{"id":73277,"date":"2026-10-02T13:51:55","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T04:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=73277"},"modified":"2026-10-02T13:51:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T04:51:56","slug":"project-aces-apologizes-to-ace-combat-8-owners-on-steam-over-ace-combat-zeros-limited-launch-options-says-its-looking-into-potential-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/project-aces-apologizes-to-ace-combat-8-owners-on-steam-over-ace-combat-zeros-limited-launch-options-says-its-looking-into-potential-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":"Project Aces apologizes to Ace Combat 8 owners on Steam over Ace Combat Zero\u2019s limited launch options, says it\u2019s looking into potential solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Project Aces has issued an apology<\/a> to Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve<\/strong> players on Steam regarding the insufficient launch options for the Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War modern port that came bundled as a pre-order bonus. The devs are currently discussing the matter with their platform partners and looking into alternative launch options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of now, The Belkan War can only be played on Steam by installing and launching Ace Combat 8. Due to the main game\u2019s large file size (which requires at least 150GB of free space), some players were unhappy about there being no way to install and play Ace Combat Zero on its own. Meanwhile. PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S players don\u2019t have this issue, as The Belkan War is a DLC executable file that, once downloaded, can be launched as a standalone game on consoles. This discrepancy between platforms further fueled player dissatisfaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The developers apologized for any confusion and frustration caused by their failure to communicate how the port works in advance. In response to player feedback, they are \u201ccurrently evaluating possible options, including discussions with platform partners.\u201d As a disclaimer, the devs said that there is no guarantee that changes will be made to the Steam version of The Belkan War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That being said, even if the launch issue is resolved, it’s important to note that this does not mean that Ace Combat Zero will be made available as a separate purchase on Steam or consoles. As explained by the devs<\/a> during the final Ace Combat 8 Information Bureau livestream, the reason behind The Belkan War\u2019s exclusivity as a pre-order bonus lies in relevant licenses with jet manufacturers having expired. While the game is 20 years old, Project Aces was granted permission to distribute it as a pre-order bonus, as it fell within the scope of the contracts. However, the contracts did not cover the game being sold as a standalone title at a later date, hence its exclusion from online and physical stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is now available for Windows (Steam<\/a>), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X\u2758S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: Ace Combat 8 developers worked so closely with fighter jet manufacturers\u00a0it made them wonder,\u00a0\u201cAre we allowed to know all this?\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ace Combat 8\u2019s Season 1 to include playable Pac-Man and Galaga among other Namco classics<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Players are not happy about having to install Ace Combat 8 just to launch Ace Combat Zero.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":73280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[{"did":"did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2","date":"2026-10-02T04:52:58+00:00","uri":"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mwulb7hg4w2y","response":"{\"uri\":\"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mwulb7hg4w2y\",\"cid\":\"bafyreifljxpxcb4uojf4w73clat5ixsqfotdwdoe6gtower3mwni64uxaq\",\"commit\":{\"cid\":\"bafyreiganksplysrjyzzfczqph24n7eopwv7b4d3v7a3mb4dmsafgcmiyi\",\"rev\":\"3mwulb7hlyg2y\"},\"validationStatus\":\"valid\"}"}],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-73277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"yoast_head":"\nProject Aces apologizes to Ace Combat 8 owners on Steam over Ace Combat Zero\u2019s limited launch options, says it\u2019s looking into potential solutions - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/project-aces-apologizes-to-ace-combat-8-owners-on-steam-over-ace-combat-zeros-limited-launch-options-says-its-looking-into-potential-solutions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Project Aces apologizes to Ace Combat 8 owners on Steam over Ace Combat Zero\u2019s limited launch options, says it\u2019s looking into potential solutions - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Players are not happy about having to install Ace Combat 8 just to launch Ace Combat Zero.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/project-aces-apologizes-to-ace-combat-8-owners-on-steam-over-ace-combat-zeros-limited-launch-options-says-its-looking-into-potential-solutions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-02T04:51:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-02T04:51:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/20261002-73277-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1463\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"822\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carlos "Zoto" Zotomayor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carlos "Zoto" Zotomayor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Project Aces apologizes to Ace Combat 8 owners on Steam over Ace Combat Zero\u2019s limited launch options, says it\u2019s looking into potential solutions - AUTOMATON WEST","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/project-aces-apologizes-to-ace-combat-8-owners-on-steam-over-ace-combat-zeros-limited-launch-options-says-its-looking-into-potential-solutions\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Project Aces apologizes to Ace Combat 8 owners on Steam over Ace Combat Zero\u2019s limited launch options, says it\u2019s looking into potential solutions - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Players are not happy about having to install Ace Combat 8 just to launch Ace Combat Zero.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/project-aces-apologizes-to-ace-combat-8-owners-on-steam-over-ace-combat-zeros-limited-launch-options-says-its-looking-into-potential-solutions\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2026-10-02T04:51:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-10-02T04:51:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1463,"height":822,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/20261002-73277-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/project-aces-apologizes-to-ace-combat-8-owners-on-steam-over-ace-combat-zeros-limited-launch-options-says-its-looking-into-potential-solutions\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/project-aces-apologizes-to-ace-combat-8-owners-on-steam-over-ace-combat-zeros-limited-launch-options-says-its-looking-into-potential-solutions\/"},"author":{"name":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/2812ca8facd5f161edfbc531cf81eb31"},"headline":"Project Aces apologizes to Ace Combat 8 owners on Steam over Ace Combat Zero\u2019s limited launch options, says it\u2019s looking into potential solutions","datePublished":"2026-10-02T04:51:55+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-02T04:51:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/project-aces-apologizes-to-ace-combat-8-owners-on-steam-over-ace-combat-zeros-limited-launch-options-says-its-looking-into-potential-solutions\/"},"wordCount":410,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/project-aces-apologizes-to-ace-combat-8-owners-on-steam-over-ace-combat-zeros-limited-launch-options-says-its-looking-into-potential-solutions\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/20261002-73277-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/project-aces-apologizes-to-ace-combat-8-owners-on-steam-over-ace-combat-zeros-limited-launch-options-says-its-looking-into-potential-solutions\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/project-aces-apologizes-to-ace-combat-8-owners-on-steam-over-ace-combat-zeros-limited-launch-options-says-its-looking-into-potential-solutions\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/project-aces-apologizes-to-ace-combat-8-owners-on-steam-over-ace-combat-zeros-limited-launch-options-says-its-looking-into-potential-solutions\/","name":"Project Aces apologizes to Ace Combat 8 owners on Steam over Ace Combat Zero\u2019s limited launch options, says it\u2019s looking into potential solutions - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/project-aces-apologizes-to-ace-combat-8-owners-on-steam-over-ace-combat-zeros-limited-launch-options-says-its-looking-into-potential-solutions\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/project-aces-apologizes-to-ace-combat-8-owners-on-steam-over-ace-combat-zeros-limited-launch-options-says-its-looking-into-potential-solutions\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/20261002-73277-header.jpg","datePublished":"2026-10-02T04:51:55+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-02T04:51:56+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/project-aces-apologizes-to-ace-combat-8-owners-on-steam-over-ace-combat-zeros-limited-launch-options-says-its-looking-into-potential-solutions\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/project-aces-apologizes-to-ace-combat-8-owners-on-steam-over-ace-combat-zeros-limited-launch-options-says-its-looking-into-potential-solutions\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/project-aces-apologizes-to-ace-combat-8-owners-on-steam-over-ace-combat-zeros-limited-launch-options-says-its-looking-into-potential-solutions\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/20261002-73277-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/20261002-73277-header.jpg","width":1463,"height":822},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/project-aces-apologizes-to-ace-combat-8-owners-on-steam-over-ace-combat-zeros-limited-launch-options-says-its-looking-into-potential-solutions\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Project Aces apologizes to Ace Combat 8 owners on Steam over Ace Combat Zero\u2019s limited launch options, says it\u2019s looking into potential solutions"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/2812ca8facd5f161edfbc531cf81eb31","name":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","caption":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor"},"description":"Automaton West writer. Zoto has been playing video games for 30+ years now but has only recently come to grips with PC gaming. When he isn't playing video games, he watches romance anime and gets mad when his best girl never wins.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/carlos-zotomayor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73277"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73283,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73277\/revisions\/73283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}