For the past few months, Microsoft has been following a weekly development update schedule to communicate the progress of the upcoming Flight Simulator title to its fans. The most recent break in this organized set of announcements was observed near the end of last year, due to the impending holiday season.
This week"s update, however, has brought about a more surprising reveal from the Flight Simulator team. Instead of the typical arrival of information regarding various components of the game, a statement has been issued to clarify that the release schedule of these updates will be phased out in the coming weeks due to health concerns.
The full notice reads as follows:
"In light of recent health concerns, we’ve asked the team to focus on their health and well-being. As a result, our normal development updates will be scaled back over the next few weeks as we continue to monitor the situation. On behalf of the entire team, we express our sincere apologies for the impact this decision has on our community. We will do our best to continue providing status updates, and look forward to resuming regular postings in the near future."
It seems quite apparent that the health concerns allude to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in various parts of the globe, including the United States. Earlier today, Microsoft"s Minecraft team also published an announcement communicating the indefinite postponement of its Minecraft Festival due to similar reasons. A couple of days back, the tech giant switched its MVP Summit from an in-person event to online-only. Other firms have taken similar steps in the recent past, showcasing the seriousness with which the situation is being considered as a whole.
Just as a refresher, last week"s development update for Microsoft Flight Simulator brought the second version of the Feedback Snapshot - which wasn"t a lot different to its first iteration. There was also news regarding the already-delayed Partnership Series update; this has obviously been delayed even further now.
As far as upcoming news updates for the title are concerned, the firm is hoping that it will be able to publish one on March 12. This one should comprise of a bunch of different things, including the latest Feature Discovery Series episode, information regarding the upcoming Alpha build, a development roadmap update for the upcoming months, and plenty more.