Ace Combat 8 Launch Faces Criticism Over Pre-Order Bonus Change
- Owners of the Deluxe Edition of Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve experience issues accessing the pre-order bonus.
- Players anticipated a standalone release of Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, but it’s now DLC for Ace Combat 8.
- The situation has led to confusion and disappointment among fans, with negative reviews appearing on Steam.
Early access to Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is currently available exclusively to Deluxe Edition owners. However, the launch has become contentious due to a change in the pre-order bonus distribution by publisher Bandai Namco.
Pre-ordering any version of Ace Combat 8 included a copy of Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, a re-release of the 2006 game that had previously only been available on PlayStation 2. PC players anticipated that this title would be a standalone product, as is the case with the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions.
Recently, it was revealed that the game is designated as DLC for Ace Combat 8 on Steam, leading to concerns. Players now face the need to download the full Ace Combat 8 game—approximately 135GB—to access The Belkan War, which is under 4GB in size. This arrangement complicates access, particularly for users on less powerful hardware like the Steam Deck, where The Belkan War cannot be run independently.
The previous Steam listing for the game had described Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War as a “standalone application separate from the Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve full game.” This was later altered to indicate that it would be available as a DLC executable, requiring Ace Combat 8 to be installed to utilize it.
There remains uncertainty regarding when this wording adjustment on the store page occurred, but discussions on Reddit highlight users’ confusion over accessing The Belkan War since the launch. One player mentioned they were unable to find The Belkan War in their Steam library despite pre-ordering the game.
The alteration in the pre-order bonus has been cited in many negative reviews on Steam and is a hot topic of discussion on the Ace Combat subreddit, overshadowing regular game-related dialogues.
Consolidating The Belkan War as DLC rather than a standalone title presents notable disadvantages. Players must install the full Ace Combat 8 game, which is significantly more demanding on the Steam Deck, to access the older game. Moreover, The Belkan War lacks independent achievements and cloud save functionality, with all player data tied to Ace Combat 8.
Though The Belkan War has an install folder within Ace Combat 8’s directory, it can technically be launched separately via its .exe file. However, this setup frustrates players who expected the title to function independently, as it does on console platforms.
As of now, Ace Combat 8 holds a Mixed user review rating on Steam, according to over 1,350 reviews. The reaction from players may evolve further when the official release date arrives on October 2.
Eurogamer has reached out to Bandai Namco for comment regarding the changes to the pre-order bonus.
News Courtesy of Eurogamer
