wireframe graphics in real-time. The game Elite is widely considered to be the breakthrough game of the genre, having successfully melded the "space trading" and flight sim genres. Elite was highly influential upon later games of its type, although it did have some precursors. Games similar to Elite are sometimes called "Elite-clones".

Space flight games and simulators, at one time popular, have for much of the new millennium been considered a "dead" genre. However, the early 2010s saw a