Phil Spencer Is Happy About Modders Earning Money Through Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020

Sitting down with Larry Hryb this week, Xbox Boss Phil Spencer reflected on 2020, sharing various achievements and overall just having a healthy discussion regarding his favourite games, 2021 for Xbox, and most importantly, the upcoming Xbox’s 20th Anniversary.

In the Interview, Phil Spencer shared his contemplations on the newly released Microsoft Flight Simulator, saying that he had tested the game on his newly built PC and was fascinated with the number of mods accessible inside the game. Spencer noted that Xbox has learned a lot from its content-driven Minecraft marketplace and that having a marketplace is fundamental in games like MS Flight Simulator.

Timestamp (45:00)

“How do we take that same capability and unlock the creative potential of the community. To go and build content that they can sell to the people who are playing. I loved going on today, and I was looking through the marketplace of content In Flight Sim, and there was tons of stuff to go by; It’s just cool to see people building their business around creating content for video games.”

Larry Hryb shared his perception and looked back at 2005 when Xbox tried to build something like this before. Spencer replied, discussing Steam and his inspirations from the mod community. “We have watched Steam has had a good mod community and creator’s like Garry’s Mod and those kinds of thing, that have been created. We are always trying to learn, and it’s part of our culture.”

The entire podcast is really interesting as Spencer talks about various games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla hooking him up and the future of XCloud being utilized through Xbox Game Pass. He also looked back at Bethesda’s acquisition and somewhat admitted that he often uses his Xbox Series S while in meetings with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and others.

Microsoft Flight Simulator has an in-game marketplace that features mods from both first and third party content creators. These mods are sold after content creators sign up for the program and are provided with accurate statistics on how their mods are doing in terms of revenue and interest.

Introducing our Marketplace Partner Program!
Details on Closed Beta Invitations and more in today's Dev update.#MicrosoftFlightSimulator https://t.co/VOSKlCHcay pic.twitter.com/5NWLri5gm5

— Microsoft Flight Simulator (@MSFSofficial) July 17, 2020

Although mods have always been a crucial part of PC Gaming, it’s one of those key features that has separated it from Consoles. It’s still unclear whether these officially executed mods of Microsoft Flight Simulator will be accessible on Xbox One or not. Spencer did clarify in the podcast that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 will join Xbox in 2021.