Microsoft confirms ACES closure

Following rumours late last week, Microsoft has confirmed that ACES, the studio behind the hit Flight Simulator and Train Simulator series, has been closed down.

IGN quotes Microsoft PR rep Keida Rericha as stating that the decision was made “to align our people against our highest priorities.”

However, the firm hinted that ACES’ closure does not necessarily mean the end of Flight Simulator, with Rericha adding: “We are committed to the Flight Simulator franchise which has proven to be a successful PC based game for the last 27 years. You should expect us to continue to invest in enabling great Live experiences on Windows, including flying games, but we have nothing specific to announce at this time.”

As the site points out, whilst this closure is the first since Microsoft announced wide scale job losses, the last year has seen a number of developers closed by the firm, including FASA (MechWarrior, ShadowRun), Ensemble (Age of Empires, Halo Wars) and Carbonated Games (Hexic, Uno).

In addition, VentureBeat reports that 30 per cent of Microsoft’s games testing team has also been let go.