The Microsoft-owned development team ACES studio has been hit heavily by layoffs, including the entire Flight Simulator team. According to Gamasutra, the only people left are six employees retained to fulfill contractual duties.
Microsoft hasn’t released a new version of the simulator since Flight Simulator X in 2006, and while its graphics are improved over earlier versions, it still doesn’t take advantage of the latest features of Direct X 10. Originally developed by SUBLogic, the Flight Simulator has undergone 12 major versions over 27 years.
Hundreds of add-ons are available for the simulator. Speculation on comments to the information is that Microsoft is migrating to the subscription model of software within their live.com environment instead of through purchased software.