The Microsoft-owned developers responsible for the Microsoft Flight Simulator series (and the upcoming Microsoft Train Simulator) have been hit pretty hard by all those job cuts. The worst reports suggest that everyone in connection with Flight Simulator was let go. Yikes.

With the decimation of ACES Studios, Microsoft has, what, two big studios left under its belt? Lionhead, responsible for Fable II, and Rare, whose Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts spent a fair amount of time spinning in my Xbox 360.

Microsoft Flight Simulator was first released in 1982. That up there is a screenshot, via the ol’ Wikipedia.

The latest version, Microsoft Flight Simulator X, came out in 2006, but will it be the last?