MS Flight Simulator sailing off into wild blue yonder

Oh wait, does that headline mean crashing into the water?… Perhaps that is appropriate. Well, the Microsoft Flight Simulator is no longer. From the Interwebs:

Redmond, Washington-based ACES Studio, the Microsoft-owned internal group behind the venerable Microsoft Flight Simulator series, has been heavily affected by Microsoft’s ongoing job cuts. Development sources have told Gamasutra that a large portion of the dev house’s staff has been let go – with multiple reports indicating that the entire Flight Simulator team has been axed. – from Gamasutra

In addition, a report by Microsoft blogger Mary-Jo Foley suggests that the bulk of the 1400 immediate job cuts announced yesterday are to come from the Entertinament and Devices division – responsible for Xbox 360, Zune and Windows Mobile businesses. – from Gameindustry

It really does appear that Microsoft has shutdown the ACES game studio and axed the entire staff. A lot of my friends are now looking for something else to do…
- from Steve