Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 has reached 10 million players

Developer Asobo Studio reported its 2020 game Microsoft Flight Simulator has hit the 10 million player milestone (or rather, 10 million "pilots"). The player numbers account for both its console versions on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, plus PC and Xbox Cloud releases. 

"We would not have reached any of these milestones without the continued support of our amazing community and their ongoing engagement and contributions," wrote Asobo Studio. "And we’re just getting started!"

In addition to the 10 million player mark for the now two-year-old game, Asobo revealed some interesting player stats. There've been over 500 million flights in Flight Simulator 2020, which equates to 40 billion miles flown. 

That high flight number further translates to 10 million trips around the planet and 200 round trips from the earth to the sun. 

Last month, during a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Microsoft Flight Simulator series, Asobo's Jorg Neumann attributed the 2020 game's success in part to its cloud release. Through the cloud, it's possible to play the game on older PCs, mobile phones, and Xbox One.

As a result, the game's player base doubled twice this year, according to Neumann, and the cloud's ease of access (helped by Microsoft's repeated expansions in that area) were enough to entice people to try out the title.

Releasing fairly early into the pandemic also helped the game grow in popularity, he said, since people were able to use the game to live out their traveling fantasies.