Boxed copies of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 will ship with 10 discs

[Polycount]

In brief: The latest title in Microsoft's long-running Flight Simulator series is finally around the corner, with a PC launch scheduled for August 18. As with many modern games, the title will be available both digitally and physically, but the latter format will be quite a bit bulkier than you might expect.

According to simulation company Aerosoft -- the official distributor for all European physical versions of Flight Simulator 2020 (FS2020) -- boxed copies of the game will ship on not one, not two, but a total of ten double-layer DVDs.

Aerosoft had to get creative with FS2020's box to fit all those discs, but in our opinion, the end result is about as elegant as it possibly could be. When the box is fully folded out, six discs are visible in the front, each slotted into its own individual pocket, with four more tucked away in the back. The manual has been placed toward the left side of the box in its own full-sized slot.

So, why are so many discs necessary, anyway? According to Aerosoft, the full on-disc content list is as follows:

• The simulator code itself (the 'sim') that is around pretty small in size, this is a mandatory part of the sim.
• The world and aircraft delivered by Microsoft, (that content depends on the version (the 'content') that is around 90 GB, this is a mandatory part of the sim.
• Optional online streamed content (this is an optional part of the sim)
• 3rd party files (clearly fully optional)

Even if you use these discs, you'll still likely need to download a few files from Microsoft's servers to get the best launch day experience. However, don't let that dissuade you from considering the boxed version anyway.

As Aerosoft representative Mathijs Kok says, the retail version of FS2020 gets you a "nice box, printed manual, and about 90 Gb you do not have to download." That's certainly not a bad deal, and the cost of the sim's physical edition will be roughly on par with its digital variant, Aerosoft claims.

If you happen to live in Europe and want to get your hands on a boxed copy of FS2020, you can do so now for €60.34 on Aerosoft's official storefront.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/86020-boxed-copies-microsoft-flight-simulator-2020-ship-10.html

 

[polord]

I only have a floppy drive...:’(

 

[Vulcanproject]

I'm surprised it's even an option with a game of this size, but it's nice to think there are people out there that would still purchase this.

Someone somewhere will be spending half their day just swapping these discs only to get a runtime error on disc 9

 

[DDG4005]

I'd like to see more of this: games released on DVDs or Blu-ray discs with a code for digital copies. It gives gamers a choice regarding how they install their games.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Just in time for my 8TB SSD.

Now I can fit Flight Simulator and Call of Duty on one drive!

 

[Homerlovesbeer]

What would be better is if it was shipped on a USB stick as lots of cases no longer have a spot for a 5 1/4 drive even if you want/own one.

 

[VitalyT]

Just a lame-a$$ publisher, could have fitted it all on a single Blu-Ray disc.

 

[yRaz]

Haven't seen a multi disk game in years. Last one I can remember is freespace 2

Just a lame-a$$ publisher, could have fitted it all on a single Blu-Ray disc.

Very few PCs have a disk drive these days. I don't know anyone with a blue ray player in their rig, personally or online. Be interesting to see the stats on steams hardware survey now that you mention it.

 

[Mister_K]

I'm surprised it's even an option with a game of this size, but it's nice to think there are people out there that would still purchase this.

Someone somewhere will be spending half their day just swapping these discs only to get a runtime error on disc 9

You are giving me a PTSD from my younger days. If only gigabit speeds were a thing for both up/down streams at a decent price and uptime. If only bandwidth was infinite.

 

[picka]

You are giving me a PTSD from my younger days. If only gigabit speeds were a thing for both up/down streams at a decent price and uptime. If only bandwidth was infinite.

It is quite common now. In Northern France I'm paying €40 a month for gigabit up/down, and that's with phone line and a bunch TV channels thrown in.

 

[Uncle Al]

So, if I'm reading this right, you will have the "option" of playing it on or off line. Of course, off line will have more limited content but ......

 

[Squid Surprise]

Haven't seen a multi disk game in years. Last one I can remember is freespace 2


Very few PCs have a disk drive these days. I don't know anyone with a blue ray player in their rig, personally or online. Be interesting to see the stats on steams hardware survey now that you mention it.

Mine has a blu-ray burner.... but people always laugh when they see it...
You can always get an external optical drive though...

In places where internet is sketchy - or where bandwidth isn’t unlimited - 90gb is out of the question for a digital download.

Too bad you couldn’t order a blu-ray or HDBlu-Ray version.... that would reduce the disk numbers....

 

[scavengerspc]

Hey it's going to be on Game Pass. Cool.

 

[Shadowboxer]

Who is rich enough to buy this online? It kinda doesn’t make sense to buy it online! I understand it’s for nostalgia reasons but getting some discs in the post? You need to pick it up from your local store then tear the cellophane off, slap disc 1 in and wait for autorun to work! I’d probably download it and keep the discs if I were rich enough to waste the money. I mean it’s on game pass apparently which currently costs just £1 a week.

 

[Arbie]

The first version of this I owned ran on a TRS-80 with 48 kilobytes of RAM. Looks like they've added some stuff since then.

 

[SantistaUSA]

I'm surprised it's even an option with a game of this size, but it's nice to think there are people out there that would still purchase this.

Someone somewhere will be spending half their day just swapping these discs only to get a runtime error on disc 9

I do not miss those days

 

[mrvco]

My gaming PC doesn't have a retractable cup holder. I'd prefer a USB flash drive option. Considering I spent a lot of time playing Flight Simulator in the early days on an Apple ][e and on a PC up until FS 2000 iirc, it's going to be hard to resist paying up for this latest iteration.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

If I was into this flight simulator game I would love to purchase a disc version. I miss the old days of not needing to download GBs of data to install a game. I miss the physical copies.

I still make use of my DVD burner driver and blu-ray drive for watching movies, installing old physical games I have that I still play from time to time or for ripping a newly purchased movie so I can copy it to my Plex server.

It's also still nice to have a DVD burner to back up important files to disc just to have another backup. The spare HDDs I have stuff backed up to, I also have the important stuff burned to DVDs. I still have a 100+ blank DVDs, they'll last me a good long while.

 

[redgarl]

Call of Duty Black Ops 4 is 200 GB on the PS4... 200 frigging GBs....

80 GB is the norm nowadays.

 

[SG736F6]

One guy out there somewhere still on dialup just shouted "OMG! YES!!!"

 

[Eldritch]

You are giving me a PTSD from my younger days. If only gigabit speeds were a thing for both up/down streams at a decent price and uptime. If only bandwidth was infinite.

Waiting for a release to arrive in local market, going there and buying it, installing.........
Disc 1 OK. Disc 2 OK. Disc 3 OK... and then CRC Error in Disc 4. You reinsert it. you wipe it, you even apply toothpaste on it and clean it to no avail.

Kids these days won't understand the horror.

 

[TheFootPerson]

I finally jumped on the digital game download bandwagon. I got the last of us 2, which is 93gb.

 

[rpjkw11]

I don't mean to hijack, but what are minimum CPU & GPU requirements? I WILL have to build a new rig with only SSDs for this version, so I'd appreciate some help and guidance. I have a lot of catchin' up to do in tech knowledge.

Thanks in advance.

 

[hover389]

Why are DVDs being used instead of Blurays and why is this not addressed in the article?

 

[neeyik]

I don't mean to hijack, but what are minimum CPU & GPU requirements?

Microsoft Flight Simulator system requirements revealed

The release of Microsoft's Flight Simulator would no doubt excite many a joystick at home, as the game will let players take off from any one of...

www.techspot.com

Why are DVDs being used instead of Blurays

Microsoft possibly feel that the primary user base for FS2020 don't have Bluray drives in their PCs. Hardware surveys from the alpha/beta tests probably showed the majority of systems just had DVD drives or no optical drive at all.