We Could've Had Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 on PS5 Much Sooner 1

A developer has revealed that a PS5 port of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 was initially turned down by Xbox — prior to the company's pivot to multiplatform releases.

In an interview on XDA, head of the series Jorg Neumann speaks about bringing the game to PS5, including an anecdote about a much earlier pitch to bring it to Sony's console.

He talks about how MS Flight Simulator 2020 was a big hit on Xbox, where the game found "millions and millions of new fans" beyond the PC crowd. However, the game ballooned to an enormous install size, so a big priority for Flight Sim 2024 was to utilise the cloud to make it considerably more manageable.

When work began on the project, Neumann realised that the much smaller file size would make it possible to bring it to other platforms. So, "probably two and a half years ago", he pitched a PlayStation version to the powers that be.

This was met with a thumbs down; "It was probably a little bit before its time because I was told no," he says.

"Then, somebody from Sony who grew up with flight simulation thought it would be a great addition to the Sony portfolio. They reached out proactively to our President, who then came back to me and said, 'Hey, remember when we talked about the PlayStation thing a year ago? Sony is also interested.'"

Neumann thinks this decision may have "kicked off a whole avalanche of Xbox titles coming to PlayStation", and the timing certainly does line up.

Once the PC and Xbox version of the game was finished, work began on the port, "optimizing for PS5 and making sure the controller works great," he says. "We also worked on the VR execution; it's not quite there yet, but it's coming."

Again, it's an interesting story because it sort of highlights just how quickly things changed at Xbox as a publisher.

Perhaps Sony pushing for it to come to PS5 was enough to twist the company's collective arm, or maybe it was just coincidence that the strategy was already forming to go multiplatform with many titles.

Had the original pitch from Neumann been accepted, the game could've been part of PS5's catalogue much sooner.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 launches today on PS5 — are you excited to hop in the cockpit? Tell us in the comments section below.

[source xda-developers.com]