A new development blog post was shared by Microsoft overnight and whilst the post itself was quite short, the development roadmap shared revealed quite a lot about what is coming up next. Perhaps most significantly is the confirmation that World Update VI will focus on Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
As with previous World Updates, we imagine that Germany, Austria and Switzerland will be updated with new aerial imagery, mesh data and of course, plenty of new points of interest to discover. Furthermore, there will most likely be new hand-crafted airports ready to fly into upon its release on August 24th 2021.
Update @ 09:20z: On the most recent developer Q&A, Jorg and Martial shared new screenshots of World Update VI and confirmed that 3 cities (including Vienna) will be updated with photogrammetry. Along with that, new airports were also confirmed, which are:
- Klagenfurt Airport (LOWK)
- Lubeck Airport (EDHL)
- St. Gallen–Altenrhein Airport (LSZR)
In other news, Sim Update V is due to release the same day as Microsoft Flight Simulator will be coming to Xbox Series X|S. Details on exactly what Sim Update V will do hasn’t been shared, but it would be fair to speculate that it perhaps adds DirectX 12 capability to the simulator. After all, it has been previously said that the Xbox version of the simulator would be built using the DirectX 12 API. Having a more modern engine will certainly help the simulator run at the base 30FPS on consoles confirmed by Microsoft. However, it should be reiterated that the current feedback snapshot simply lists DirectX 12 under a 2021 release window and that work has only “started.”
Between the Xbox release and World Update VI, the team will also be releasing the Aviat Huskey A-1C on the 3rd of August 2021. Following that, September will see the release of Sim Update VI along with two new Feature Discover Series updates. Those details are very much to be confirmed at this point. You can see the full development roadmap below.
If you don’t already know by now, Microsoft Flight Simulator will be released on Xbox Series X|S on July 27th 2021 and Top Gun DLC will be released for all platforms later on this year. Otherwise, check out the newly released World Update V which saw the Nordics get a complete makeover.
From now until the Xbox Series X|S release on July 27th, the roadmap looks mostly empty other than updates on the feedback snapshot and SDK updates. Last, but not least, you can watch Xbox Games Showcase Extended where Jorg talks all about the simulator and some of its future.
