Microsoft's Flight Simulator, a PC game predating Xbox, is as old as Microsoft.

Judge as of 2022-05-24. The claim is rhetorical: Flight Simulator is a PC title from before Xbox and dates back to Microsoft's early history. True: Microsoft Flight Simulator, or its direct predecessor licensed by Microsoft, was first released within a few years of Microsoft's 1975 founding and well before Xbox (2001). Mostly true: it predates Xbox by many years and was among Microsoft's early products (released within about its first decade), so 'as old as Microsoft' is a modest exaggeration. Mostly false: it predates Xbox but came out long after Microsoft's early years, so the 'as old as Microsoft' framing clearly overstates. False: Flight Simulator did not predate Xbox, or was not a Microsoft PC title.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Microsoft Flight Simulator (1982 video game) - Wikipedia Wikipedia · 21 September 2009

   “released in November 1982 for the IBM PC by Microsoft”

2. E2 Microsoft Flight Simulator - Wikipedia Wikipedia

   “in 1982 they licensed an IBM PC version with CGA graphics to Microsoft, which was released as simply Microsoft Flight Simulator on a self-booting disk.”

3. E3 Timeline of Microsoft - Wikipedia Wikipedia · 10 January 2016

   “1975 | April 4 | Company | Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft.[1]”

4. E4 Timeline of Microsoft - Wikipedia Wikipedia · 10 January 2016

   “2001 | November 15 | Products | Microsoft launches the first Xbox.[29]”

Microsoft Flight Simulator first came out for the IBM PC in November 1982 (E1, E2), and Microsoft was founded in April 1975 (E3). That puts the game about seven years after the founding and about 19 years before the first Xbox in November 2001 (E4). The game clearly predates Xbox and was one of Microsoft's products from its first decade. But seven years is more than the "few years" the criteria require for "true", so calling it "as old as Microsoft" is a modest exaggeration.