU3 beta, MSFS (2020) SU15 release or SU16 beta -- we wish all of you happy flights and smooth landings!

- MSFS Team

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Click here to continue reading the Development Update!

Yesterday, we hosted our latest Developer Livestream on Twitch. Martial was unfortunately absent due to vacation, but in his place we welcomed Chris Burnett of Working Title to join the regular panel of Jorg and Seb. Together, they discussed many topics relating to the future of both Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) while also answering many questions from the community (both pre-submitted before the broadcast and asked by players live in Twitch chat). If you missed the livestream, you can watch the VOD on our YouTube channel below.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Also during the last week, we began the pre-release public beta tests for both Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Sim Update 3 and Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) Sim Update 16. You can find the release notes on our forums linked below:

• Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 SU3 Beta Build 1.5.1.0 (May 16, 2025)
  
• Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 SU3 Beta Build 1.5.2.0 (May 21, 2025)
  
• Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) SU16 Beta Build 1.39.0.0 (May 19, 2025)

As you can see, the dev team has been very hard at work delivering many bug fixes and improvements to two different fight simulators. Our focus on these sim updates means we regrettably will not be able to attend FlightSimExpo 2025 in Providence, Rhode Island this year.

We immensely enjoyed our time at FSExpo 2023 and 2024 in Houston and Las Vegas where we had the opportunity to meet with so many of you and discuss our shared passion for flight simulation. While we sadly will not have a presence at FSExpo 2025, we encourage everyone who is able to attend the event to meet many other simmers and representatives of the wonderful third-party developers and hardware vendors who are making great things for Microsoft Flight Simulator.



- MSFS Team

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Sim Update 2 is Now Available

Sim Update 2 for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is officially live. This highly anticipated update includes a massive list of improvements, fixes, and enhancements across the sim. You can read the full changelog here:

Release Notes – Sim Update 2 [1.4.20.0] Available Now | MSFS 2024

We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated in the beta. Your feedback was helpful to getting us to this point, and we’re grateful for your time and insights. Now that the update is live, we invite everyone to vote in the latest community polls and share your feedback in our dedicated forum topic:

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Sim Update 2 Feedback 

Sim Update 3 Beta Begins Tomorrow

What...already?! That's right! The beta for Sim Update 3 starts tomorrow. For players on the Microsoft Store and Xbox, please watch for a new post outlining an updated process for joining the beta. Steam users will not be impacted by this change. Full details will be shared in tomorrow’s announcement.

Sim Update 16 Beta for MSFS 2020 Coming Soon

We’re also preparing for the Sim Update 16 beta for Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020), which will be launching very soon. Stay tuned for more information.

Next Developer Livestream: May 21

Our next Developer Livestream is scheduled for Wednesday, May 21st at 10:30am Pacific Time on twitch.tv/MSFSofficial. Join Jorg Neumann (Microsoft), Sebastian Wloch (Asobo Studio), and Chris Burnett (Working Title) as they discuss recent updates, share what’s coming next, and answer questions from you!

- MSFS Team

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