While Microsoft Flight Simulator is certainly an enjoyable enough experience, the  game’s initial download size of +170GB is a steep ask for those on budget systems. Thankfully the folks over at Microsoft seem to have finally recognized it as an issue, as a new update for the game has taken that download size and chopped it in half.

Microsoft took to its Flight Simulator website to details all of the goodies arriving in update 1.16.2.0, which is now live. As mentioned, one of the major inclusions is the reduction in the game’s initial download size from +170GB down to a significantly leaner 83GB. According to the dev team, this was done by performing “some optimizations,” which were presumably some significant ones given the drastic drop in size.

Sim Update 4 is now available for download! Check out release notes here:https://t.co/r8o124wIRb#MicrosoftFlightSimulator

— Microsoft Flight Simulator (@MSFSofficial) May 25, 2021

It deserves mentioning that, while the initial download size is now 83GB, you’ll still need approximately 150GB of space on your hard-drive for the final installation. The Microsoft store page for Microsoft Flight Simulator lists the game as being 127.01GB, so a little extra breathing room on top of the minimum will be ideal. Those on the console side of things will likely need to free up a similar amount of room for when the game comes to Xbox Series X this summer. Those looking to check out the full patch notes for Sim Update IV (1.16.2.0) can do so right here.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is currently available for PC.

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