Flight Simulator will generate $2.6 billion in PC hardware sales

Microsoft has officially released Flight Simulator, which has already blown most gamers away -- while pissing off others -- with the game requiring 16GB of VRAM minimum if you want to play it at the 8K resolution.

3

Flight Simulator is expected to drive $2.6 billion in hardware sales over the next 3 years according to John Peddie Research. Their research involved players being split into 3 categories: entry-level, mid-range, and high-end. The higher-end gamers will obviously spend much more than the other two, which will help drive those big numbers.

JPR explains in a statement: "Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the global leader in tracking the hardware spend of gamers, has analyzed the sales impact of the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. This includes PC builds, processor upgrades, display upgrades, flight sticks and throttles, flight system control units, rudder pedals, simulation pit components such as seats and frames, and VR sales".

"Based on the assumption of a sale of 2.27 million units of Flight Simulator 2020 selling over the next three years, JPR estimates that in that time frame $2.6 billion will be spent on hardware with the specific intent of improving the game's experience. Much more will be spent over the title's complete sales cycle".

3

Games industry analyst Ted Pollak added: "Flight simulators are incredibly demanding on processing capability and reward high resolution, large displays, and VR use. When new flight simulators are released, the hardware to run them at max settings and performance does not even exist yet".

He added: "This creates a situation of constant hardware demand over the life of the title as fans chase the best experience. A significant number of flight sim fans only play flight sim. We took this into account when calculating whether the money will be spent specifically or partially because of this game".

• Check out these 8K benchmarks: Right out of the gate, Flight Simulator was tested at 8K -- the huge 7680 x 4320 resolution that truly stresses out the very best graphics cards on the market. You can check out our Flight Simulator benchmarks at 8K right here.
• Yeah, you truly do need 16GB VRAM: You seriously need over 16GB of VRAM to run Flight Simulator at 8K, and hell -- if you drive up AA you will hit 24GB without a problem. This reduces even the $2499 graphics card in the NVIDIA TITAN RTX to its knees.