Microsoft Flight Simulator is one of the most visually and technologically impressive games of this generation, but developer Asobo Studio is intent on continuing this trend for years to come. Asobo has just shared an in-depth look at its content pipeline for Q1 of 2022, and the company's immediate production plans include all-new historical planes and further world updates.

The highlight of these latest Microsoft Flight Simulator development updates is the big Q&A session that developers held, the summary of which was made available on the game's official website. For the most part, Asobo Studio has iterated upon its plans for the official introduction of helicopters into the game, as well as the more immediate content releases over the next couple of months.

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Namely, Microsoft Flight Simulator helicopters won't be coming out anytime soon, with a tentative release date slated for Fall 2022. According to the Q&A, the game's physics engine wasn't outright designed with helicopters in mind, which means Asobo must do ample testing with improved air simulation physics before any further progress could be made. Though helicopter mods are available, they brute force the physics engine rather than working alongside it, which is less than ideal.

Aside from news on helicopter development, the second big reveal was of the next Microsoft Flight Simulator World Update. Featuring an in-depth expansion and detailing of the Australian continent, World Update 7 is launching on January 31st, with World Update 8 slated for March, and set to bring in the same sort of expansion for the Iberian Peninsula. Since the baseline level/map data is brought in from satellite imagery available via Bing Search, many areas needed further tweaking by hand, and Asobo Studio is slowly pushing these updates out.

When it comes to new craft for players to fly, Asobo is currently on a historical streak. Though Microsoft Flight Simulator does have paid DLC, the game will be getting two historically important planes in Q1 2022. Fokker FVII is coming out alongside World Update 7, and Antonov AN-2 is going to launch on March 1st. Asobo Studio has confirmed that there would be a third legendary plane coming late in March, possibly alongside World Update 8, but there's no information yet on what it might be.

With many of the game's growing pains now resolved or in the process of fixing, which includes Microsoft Flight Simulator's post-launch performance improvements, Asobo Studio is free to focus on content and feature production. The game is, after all, a content platform that will continue to progress and grow for years to come, and the developer's plans for 2022 are very promising indeed.

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Source: Flight Simulator