BF2S Forums Microsoft Closing ACES Studio, makers of Flight Simulator

FiringSquad wrote:

Remember those 1,400 immediate layoffs at Microsoft we discussed yesterday? While MSFT said the cuts would come from "R&D, marketing, sales, finance, legal, HR, and IT", turns out some of the MSFT employees affected also came from the Entertainment and Devices division, which includes Microsoft's games unit. Gamasutra is reporting that yesterday's layoffs hit Microsoft's ACES dev team hard. In case you didn't know, the ACES studio is responsible for Microsoft's Flight Simulator and Combat Flight Simulator series. These games have historically been a huge cash cow for MSFT, with the series dating all the way back to 1982, and have an ultra loyal fan base: like Quake, Half-Life, and Unreal Tournament, Flight Simulator is known for its excellent database of user mods, with enthusiasts adding new planes, scenery, and other add-ons to the game. Gamasutra says multiple reports they've received have even said the entire ACES team has been axed.

ACES was currently working on Train Simulator 2, no word on how that project, or the future of the Flight Simulator series will be affected as a result of the layoffs.