Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve has achieved a significant milestone, marking the series' largest launch on Steam to date. The flight action sequel officially released on October 2nd, following three days of early access, and has seen considerable success on the PC platform.
According to data from SteamDB, Ace Combat 8 reached a peak of 52,694 concurrent players. This record was set on Saturday, just one day after the game's official launch. While player numbers on PlayStation and Xbox platforms are not publicly available, the strong Steam performance suggests widespread popularity.
Historically, the Ace Combat series has primarily focused on consoles, with many titles never receiving a PC release. The series' PC presence began to grow with Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown in 2019, which debuted on PC alongside its console counterparts. That game peaked at 13,758 concurrent players on Steam, which was at the time the franchise's best PC debut. Ace Combat 8's significantly higher player count demonstrates a substantial increase in the series' PC audience.
Player reception on Steam has been largely positive, with the game currently holding a "Very Positive" rating based on over 5,755 reviews. A minor controversy arose shortly after the early access period began, concerning the pre-order bonus Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War. Players were reportedly disappointed to discover that the bonus content was not a standalone application as they had understood, but instead required Ace Combat 8 to be launched. Bandai Namco has since issued an apology for the misleading store descriptions and stated they are exploring potential solutions to address the issue.