Asobo and Microsoft announce Antonov An-2 for MSFS, coming later this year

The latest Developer Q&A was rich in new details about the near future of Microsoft Flight Simulator. Yesterday we told you about the latest information on the Reno Air Races expansion, an exciting upgrade that will be out in less than a month. Today, it’s time for a new airplane, the result of a surprising new partnership and a project that we have written about before. The Antonov An-2 from ATSimulations is now coming to MSFS under the Asobo/Microsoft umbrella and will be the first of a new series of airplanes, titled “Famous Fliers“.

We were indeed wondering about what happened to the An-2. The last time we saw it, a few months ago already, it was looking very impressive and there was an expectation from the developer to release it this year. Well, it appears it’s still coming this year, but now under a direct partnership with the Microsoft Flight Simulator team.

Andrei Tsvirenko, from ATSimulations, went live on the Developer Q&A stream to talk a bit about this project. There isn’t really much new compared to what we already knew. This will be a faithful recreation of the legendary soviet biplane, the airplane with the longest production run in history.

Antonov An 2 MSFS 4

Antonov An 2 MSFS 6

Antonov An 2 MSFS 7

Antonov An 2 MSFS 3

Antonov An 2 MSFS 2

Antonov An 2 MSFS 1

Antonov An 2 MSFS 8

Antonov An 2 MSFS 5

With this new airplane, the MSFS team is looking to quick-start a new series of fascinating airplanes, often record-breaking planes, the fastest, the biggest, you get the idea. It’s a similar idea to the “Local Legends” series, whose first entry was the Junkers Ju-52. The idea is to loosely tie the “Famous Fliers” series with the regular Sim Updates, while the “Local Legends” will be coming around the timeframe of the World Updates.

Andrei revealed that his creation is almost ready and confirmed that the An-2 will be out this year, possibly by the time the next Sim Update hits the platform (it’s currently aimed for mid-November, but we bet it will be coming a bit later). There will be a few configuration options available, with different liveries and a mix between a classic panel with steam gauges and a more modern variant with GPS. Remember, the Antonov An-2 was still in production in the 2000s, so there are a wide variety of different panels depending on how old the model is. Let’s see what Andrei has in store for us!

A final note about pricing. Staying close to their goal of providing easily accessible and high-quality airplanes, the MSFS team also announced that the An-2 will be available for just $15, just like the Ju-52.