The launch of Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve has been overshadowed by a controversy over how publisher Bandai Namco has bundled the re-release of Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War with the new game on PC. While early access to the Deluxe Edition opened this week, PC players on Steam are discovering that the long-awaited 2006 title has been attached as downloadable content rather than standing as its own application, a treatment that console owners are not experiencing.
Pre-ordering any version of Ace Combat 8 has always come with a copy of Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, a re-release that longtime fans had eagerly anticipated because the original game never appeared on any platform other than PlayStation 2. On PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, that re-release ships as a standalone app. On Steam, however, the situation is markedly different, and the change has left players frustrated about what they perceive as a quiet bait-and-switch.
A store page quietly changes the rules
The crux of the dispute lies in the wording of the game’s Steam listing, which appears to have been altered after players placed their pre-orders. According to the community, the description originally read: “Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War is a standalone application separate from the Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve full game.” It has since been changed to state that “Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War (Steam version) is available as a DLC executable launched separately from the base game. Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve must be installed in order to utilize DLCs.”
It remains unclear exactly when the store page was updated to reflect this new language. Players had already raised questions before launch, as seen in this Reddit post from earlier this month where users wondered how The Belkan War would be accessible once the game shipped. In that thread, a player who had pre-ordered on Steam reported being unable to find The Belkan War in their library, attaching a screenshot of the older store-page wording to explain their confusion.
“I had no hope of AC8 running on my Steam Deck. I preordered it on Steam specifically to play Zero on Deck. Because we were promised a standalone app.”
Ace Combat 8 Steam buyer, via Reddit
The same quiet change is now referenced in many of Ace Combat 8’s negative Steam reviews, and it has become one of the hottest topics on the Ace Combat subreddit at the moment, effectively overshadowing discussion of the game itself.
The practical cost of a DLC bundle
Making The Belkan War an add-on rather than a standalone title carries real drawbacks for players. Most glaringly, owners must download and install the full Ace Combat 8, which weighs in at roughly 135GB, simply to play a port of a 2006 game that is itself under 4GB. As one Reddit user noted, this also blocks easy playability on the Steam Deck, a handheld that many had specifically pre-ordered the game to enjoy the older title on.
Being nested under a different game’s umbrella introduces further complications. The Belkan War no longer has its own achievements, nor does it support cloud saves. Playtime, captured screenshots, and all other profile-related data must now live under the flagship game’s account rather than under the re-release’s own entry.
Because The Belkan War retains its own install folder within Ace Combat 8’s directory, it can technically be launched separately by locating its executable file, but the main game must still be installed first. Players have pointed out that none of these issues exist on consoles, where the title remains a standalone app with all the benefits that entails.
Looking ahead
At the time of writing, Ace Combat 8 holds a Mixed user review rating on Steam, based on more than 1,350 reviews. Whether the controversy drives that rating lower remains to be seen when the official 2 October release date arrives and a wider audience downloads the game.
Eurogamer has contacted Bandai Namco for comment on the matter.
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