Today Microsoft is celebrating the third anniversary of the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator with some rather impressive play stats.
The numbers, published as part of a short video, start by revealing the most popular aircraft by flight sessions.
- Cessna 152 - 85.9 million sessions
- Airbus A320neo - 79.7 million sessions
- Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet - 52.9 million sessions
We then learn about the most popular airports.
- Los Angeles International Airport (KLAX) - 6.24 million takeoffs & 4.31 million landings
- New York-JFK International Airpory (KJFK) - 5.70 million takeoffs & 3.76 million landings
- London Heathrow Airport (EGLL) - 4.18 million takeoffs & 3.56 million landings
72 million landing challenges have been attempted, of which 47 million were successful and 53% failed.
Last, but not least, virtual pilots from all over the world flew a mindboggling 77 billion kilometers cumulatively, which equate to approximately 828 Earth orbits around the Sun.
Speaking of times, we cumulatively clocked 197 million flight hours, which translate into 22,488 years. The Airbus A320neo leads the clock with 26,073,261 hours flown on the type.
The simulator was released on August 18, 2020, allowing us to spread our wings right in the middle of the pandemic, and changing the flight simulation industry forever.
The genre, especially outside of military simulation, had fallen into a small and mostly ignored niche after Microsoft abandoned it following Flight Simulator X.
This was mostly due to a lack of options, limited to mediocre simulators based on obsolete technology and created by developers content to let flight simulation be a pastime for few enthusiasts, without innovating and reaching out to gamers and new audiences.
Now, with Microsoft Flight Simulator having passed 12 million users, the genre is enjoying a new renaissance.
Microsoft Flight Simulator is currently available for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox Cloud Gaming, and you can also play it via Game Pass. If you'd like regular updates about the upcoming add-ons for the sim, you should check out TechRaptor often as we host daily Microsoft Flight Simulator news on the topic.
You can also read our interviews with Microsoft's Jorg Neumann about the Antonov An-225 "Mriya" and iniBuilds' CEO Ubaid Mussa on the activity of the popular third-party developer.
On top of that, we reviewed Orbx's Stockholm Arlanda and Oslo Gardermoen Airports, iniBuilds' New York-JFK Airport, and RHDSimulations' Boeing 767-300ER.
