Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.
I just assumed this was just a the next "upgrade" of what we're already using, but as you noted, MS has once again ham handedly handled this announcement. It's MS, so I'm not surprised. Do I have to buy a whole new simulator again? Is it an upgrade to what we already have? The fact that they didn't just let us know in the announcement is just poor form. Although, I must say I'm stoked to be getting an Ornithopter.Yes, they have a lot of questions to be answered! https://www.flightsimulator.com/microsoft-flight-simulator-2024/?fbclid=IwAR3rMiw5YeUM2bAwYhcimTFQLsu2__zUZbQV-bMM4MA1wTN6bVEa87ocea4 "Pursue your dream of an aviation career with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. This brand-new simulator is designed to take advantage of the latest technologies in simulation, cloud, machine learning, graphics and gaming to create the most sophisticated, immersive and awe-inspiring flight simulator of all time. To achieve this unprecedented level of accuracy, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is powered by the significantly evolved Asobo Studio engine. Available day one on Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Windows 10/11, and Steam. Coming 2024. We look forward to sharing more information about Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 in the future." Of course in the past, Mircrosoft released a new flight sim as often as every two years (FS98, FS2000, FS2002, FS2004). It however does make for a slightly different interpretation than what perhaps most people, like myself, were thinking when they were saying over the past few years that they were committing to at least a 10 year (or more) development period for Flight Simulator. Asobo/Microsoft are certainly going to have to go on record very soon to clarify level of compatibility with existing addons for MSFS2020 going forward into MSFS2024, especially for the sake of the sustainability, between now and then, of payware companies. Of course I don't believe there is going to be any real issues, but there are already a lot of people all over online right now saying that they are going to stop buying any new addons until they know for sure they're going to work next year in this sim.
I see a lot of MS2020 payware in there, including the searchlight A-10...
The A-10 seems to be a new DC Designs creation, Dean was hinting about this on his Discord months ago. https://discord.com/channels/1014154445963145256/1014159390464544798/1091265057939259442including the searchlight A-10...