Microsoft Flight Sim boss confirms more crossover content like Halo’s Pelican and Top Gun Maverick

One of the most surprising announcements in the gaming world this year was the reveal in June that the Pelican, the iconic troop transport vehicle from the Halo series, would be added to the game. Microsoft flight simulator. The reason for the surprise is in the name: it is a simulator and Pelican does not really exist.

In a wide-ranging chat with the head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorge Neumann, VG247 decided to check how, six months later, the unprecedented move to add the Dropship 77 Troop Carrier aka D77-TC aka ‘Pelican’ was welcomed by the fanbase. The answer is perhaps just as surprising: it has not only been well received, but so well received that the Flight Sim team will offer similar content in the future.

Halo’s link wasn’t this remake of Flight Simulator’s first crossover, of course, with the Game Pass smash first introducing an add-on pack to celebrate Top Gun Maverick’s release in theaters. In many ways, it is with Top Gun that this story begins.

“I felt very confident with Top Gun, because our team is quite diverse between gamers and slow burners… but the slow burners loved it,” says Neumann. “There isn’t a person who has said, ‘Top Gun, are you serious?’ Everybody was like, oh, that’s amazing.”

Part of the reason, Neumann says, is the perfect fit between the Top Gun and Flight Simulator brands. The ‘fighter pilot’ for the Flight Sim team, it is noted, joined the Navy because he watched Top Gun. Shared DNA is significant. For Halo, the equation is not so simple.

“Top Gun wasn’t even a consideration. The Pelican was risky in a way,” admits Neumann.

So months later, and as Flight Simulator enjoys high-profile 40th anniversary celebrations, what was it like? “It was very positive,” says Neumann.

“The Halo guys loved it. So the Halo audience, look, they ate it up. And the simmering flight attendants weren’t as upset as I thought they might be,” Neumann laughs. “And above all because we did not do the plane halfway.

“In fact, we asked the Halo team, ‘how does this work?’ And they’re like… ‘um, just make stuff up, like aviation stuff.’ So we make up a lot of stuff, but it all makes sense. So we actually passed that off as the simmering pundits all over the place saying, okay, here’s the avionics package, here’s the radar, here’s how this is going to work, and everybody liked it. So now it’s a real, believable plane.”

This differs significantly from the content of Top Gun, where because the film used real planes, the military-run aerospace company Lockheed Martin sent employees, including simulation fans, to help the developers. With Halo, the Flight Simulator team was given relative freedom to decide how this unique and iconic ship would fly in a realistic way, which is where the magic happened that allowed it to be a valuable addition to both fans who just want to fly. everyone’s Pelican and simulation fans who are excited to learn a new plane, even if it’s not real.

The success of the Pelican also inspired some decisions about future content and adjustments to Microsoft Flight Simulator, as Neumann explains.

“I think the only time I got a little nervous was right around launch when the entirety of New York was literally, if you were in the simulator, look up at New York and there were thousands and thousands of Pelicans, and the La Simmers’ reaction was like… ‘hmmm… that’s too much,’” Neumann laughs.

“So they weren’t angry, angry, but I think we tested their resolve a little bit, they were right on the edge.

“At that point I said, you know, honestly there must be some way that I can click on. If you want to have a real reality mode that’s just planes flying today, you have to be able to click on that, and then some of this other stuff shouldn’t be allowed. It’s not a private lobby, is it? But it is a shared world that has a logic. So if you want to allow everything, allow everything.”

A system like this is in the grand plan for the future of Flight Simulator, which stretches many years into the future thanks to the huge success of this Game Pass-powered reboot. Another part of this roadmap, Neumann confirms, is more content along the lines of Top Gun and Halo updates.

“Yes, there will be more of that kind of thing,” Neumann makes clear, though this will always be part of a larger package. Updates that feature real-world aircraft will always be a key priority, and the development team is constantly scanning and digitally evaluating aircraft for future inclusion.At the same time, however, following the success of Top Gun, Hollywood is knocking on the door.

“I mean, what probably doesn’t get talked about as much is the relationship with Paramount, which was incredible,” Neumann reveals, referring to the movie studio behind the Top Gun franchise.

“So Paramount connected us with Lockheed, we work with Lockheed. We immediately clicked with the Lockheed guys because they’re actually experts, so they really care about aviation. And the guys at Paramount are running around the world saying this was the most positive game integration of all time for them, and they’re running around Hollywood saying that.

“At that time I get calls from Hollywood. Like, ‘Hey, Jorg! We have this thing! I’m like, it’s on the fringes of what you would call aviation… I don’t know… maybe?

So. not everything will make it. But at this 40th anniversary event, Flight Simulator is being presented through multiple lenses: as a simulator, as a learning tool, as digital exploration, and as a celebration of the joy of flying in general. The latter, and the cultural significance of flight, is virtually inextricable from how flight is presented in other forms of media, including fictional aircraft.

“I think we at least have a good reputation because it’s the same care, right?” Neumann says, referring to how even fictional or cinematic tie-ins get the same microscopic level of attention to detail as simulating a real vehicle to a trainable standard. “We don’t do it by halves, we don’t do it by halves.”

So… Avengers Quinjet, anyone?