Microsoft Flight Simulator is no mere game. According to analysts with Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the title is destined to be a driving force behind PC hardware sales such as processors, displays, and flight sticks. JPR estimates that the title will sell 2.27 million units over the next three years, which could result in an incredible $2.6 billion spent in PC hardware.
“Flight simulators are incredibly demanding on processing capability and reward high resolution, large displays, and VR use,” analyst Ted Pollak said. “When new flight simulators are released, the hardware to run them at max settings and performance does not even exist yet. 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.”
Jon Peddie believes that the biggest winners will be Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA. But that’s pretty obvious, since CPUs and GPUs are some of the first things that would-be pilots will upgrade for a better flying experience.
“The framerate can only be drawn when all physical calculations are resolved, and simulations need more physical and environmental resolving by the CPU than normal games,” Peddie said. “Simulation gamers know the CPU is not easily upgraded so they pay for the best. Nvidia, AMD, and Intel’s GPU offerings will also benefit as that processing is needed for high resolutions.”