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August’s release calendar is thin, but Microsoft Flight Simulator alone is worth clearing a weekend for.
Gameranx’s monthly release preview, “Top 10 NEW Games of August 2020,” lays out a schedule that’s noticeably lighter than the summer months before it — a calm stretch ahead of the fall rush and the looming next-gen launches of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. Still, the video finds a legitimate mix of ambitious simulation, annual sports franchises, and smaller genre standouts worth tracking across PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch. Anyone who caught last month’s rundown of July’s releases will recognize the pattern — a quieter window doesn’t mean an empty one.
- Microsoft Flight Simulator, built by Asobo Studio and published by Xbox Game Studios, launches on Windows PC on August 18, 2020, using Bing Maps data, Microsoft Azure cloud rendering, and photogrammetry to simulate the entire planet with live weather and air traffic.
- 2K Games and HB Studios’ PGA Tour 2K21 pushes for a more realistic golf sim with licensed courses and pros, arriving alongside EA Sports’ annual Madden NFL 21 to anchor August’s sports lineup.
- Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout’s obstacle-course battle royale headlines a genre-heavy back half of the month that also includes Spiritfarer, Wasteland 3, Tell Me Why, Risk of Rain 2, Giraffe and Annika, and a PC port of Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition.
The Flight Simulator Rebuilding the Planet
No release in the video gets more attention than Microsoft Flight Simulator, and for good reason. Asobo Studio’s approach isn’t a scripted region or a handful of curated airports — it’s an attempt to model the entire Earth, streamed in real time through Azure’s cloud infrastructure and stitched together from Bing Maps satellite data and photogrammetry scans of real cities and terrain. Weather and air traffic are meant to reflect actual conditions as you fly, which is the kind of technical swing that’s rare even in a genre built on realism.
Microsoft Flight Simulator renders the whole planet using Bing Maps satellite data, Azure cloud streaming, and photogrammetry — not a curated map, the actual Earth.
The August 18, 2020 launch is PC-only, which matters for anyone hoping to fly it on console right away. It’s also the kind of release that appeals well beyond the usual flight-sim crowd — the same curiosity that’s fueled interest in tactical VR alternatives like VTOL VR applies here, just at a scale most simulators never attempt.
Sports Franchises Renew Their Playbooks
August’s two biggest licensed releases both lean on real-world authenticity rather than reinvention. PGA Tour 2K21, developed by HB Studios and published by 2K Games, is built around licensed courses and real pros, positioning it as the more serious golf simulation compared to past entries in the series. Madden NFL 21 keeps EA Sports’ flagship football franchise on its usual annual clock, with the expected roster refresh and gameplay tweaks that come with each yearly release.
Neither title is a surprise on the schedule — both are recurring franchise releases — but their arrival in the same month gives sports fans two major reasons to check the August lineup even in a release calendar that’s otherwise short on marquee names.
Genre Releases Filling Out the Month
Beyond the simulation and sports headliners, the video highlights a run of smaller but distinctive titles. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout turns the battle-royale format into a slapstick obstacle-course free-for-all, while Spiritfarer offers a gentler, narrative-driven take on managing a ferry for spirits crossing to the afterlife. Wasteland 3 brings a post-apocalyptic squad RPG with heavier decision-making stakes, and Tell Me Why tackles family and identity through a narrative adventure lens.
Risk of Rain 2 rounds out the action side with fast, co-op roguelike shooting, Giraffe and Annika offers a smaller anime-styled adventure about recovering lost memories on a mysterious island, and Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition finally brings Guerrilla Games’ 2017 PS4 hit to PC — a notable addition for anyone tracking how much of Sony’s PS4-era library continues migrating to new platforms.
Of everything on the list, Microsoft Flight Simulator is the one with a hard date already locked — August 18, 2020 — and the one most likely to dominate conversation once it’s actually in players’ hands. Everything else on the schedule is filling in around it.
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