Microsoft Flight Simulator's Next Update Overhauls Japan

Almost two months after it was released, Microsoft Flight Simulator will receive its first substantial update next week. World Update 1 will be a free upgrade that focuses on Japan, using an improved digital elevation map of the entire country and high-resolution 3D photogrammetry that adds six Japanese cities to the game: Sendai, Takamatsu, Tokushima, Tokyo, Utsunomiya, and Yokohama.

There will also be six new airports to visit, such as the Hachijojima, Kerama, Kushiro, Nagasaki, Shimojishima, and Suwanosejima complexes. Three new Landing Challenges completes the free package, which will be available for download on Xbox Game Pass for PC, Windows 10, and Steam on September 29. You can check out a trailer and some screenshots below.

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Once the free content has been released, the next update will provide more fine-tuning for aircraft. This will also be free but the content update following after this will be paid DLC.

This will be the cycle for the foreseeable future, with developer Asobo Studio explaining to Polygon recently that Microsoft Flight Simulator will evolve into a platform that will be supported for at least a decade.

Already a smash hit and the biggest launch in the 38-year history of the series, Microsoft Flight Simulator was recently played by the collective hive-mind of Twitch and the experiment somehow didn't end in disaster.

In our Microsoft Flight Simulator review, it earned 9/10, with critic Edmond Tran saying that the game is a "spectacular technical achievement and a deeply inspiring experience filled with glorious possibilities."