Thin client and Xbox success bring Flight Simulator 2024 to PS5, with performance tuning, reworked controls, and PlayStation VR2 support in active development.
© A. Krivonosov
Head of the Microsoft Flight Simulator series Jorg Neumann said a PS5 edition of Flight Simulator 2024 wasn’t in the plans at all. The team treated it as a PC-and-Xbox project until a wave of new players on console made the case on its own. Success on Xbox hinted that the simulator could resonate with a much broader audience than anyone anticipated.
The turning point was a revamped architecture — the so-called thin client. By shifting most of the data to the cloud, the install size dropped from 300 GB to 8 GB. For the first time, bringing the game to other platforms stopped being a theoretical exercise and became technically realistic. When Neumann floated the idea of a PS5 release, the publisher initially dismissed it. That stance shifted after Sony itself expressed interest in Flight Simulator 2024. From that moment, Neumann noted, a stream of Xbox titles began making their way to PlayStation — timing that hardly feels coincidental.
The team then moved into a full PS5 adaptation: performance was tuned, and controls were reworked specifically for Sony’s gamepad. In parallel, work continues on PlayStation VR2 support, which the platform requested from the very beginning. An internal VR build is already running, but the developers are still pushing the frame rate toward a stable 48–60 FPS. They considered releasing VR as a beta, yet ultimately chose to spend a few more months polishing so the mode arrives in the best possible shape — a cautious call that likely spares players a rough first impression.