[UPDATE: The leaked videos have been removed from YouTube due to a copyright claim by Microsoft Flight Simulator and are no longer available. What follows is the original article minus the video footage.]
Two new leaked videos of the 2020 version of Microsoft Flight Simulator offer up a promising glimpse at what fans can expect from the upcoming game. Known for its true-to-life aircrafts and environments, Flight Simulator has been sorely missed since Microsoft shuttered Aces Game Studio, the most recent team behind the series, in 2009, with only a small selection of third-party flight sim options to hold its place.
The long-running series made its first appearance in 1982 on IBM PCs as Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.0 and had semi-regular updates released over the following decades, spanning 12 entries and 37 years. The most recent release for the series was 2014's Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition, which was a ported release of Microsoft's Flight Simulator X: Gold Edition, as part of a third-party agreement with publisher and developer Dovetail Games.
Thanks to new information shared by Eurogamer, fans can now take an extended look at the stunning visuals of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, including plenty of photorealistic scenery and stunning blue skies, featured in the two leaked videos that were uploaded to YouTube by a user named Jose Carlos. The first video, which is over 30 minutes long from takeoff to landing, shows an up-close look at the complex instrumentation found inside the cockpit, as well as an utterly relaxing flight full of gorgeous scenery. The second video, which is slightly shorter at 23 minutes, shows a bumpier flight path as the plane travels through a storm, full of a variety of realistic weather effects like rain, lightning, and dark clouds.
[UPDATE: Video links have been removed.]
Ever since Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 was unveiled at E3 2019, fans of the series have been in a frenzy over the first official Flight Simulator release since 2014, and the first brand-new entry in the series since 2006. Planned to arrive on Windows 10 as part of Xbox Game Pass in 2020, with an Xbox One release planned for a later date, aviation enthusiasts will surely find plenty to love with all the incredible and intricate details on offer.
With any luck, Microsoft Flight Simulator could make an appearance on the next-gen Xbox hardware, the recently revealed Xbox Series X, taking full advantage of the more advanced hardware to maintain the PC-level experience while potentially offering players a chance to utilize Microsoft's Project xCloud streaming to enjoy flight on the go – although no official announcements have been made yet. Fans will have to wait and see what the future holds for the next Microsoft Flight Simulator title, which is currently planned for release at some point in 2020, but if these new videos are anything to go on, it's going to be a breathtaking experience.