Amidst dissatisfaction about the modern port of Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War being distributed exclusively as a pre-order bonus for Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, Bandai Namco Entertainment recently made a statement explaining the circumstances behind the decision.
During the final Ace Combat 8 Information Bureau livestream held on September 28, the developers at Project Aces explained that they are unable to sell Ace Combat Zero’s port as a standalone title due to relevant licensing agreements with jet manufacturers expiring.
The reason Ace Combat games are able to feature real-life fighter jets is because of licenses granted by their respective manufacturers. Sales of each title are conducted based on the scope of the licenses, which includes how and when they can be sold.
Though it has been some time since The Belkan War’s original 2006 release on the PlayStation 2, Bandai Namco Entertainment was granted permission from respective jet manufacturers to distribute the game as a pre-order bonus, as this fell within the scope of their contracts. However, the contracts do not cover the game being sold separately at a later date, hence its exclusion from online and physical stores.
The devs clarified that they’re “not doing this to be mean” and encouraged those eager to play The Belkan War port to pre-order Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve. Fans have until before October 2 to pick up the digital edition for the pre-order bonuses (which includes The Belkan War and the F-14A playable jet), while only first-run physical editions of the game will include the pre-order codes.
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is scheduled to release on October 2 for Windows (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X❘S.
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