Last month, Microsoft announced that the new Flight Simulator will finally become available on PC for users starting August 18. The latest iteration of the simulator was announced during E3 last year, and pre-orders began on July 13, 2020. Now, the Redmond giant has provided the release times for various regions, providing users more information on when they will be able to begin downloading and playing the game.
Those that pre-ordered the game from the Microsoft Store will be able to start downloading it on a rolling release schedule, meaning that the availability will differ depending on the region and time zone. The game is going live at midnight across 25 time zones around the globe, with users in countries like New Zealand already beginning to be eligible for the download.
Here is the complete list of time zones and the associated countries for those that purchased the game from the Store:
| Time | Countries |
|---|---|
| 17 August | |
| 10:00 UTC | Kiribati |
| 11:00 UTC | American Samoa, The Marshall Islands, Mauru, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, The United States Minor Outlying Islands, Wallis and Futuna |
| 12:00 UTC | Antarctica, Fiji, New Zealand |
| 13:00 UTC | New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu |
| 14:00 UTC | Australia, Guam, Federated States of Micronesia, The Northern Mariana Islands, Papua New Guinea |
| 15:00 UTC | Japan, The Republic of Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Palau, Timor-Leste |
| 16:00 UTC | Brunei Darussalam, Hong Kong, Macao, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan |
| 17:00 UTC | Cambodia, Christmas Island, Indonesia, The Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Thailand, Viet Nam |
| 17:30 UTC | The Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Myanmar |
| 18:00 UTC | Bangladesh, Bhutan, The British Indian Ocean Territory, Kyrgyzstan |
| 18:15 UTC | Nepal |
| 18:30 UTC | India, Sri Lanka |
| 19:00 UTC | The French Southern Territories, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan |
| 19:30 UTC | Afghanistan |
| 20:00 UTC | Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Mauritius, Oman, Qatar, Réunion, Saint Barthélemy, Seychelles, The United Arab Emirates, Yemen |
| 21:00 UTC | Åland Islands, Belarus, The Comoros, Cyprus, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Madagascar, Mayotte, The Republic of Moldova, Palestine, Romania, The Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, United Republic of Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine |
| 22:00 UTC | Albania, Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Eswatini, France, Germany, Gibraltar, The Holy See, Hungary, Italy, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Mozambique, Namibia, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Republic of North Macedonia, Rwanda, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
| 23:00 UTC | Angola, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, The Central African Republic, Chad, The Democratic Republic of the Kongo, The Congo, Equatorial Guinea, The Faroe Islands, Gabon, Isle of Man, Ireland, Morocco, The Niger, Nigeria, Portugal, Saint Helena, Ascension, and the Tristan da Cunha, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island |
| 18 August | |
| 00:00 UTC | Bouvet Island, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Greenland, Guernsey, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, Jersey, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo |
| 01:00 UTC | Cabo Verde, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands |
| 03:00 UTC | Anguilla, Anguilla and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Barbados, Bermuda, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, Dominica, Brazil (BRT), The Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago, Virgin Islands (U.S.) |
| 04:00 UTC | The Bahamas, Brazil (AMT), Plurinational State of Bolivia, Canada, The Cayman Islands, Chile, Curaçao, The Falkland Islands, Georgia, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, The Turks and Caicos Islands, The United States of America (Eastern), Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela |
| 05:00 UTC | Belize, Brazil (ACT), Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, The United States of America (Central) |
| 07:00 UTC | Pitcairn, The United States of America (Western) |
| 10:00 UTC | The Cook Islands French Polynesia |
Those that opted to purchase the game from Steam will be able to access the complete download at 4AM UTC (4AM GMT, 12AM EST, 11PM CST (17 August), 9PM PST (17 August), 5AM BST). This means that some regions will be able to download the simulator before midnight.
While the announcement does not explicitly mention the timelines for users of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or Xbox Game Pass for PC subscribers, it is safe to assume that the timelines for the Store purchases also apply to the subscription holders, since the Standard version is included in the subscription. Additionally, there is no information on when the company aims to launch the simulator on consoles.
The game is offered in three versions: Standard ($59.99), Deluxe ($89.99), and Premium Deluxe ($119.99). The difference between the versions includes a greater number of airports and airplanes in the higher tiers. The latest offering from Microsoft leverages technologies from DirectX 12 and offers real-time weather and dynamic scenery.