Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) 40th Anniversary Edition — patch notes and updates
Stored observation / content update:
Dated developer announcements recorded from Steam. Open the source for the complete update.
| Update | Date | Excerpt / source |
|---|---|---|
| Spring Sale: 4300+ Items On Sale Now in the Marketplace | 2026-04-02 | Enjoy discounted pricing during our Microsoft Flight Simulator Spring Sale! For 13 Days starting on April 2nd, save up to 85% on more than 4300 items. To purchase these discounted items, visit the Microsoft Flight Simulator Marketplace, scroll down to ‘Special Offers’, then select ‘See All’ and look for the savings. |
| City Update 13: California Now Available | 2026-01-28 | Important note for MSFS (2020) usersYou will need to manually update World Update II and World Update X from your in-sim Content Manager for City Update 13 to work correctly. Called the “Golden State” due to its Gold Rush of the mid-19th century, fields of golden poppies, and reputation for boundless prospects, California is renowned for its beauty and diversity. City Update 13 celebrates California in the Microsoft Flight Simulator World by adding breathtaking detail to 18 urban regions across this renowned state. The update includes some of the state’s most spectacular and notable locations, from its capital of Sacramento in the north, to S |
| Holiday Sale: 3800+ Items On Sale Now in the Marketplace | 2025-12-18 | Enjoy discounted pricing during our Microsoft Flight Simulator Holiday Sale! For 20 Days starting on December 18th, save up to 85% on more than 3800 items. To purchase these discounted items, visit the Microsoft Flight Simulator Marketplace, scroll down to ‘Special Offers’, then select ‘See All’ and look for the savings. |
| Black Friday Sale: 3800+ Items On Sale Now in the Marketplace | 2025-11-21 | Enjoy discounted pricing during our Microsoft Flight Simulator Black Friday Sale! For 13 Days starting on November 20th, save up to 85% on more than 3800 items. To purchase these discounted items, visit the Microsoft Flight Simulator Marketplace, scroll down to ‘Special Offers’, then select ‘See All’ and look for the savings. |
| Top-Rated Aircraft Sale | 2025-10-14 | Enjoy discounted pricing during our Top-Rated Aircraft Sale!For 7 Days starting on October 14th, save up to 69% on the following items: DeveloperProduct//42Fox2 Base//42FreedomFox/Fox2 – Complete PackA2A Simulations Inc.Comanche 250Aeroplane HeavenAvro Lancaster Bmk1AerosoftCRJAnt’s AirplanesDrifter A-582Ant’s AirplanesTiger MothAnt’s AirplanesWinjeelAzurpolyFouga CM-170 MagisterAzurPolyOV-10 BroncoAzurPolyTB30 EpsilonAzurPolyTransall C160Big RadialsJRF-6 GooseBlack SquarePiston DukeBlack SquareTBM 850Black SquareTurbine DukeBlackbird Simulations310RBlackbird SimulationsA6M5 ZeroBlackbird SimulationsFG-1D CorsairBlackbird SimulationsPC-6 Port |
| World Update 20: Japan Now Available | 2025-09-25 | Japan is a nation of beauty and intrigue, filled with breathtaking vistas of towering mountains, iconic architecture, and renowned cities. The country beholds some of the world’s most alluring and famous sights, including Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain, Osaka Castle, a revered historical monument, and soaring skylines throughout Tokyo, Kyoto, Sapporo, and other metropolises. World Update 20 reveals Japan in stunning, vibrant detail—and the release comes with a great selection of missions throughout this storied country to immerse Microsoft Flight Simulator aviators in its beauty and history.Microsoft partnered with Bing Maps, Gaya, and |
| Top-Rated Airport Sale | 2025-08-05 | Enjoy discounted pricing during our Top-Rated Airport Sale!For 7 Days starting on August 5th, save up to 72% on the following items:DeveloperProduct//4242HB Hogsback Ranch Airstrip//42WY32 Circle B Ranch Airstrip29PalmsLGSR Santorini AirportAerosoftEBBR Brussels AirportAerosoftEDDK Cologne Bonn AirportAerosoftENVA Trondheim International AirportAerosoftOffshore Landmarks - North SeaA-FlightWADD Ngurah Rai International AirportAkaflieg Freiburg e.V.EDTF Freiburg AirportAmSimLIRP Pisa Galileo Galilei AirportANN0VL06 Furnace Creek AirportattbenEFKI Kajaani AirportAusceneYBHM Hamilton Island AirportAviation-Sim-DesignEDAZ Schoenhagen AirportBackw |
| Release Notes - Sim Update 16 [1.39.9.0] Now Available | 2025-08-05 | Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) | Sim Update 16 Release Notes - 1.39.9.0If you are playing on PC, outdated packages in your community folder may have an unexpected impact on the title’s performance and behavior.If you suffer from stability issues or long loading times, move your community package(s) to another folder before relaunching the title.Stability & PerformanceFixed a crash when attempting to reach some areas in the World (e.g. Pecs TV Tower)Improved memory management on Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X to improve stabilityGeneral Bug FixesFixed bugs on timezone system; in addition, data is now more accurate (country coasts and borde |
| Microsoft Flight Simulator Releases City Update 11: Northeastern United States 2 | 2025-06-27 | Launched in celebration of FlightSimExpo 2025, held in Providence, Rhode Island in late June, City Update 11: Northeastern United States highlights several areas of interest (AOIs) across four northeastern U.S. states: Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. This update comprises a spectacular mix of locations throughout this storied region of the United States, including portions of New England, one of the most important heritage areas in the nation. Microsoft and partners created each AOI using recent high-resolution aerial and satellite imagery, digital elevation models (DEMs), and TIN (triangulated irregular network) surfac |
| Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) Summer Sale | 2025-06-26 | Enjoy discounted pricing during our Microsoft Flight Simulator Summer Sale!For 14 Days starting on June 26th, save up to 88% on more than 3300 items. To purchase these discounted items, visit the Microsoft Flight Simulator Marketplace, scroll down to ‘Special Offers’, then select ‘See All’ and look for the savings. |
| Sim Update 16 Beta [1.39.0.0] Available Now! | 2025-05-19 | Welcome to the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Sim Update 16 public beta test! How to Join Open your Steam Library Right-click Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Click “Properties” Click “Betas” Select “flight_sim_beta – Sim Update 16" If you would like to exit the pre-release test before it ends and revert back to the live build, follow these instructions: Open your Steam Library Right-click Microsoft Flight Simulator Click “Properties” Click “Betas” Select “None” RELEASE NOTES If you are playing on PC, outdated packages in your community folder may have an unexpected impact on the title’s performance and behavior. If you suffer from stability |
| Microsoft Flight Simulator Releases City Update 10: United States I | 2025-04-22 | This release spotlights a diverse selection of the country’s most beautiful locations, from Dallas, Texas to Honolulu, Hawaii. Microsoft Flight Simulator City Update 10: United States I delivers five spectacular cities throughout the United States in vibrant detail: Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas; Denver, Colorado; San Francisco, California; and Honolulu, Hawaii. Each city has been crafted using the latest aerial and satellite imagery, digital elevation models (DEMs), and TIN (triangulated irregular network) surface texturing. The exquisite detail offered in this latest release will inspire aviators to explore these storied cities and admire th |
| Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) Spring Sale | 2025-04-17 | Enjoy discounted pricing during our Microsoft Flight Simulator Spring Sale! For 21 Days starting on April 17th, save up to 85% on more than 3500 items. To purchase these discounted items, visit the Microsoft Flight Simulator Marketplace, select ‘Featured’, scroll down to ‘Special Offers’, then select ‘See All’ and look for the savings. |
| Black Friday Sale: 3500+ Items On Sale Now in the Marketplace | 2024-11-27 | Enjoy discounted pricing during our Microsoft Flight Simulator Black Friday Sale! For 6 Days starting on November 27th, save up to 90% on more than 3500 items. To purchase these discounted items, visit the Microsoft Flight Simulator Marketplace, select ‘Featured’, scroll down to ‘Special Offers’, then select ‘See All’ and look for the savings. |
| November 21st, 2024 Marketplace Update | 2024-11-22 | Hello folks, We have an abbreviated blog post for you this week as our team is currently focused entirely on resolving the launch issues for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. We will be back with a regular Development Update Blog next week. In the meantime, please see this message from Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann about the issues many of you have experienced this week: We are seeing significant improvements to the capacity and access issues and are planning to gradually increase capacity while we monitor the situation. We are feeling optimistic that players will be able to access the sim and take to the skies. We thank you |
| Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is Available Today | 2024-11-19 | Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is by far our most ambitious simulator to date, and we are incredibly excited for all of you – from our core sim fans to all gamers and those who want to explore the world with us – to join us on this journey. With authentic realism of all environments, aviation careers to pursue and the ability to explore our beautiful world with various kinds of aircraft, there is something amazing for everyone in this version of the simulator. We feel very fortunate that Microsoft Flight Simulator has a vibrant, highly informed and passionate community which has been invaluable on our journey to continually improve the simul |
| November 14th, 2024 Development Update | 2024-11-15 | There's only five more days until the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024! The launch will be a single global release for all time zones simultaneously at 8:00am Pacific Standard Time (1600 UTC) on Tuesday, November 19. To confirm the launch time in your local area, please consult the Arrivals Board below. Yesterday, we hosted the final Developer Livestream prior to the launch of MSFS2024. This time, we were pleased to welcome aircraft developer Hans Hartmann to demonstrate two planes he created for MSFS2024, the Pilatus PC-6 and De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter! In case you missed it live, you can watch the VOD on YouTube here. Th |
| November 7th, 2024 Development Update | 2024-11-08 | Yesterday we hosted another of our planned weekly Developer Livestreams leading up to the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 on November 19. Joining Jorg this week were Mike Johnson to showcase the Amphibian Aerospace Albatross and Cameron MacMillan and Pablo (a real-world Airbus A330 and A350 captain) from iniBuilds to demonstrate the Airbus A330, A321LR, A400M Atlas, and Beluga XL. If you missed the broadcast live while it happened, you can watch the VOD on our YouTube channel here. In the lead-up to the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, we know many of you are looking at different peripheral options so you can enhance you |
| October 31st, 2024 Development Update | 2024-10-31 | Yesterday we hosted another of our planned weekly Developer Livestreams leading up to the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 on November 19. This week, Jorg was joined by three members of the SDK team at Asobo to answer some of the most common questions we've seen from third party developers since the start of the Dev Alpha last week. Also appearing on the stream were three members of Microsoft's Marketplace team to discuss some upcoming changes to the Marketplace in the new sim. Of particular note to fans of military aircraft is a new policy change: visible but non-functional weapons will now be permitted on aircraft sold via the in- |
| October 24th, 2024 Development Update | 2024-10-25 | Earlier today, we released an update to Expert Series 01: ATR 42-600/72-600. This update is available to download via the in-sim Content Manager, and you can read the release notes on our forums here. On Wednesday of this week, we hosted the second developer livestream to feature the creators of new aircraft launching with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. This time, the panel consisted of developers from Got Friends, MilTech Simulations, and Hype Performance Group demoing seven new aircraft. First up, Got Friends showed three airplanes and two gliders: the AeroElvira Optica, Draco X, and Zlin Aviation Savage Norden and the Pipistrel Taurus M |