on aircraft surfaces, busy airports with animated vehicles and people, complex cloud formations, defined shorelines and water bodies, realistic precipitation effects on the aircraft's windshield, and very detailed terrain generation with a vast amount of autogenerated scenery. The official website for the game states: "Microsoft Flight Simulator is the next generation of one of the most beloved simulation franchises. From light planes to wide-body jets, fly highly detailed and stunning aircraft in an incredibly realistic world. Create your flight plan and fly anywhere on the planet. Enjoy flying day or night and face realistic, challenging weather conditions." The game was released for Windows on August 18, 2020, through Xbox Game Pass and Steam on PC. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 was released on Xbox Series S/X on July 27, 2021. Microsoft Flight − Released in February 2012 On August 17, 2010, Microsoft announced a new flight simulator, Microsoft Flight, designed to replace the Microsoft Flight Simulator series. New to Flight is Games for Windows – Live integration, replacing the GameSpy client which was used in previous installments. An add-on market place was implemented as well, offering some additional scenery packs and aircraft as downloadable content (DLC). The new version was aimed at current flight simulator fans, as well as novice players. However, Flight has a different internal architecture and operational philosophy, and is not compatible with the previous Flight Simulator series. Some users and critics such as Flying Magazine were disappointed with the product, the main issue being that the product is a game, rather than a simulator, to attract a casual audience rather than enthusiasts who would want a more realistic experience. On July 25, 2012, Microsoft announced it had cancelled further development of Microsoft Flight, stating that this was part of "the natural ebb and flow" of application management. The company stated it will continue to support the community and offer Flight as a free download, but closed down all further development of the product on 26 July 2012. Products based on the Flight Simulator X codebase Lockheed Martin Prepar3D In 2009, Lockheed Martin announced that they had negotiated with Microsoft to purchase the intellectual property and including source code for Microsoft ESP which was the commercial-use version of Flight Simulator X SP2. In 2010 Lockheed announced that the new product based upon the ESP source code would be called Prepar3D. Lockheed has hired members of the original ACES