aces-studio posts

Little info has been revealed about the PC-exclusive game with Microsoft saying only that Microsoft Flight is an internally developed title that "will bring a new perspective to the long-standing genre, welcoming everyone, including long-time fans, to experience the magic of flight." The original Microsoft Flight Simulator was first released in 1982 and holds claims to be the oldest PC game series in history. Microsoft produced 12 games in the series (along with three entries in the spin-off series Combat Flight Simulator). The last version was Microsoft Flight Simulator X which was released in 2006. In January 2009 Microsoft's Aces Game Studio, the team in charge of the series, was shut down due to layoffs. No release date for the new Microsoft Flight was announced. We hope to get some screenshots and other media from Microsoft soon.

Update: Microsoft has posted up a CGI teaser trailer for Microsoft Flight on its Games For Windows web site. We have posted the trailer on our site as well.

Download HD Microsoft Flight Teaser Trailer (37 MB)

As part of Microsoft's downsizing earlier this year they elected to close ACES Studio, the in-house studio responsible for the long running and highly successful Microsoft Flight Simulator series. Now a new game developer formed by a number of ACES Studios' former members has announced its presence with the promise of creating some kind of sim game product.

The Seattle-based Cascade Game Foundry claims in their initial press release that they will not only "address the significant hole in the simulation market left by Microsoft's recent departure, it will push new boundaries with the latest in cutting-edge graphics, simulation and web technology." What does this mean? The company's Managing Director Kathie Flood is quoted as saying, "Think of SCUBA diving off Hawaii, traversing the Andes, hiking the Great Wall of China ... the possibilities are endless." Ok, we are thinking about it and it sound cool. Whether this team can pull a simulation like this off and make it entertaining is another matter.

For a while Microsoft was one of the biggest publishers of PC games (both internally made and via third party publishers) but ever since their launch into the Xbox console business the company has released fewer PC games. In addition they have been shutting down internal PC game developers such as FASA Interactive, Ensemble Studios and ACES Studios. Currently Microsoft does not have any PC games on its publishing slate.

In a new GDC 2009 chat with Gamasutra, Games For Windows exec Dave Luehmann states that they have not abandoned developing and publishing PC games, saying, "We've got several titles in development right now, both internally developed and with external partners. We're here at GDC negotiating another deals, and we're here at GDC looking for other content partners. I'd say our position in Windows over the last six months has gone from a steady state, to a dip from a point of view of the press, but realistically we're putting more money into Windows games than we have in quite a while." Hopefully we will see if those statements are indeed true.

Microsoft's layoffs this week affected their PC gaming development business heavily with the company now confirming that their internal ACES Studio, home of the Microsoft Flight Simulator series, had been shut down. However, IGN reports that Microsoft may not be closing the doors on the Flight Sim series.

According to a Microsoft spokesperson, "We are committed to the Flight Simulator franchise which has proven to be a successful PC based game for the last 27 years. You should expect us to continue to invest in enabling great LIVE experiences on Windows, including flying games, but we have nothing specific to announce at this time." Microsoft has said much the same thing about the Age of Empires franchise, saying they plan to release new games in the RTS series despite the closure of its dev team at Ensemble Studios.

On Thursday Microsoft announced plans to cut up to 5,000 positions in the next 18 months, with 1,400 people cut that day. Now Gamasutra reports that the company's ACES Studio, best known for their work on the long running Flight Simulator PC game series, has been hit with job reductions. The story claims through unnamed sources that the entire Flight Simulator team may have been shut down entirely.

If true this could signal an end to the game series which began way back in 1982 and remains the oldest PC game franchise to have continued regular releases. The last game in the franchise was released in 2006 with an expansion in 2007 The ACES team was also working on a new Microsoft Rail Simulator game. There's no official word if that project has been canceled because of the job cuts.

Meanwhile our sister site Joystiq reports that at least two members of the Microsoft Gamerscore blog team have also been let go. The Gamerscore blog site was the company's community source for news about their PC and Xbox game plans. However a few days ago it was announced that the blog site was closing down and it now appears that the site's team, rather than just moving to other Microsoft duties, will now be let go entirely.