Bandai Namco Aces’ Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is proving to be both a critical and commercial success, with the long-awaited flight arcade sequel smashing records as the franchise’s biggest Steam launch to date.
According to SteamDB, the sequel has achieved an all-time peak of 52,694 concurrent players at the time of writing, a figure achieved just one day after its launch on 2 October. With these numbers, this official makes Ace Combat 8 the franchise’s biggest PC launch by a long shot, with the previous record holder being 2019’s Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, which peaked at 13,758 concurrent players.
To be fair, the franchise has always prioritised console releases, with most of its games never making it to PC. To date, only the eighth and seventh mainline entries in the series, alongside the 2013 spin-off Ace Combat Assault Horizon – Enhanced Edition, have made their way to Steam, although the latter has since been delisted on the platform.
Still, the performance of Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve hopefully signals a shift in priorities for the studio, especially since fan reception has been largely favourable, with the game currently sitting at a “Very Positive” rating on Steam, with 82 percent of the 6,185 English-language reviews of the game being positive ones.
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve marks a welcome return to the franchise after almost eight years of dormancy, with the sequel offering notable improvements over its predecessor while ramping up the high-octane action the franchise is known for. The game follows Joker Squadron and the titular Wings of Theve as they fight to take back an occupied Federation of Central Usea (FCU) from the invading forces of Sotoa.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
