Microsoft Ends Development Of Flight, Project Columbia

Microsoft confirmed it has ended development of its free-to-player flight simulation game Flight and Project Columbia, a Kinect-based prototype that was a series of interactive books for children.

Reports on Twitter and Facebook this afternoon suggested the company closed its Vancouver games studio and laid off 35 employees. Microsoft confirmed the studio did not close but was unable to provide comment on any layoffs at this time.

Flight was released in February of this year as a free title for PC from Microsoft's Redmond-based studio. Microsoft said the game will still be supported going forward.

Project Columbia was in development in Vancouver and was revealed first in October 2011.