Ace Combat 8 peaks at 52,694 concurrent players on Steam, dwarfing its predecessor

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve launched officially on 2nd October after three days of early access, and it's already the biggest Steam debut in the series' history. The game peaked at 52,694 concurrent players on Saturday — one day after the official release date.

That number puts it in a completely different league from Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, which hit 13,758 concurrent players at its Steam peak back in 2019. The jump is especially notable given that Ace Combat has traditionally been a console-first franchise — most entries in the series never made it to PC at all. Steam reviews are sitting at Very Positive with over 5,755 ratings, suggesting players are largely satisfied with what they're getting.

The launch wasn't entirely smooth, though. Shortly after early access began, players discovered that Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War — a pre-order bonus — isn't a standalone app and has to be launched through Ace Combat 8 instead. That contradicted how it was presented on the store page, and the backlash was swift. Bandai Namco apologised for the misleading wording and said it would look into potential fixes, which appears to have taken the edge off the frustration.

With console player counts unavailable, the Steam figures alone paint a strong picture for the series' PC future. Ace Combat 7 essentially proved there was a PC audience worth chasing — Ace Combat 8 has confirmed it's a lot bigger than anyone expected.