{"id":2179639,"date":"2026-10-05T11:02:40","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T08:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2179639"},"modified":"2026-10-05T11:02:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T08:02:40","slug":"ace-combat-8-is-far-and-away-the-series-biggest-launch-on-steam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2179639","title":{"rendered":"Ace Combat 8 is far and away the series&#8217; biggest launch on Steam"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">Ace Combat 8 is far and away the series&#8217; biggest launch on Steam<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Not so Strangereal.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/ace-combat-8-online-lobby-screen-crop-1.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"ace-combat-8-online-lobby-screen-crop-1.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"323\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Bandai Namco Aces, Bandai Namco.<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Sherif Saed avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/IMG_1950_Uy1XomJ.JPG?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"1638\" height=\"1346\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Sherif Saed avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"IMG_1950_Uy1XomJ.JPG\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"1638\" height=\"1346\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/sherif-saed\">Sherif Saed<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Senior Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\n<p>Published on   <time datetime=\"2026-10-05T11:02:40+00:00\" data-auto-time-zone=\"true\" data-year=\"numeric\" data-month=\"short\" data-day=\"numeric\" data-hour=\"numeric\" data-minute=\"numeric\">Oct. 5, 2026, 11:02 a.m.<\/time>\n              <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"header_actions\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"00267dae-0152-4dec-8d7e-ffecf6e582c2\" data-name=\"Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Ace Combat 7\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Ace Combat 7\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Ace Combat 7\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Ace Combat 7\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Ace Combat 7\" title=\"Follow Ace Combat 7\"><br \/>\n  Follow Ace Combat 7<br \/>\n<\/button><br \/>\n  <a class=\"button outline wide preferred_source_button\" data-component=\"preferred-source-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=eurogamer.net\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n    <span class=\"logo\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><br \/>\nPrioritise us on Google  <\/a>\n          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\" data-autopogo>\n<p>Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve has joined the ranks of September-October releases that have done very well commercially. The sequel, which officially launched on 2nd October following three days of early access, has been very popular on Steam.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/steamdb.info\/app\/2288340\/charts\/\">SteamDB<\/a>, Ace Combat 8 peaked at a respectable 52,694 concurrent players. The figure was achieved on Saturday, one day after Friday&#8217;s official launch. Although we have no visibility on PlayStation and Xbox player numbers, it&#8217;s hard to imagine them being anything but equal, at the very least.<\/p>\n<p>Ace Combat has historically been console-first. Most games in the series were never released on PC, so it&#8217;s good to see it thriving on Steam. The renaissance started with 2019&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/ace-combat-7-skies-unknown\">Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown<\/a>, which released on PC days after PS4 and Xbox One and peaked at <a href=\"https:\/\/steamdb.info\/app\/502500\/charts\/\">13,758 concurrent players on Steam<\/a>. Though that number seems modest today, it was Ace Combat&#8217;s biggest debut on PC at that point. This is what makes Ace Combat 8&#8217;s jump in player numbers all the more commendable.<\/p>\n<p>Players appear to be happy, too, with the current Steam user rating sitting at <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/2288340\/ACE_COMBAT_8_WINGS_OF_THEVE\/#app_reviews_hash\">Very Positive<\/a> with over 5,755 reviews. This follows a brief controversy that erupted shortly after the game&#8217;s early access launch where players were disappointed to find <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/ace-combat-8-the-belkan-war-pre-order-bonus-steam-community-reaction\">Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, a pre-order bonus, is not a standalone app as they were lead to believe<\/a> and has to instead be launched through Ace Combat 8, creating a lot of unnecessary problems. Bandai Namco <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/ace-combat-8-the-belkan-war-pre-order-bonus-backlash-response\">has since apologised for the misleading wording on the store<\/a>, and vowed to explore potential solutions.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\" data-autopogo>\n<p>Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve has joined the ranks of September-October releases that have done very well commercially. The sequel, which officially launched on 2nd October following three days of early access, has been very popular on Steam.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/steamdb.info\/app\/2288340\/charts\/\">SteamDB<\/a>, Ace Combat 8 peaked at a respectable 52,694 concurrent players. The figure was achieved on Saturday, one day after Friday&#8217;s official launch. Although we have no visibility on PlayStation and Xbox player numbers, it&#8217;s hard to imagine them being anything but equal, at the very least.<\/p>\n<p>Ace Combat has historically been console-first. Most games in the series were never released on PC, so it&#8217;s good to see it thriving on Steam. The renaissance started with 2019&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/ace-combat-7-skies-unknown\">Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown<\/a>, which released on PC days after PS4 and Xbox One and peaked at <a href=\"https:\/\/steamdb.info\/app\/502500\/charts\/\">13,758 concurrent players on Steam<\/a>. Though that number seems modest today, it was Ace Combat&#8217;s biggest debut on PC at that point. This is what makes Ace Combat 8&#8217;s jump in player numbers all the more commendable.<\/p>\n<p>Players appear to be happy, too, with the current Steam user rating sitting at <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/2288340\/ACE_COMBAT_8_WINGS_OF_THEVE\/#app_reviews_hash\">Very Positive<\/a> with over 5,755 reviews. This follows a brief controversy that erupted shortly after the game&#8217;s early access launch where players were disappointed to find <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/ace-combat-8-the-belkan-war-pre-order-bonus-steam-community-reaction\">Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, a pre-order bonus, is not a standalone app as they were lead to believe<\/a> and has to instead be launched through Ace Combat 8, creating a lot of unnecessary problems. Bandai Namco <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/ace-combat-8-the-belkan-war-pre-order-bonus-backlash-response\">has since apologised for the misleading wording on the store<\/a>, and vowed to explore potential solutions.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Ace Combat 8 is far and away the series&#8217; biggest launch on Steam Not so Strangereal. Image credit: Bandai Namco Aces, Bandai Namco. News by Sherif Saed Senior Contributor Published on Oct. 5, 2026, 11:02 a.m. Follow Ace Combat 7 Prioritise us on Google Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve has joined the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-2179639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2179639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2179639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2179639\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2179639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2179639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2179639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}