Following widespread discontent over the modern port of Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War being offered exclusively as a pre-order incentive for Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, Bandai Namco Entertainment has recently provided clarification on the rationale behind this decision.
During the concluding Ace Combat 8 Information Bureau livestream on September 28, the development team at Project Aces disclosed that they cannot release Ace Combat Zero’s port as a standalone product due to expired licensing agreements with aircraft manufacturers.
The inclusion of authentic fighter jets in Ace Combat games is made possible through licenses obtained from their respective manufacturers. The sale of each game is governed by the terms of these licenses, which dictate the conditions under which they can be distributed.
Although The Belkan War was originally launched in 2006 for the PlayStation 2, Bandai Namco Entertainment secured approval from the jet manufacturers to include the game as a pre-order bonus, as this aligned with their contractual terms. However, the agreements do not permit the game to be sold independently at a later time, resulting in its absence from digital and physical storefronts.
The developers emphasized that this arrangement is not intended to inconvenience fans and urged those interested in playing the The Belkan War port to pre-order Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve. Pre-ordering the digital edition, which includes The Belkan War and the F-14A playable jet, must be completed before October 2, while only initial physical copies of the game will come with pre-order codes.
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is set to launch on October 2 for Windows (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X❘S.