While it seemed like all hope was lost regarding Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War being available separately from Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve on Steam, Project Aces has some good news. After “continued discussions” with its “platform partners and other relevant parties regarding this matter,” it’s looking into possibly turning the former into a standalone title on the platform.
“We are currently reviewing the specific implementation details and distribution timing. We will provide a further update once additional details have been finalized, including whether this approach can ultimately be realized.” Overall, the developer still isn’t completely confident it will happen, but efforts are underway.
“We remain committed to delivering the title in a manner that meets player expectations, and we will continue working closely with all relevant partners to achieve this goal,” it concluded.
Before launch, a modern port of Ace Combat Zero was marketed as a separate title that players would receive as a free bonus for purchasing Ace Combat 8 before October 2nd. When advanced access went live, the wording was reportedly changed to reveal that this wouldn’t be the case. Naturally, many fans were left frustrated at having to download the latter, which is about 150 GB, just to play the former.
Consoles don’t suffer from this issue, and Ace Combat Zero is a standalone title (and requires roughly a fraction of Ace Combat 8’s install space). Project Aces went with this approach for PC because of “licensing restrictions and platform-related considerations.”
Regardless, Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is still worth checking out on its own. You can read our review, where we scored it nine out of ten, for more details. Thus far, it’s been quite successful for Bandai Namco, becoming the series’ biggest launch on Steam.
