Tom is a UK-based word spewer with a taste for everything weird and wonderful about games kick-started by a transformative play-through of Metal Gear Solid many moons ago. Adores Hollow Knight, probably a bit too much.
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Microsoft’s excellent run on Steam of late continues as the newly-released Microsoft Flight Simulator sits atop the top sellers list on Valve’s digital storefront.
The flight sim, released today, continues in the franchise’s long tradition of offering one of the most immersive sim experiences around while injecting some much needed modern technology into the mix for one of the most visually arresting games. Rave reviews position it as one of the most highly-rated games released so far in 2020. Not too shabby for what is historically a pretty niche, enthusiast genre.
According to SteamDB, there are currently over 51,000 players taking to the skies in Microsoft Flight Simulator – a number that’s sure to increase as the day progresses. At time of writing it’s number 12 in the most played games, putting it ahead of games like Rust and Rocket League, and not far behind games like Destiny 2, Football Manager 2020 and Rainbow Six Siege.
Microsoft Flight Simulator’s early good fortune mimics several recent Microsoft Steam launches, including Honey I Shrunk The Kids-inspired survival title Grounded, which also topped Steam seller charts when it launched in early access last month. Similarly, Sea of Thieves‘ long-awaited arrival on Steam back in June over two-years after its initial release was equally successful. To this day, Sea of Thieves flaunts an average player base of roughly 15,000. Halo: The Master Chief Collection’s Steam launch, aided by the spaced-out release of the different Halo games comprising the collection, continues to do equally well, with roughly the same daily player count average as Sea of Thieves.
Alongside Microsoft Flight Simulator, these titles still sit in the top 30 best selling games on the platform. Microsoft’s new strategy of releasing titles day-one on both its own Microsoft Store and Steam is certainly paying dividends.
It’s unclear how long Microsoft Flight Simulator’s good run will last. Early user feedback on Steam has the game nursing a ‘Mixed’ rating, with many citing crashes and a lengthy download and install process, which Steam is recording as game time. Relative to Steam’s two-hour game time refund window, players aren’t too happy seeing an opportunity to refund the game disappear without even trying it out in earnest.
