It was slightly over a week ago, on 2 October, when Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve was released, but publisher Bandai Namco has announced that the game has sold over 1 million copies since. The announcement of the milestone comes via the company’s various accounts for different markets on X, with the posts also thanking players for buying the game.
“Ace Combat 8 has surpassed 1 million copies worldwide faster than any other title in the series”, the post reads. “Thank you to all the ace pilots around the world for your support in reaching record-breaking heights”.
Looking back to when the earliest trailers of the game were published though, it’s not really a surprise. Bandai Namco has marketed Ace Combat 8 a lot more aggressively than it did 7. There’s also the heavy leaning into the human drama in the marketing (as well as the game’s actual narrative) which does its job to pull in potential buyers, with 7 already re-establishing the series’ premise of wearing the shoes of an ace pilot.
Also helping with selling the game is the inclusion of Ace Combat Zero – a title that the fandom regards as one of the three best entries in the whole series – being made a pre-order bonus. While we’re at it, we should bring up why Project Aces could only ever provide it as a bonus and never sell it. The long and short of it has to do with licensing.
As we’ve noted in our review, Ace Combat 8 doesn’t only improve existing gameplay mechanics from the previous game, but also brings back long-dormant ones such as wingman commands, and the ability to customise their planes. Certain missions even lean heavily into this, making objectives difficult – if not impossible – to complete unless you rely on your wingmen.
(Source: Bandai Namco / X)
