Ace Combat 8 Officially Revealed at The Game Awards 2025

Bandai Namco officially announced Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve at The Game Awards 2025, and it looks like fans are in for a treat. It's been six years since the last game in the action-packed dogfighting series came out, and the developer has been relatively quiet about it apart from a subtle hint or two about the future of the franchise. Now the mystery is over thanks to The Game Awards, and fans can look forward to Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve taking flight soon.

It was a night full of surprises for the gaming industry. There were multiple big reveals at The Game Awards, including not one, but two Tomb Raider titles, a new Star Wars Old Republic game, and confirmation that the mysterious statue in the desert was indeed a teaser for a new Divinity game. Among all these headliners, Bandai Namco also had its moment in the spotlight with the return of the long-running Ace Combat series after years of radio silence.

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By Joshua Duckworth

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve Comes Out in 2026

A bombastic trailer at The Game Awards confirmed that Ace Combat is back and bigger than ever, set to come out sometime in 2026. Rumors began swirling that Ace Combat 8 was in development in 2024, but apart from director Kazutoki Kono briefly saying the series was ready to "take flight again" earlier in 2025, fans have seen little to no movement on the franchise until now. It looks like the team at Bandai Namco Aces is putting everything into the new effort, too, with the premiere trailer showing off lightning-fast aerial maneuvers, stunning visuals, and explosions aplenty. While the teaser focused on the game's campaign, a press release from the company later that night confirmed the game would have multiplayer modes, too.

From what fans can tell from the trailer, Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve's campaign will follow an ace pilot with the fictional Federation of Central Usea's navy as the nation fights back against the Republic of Sotoa, which has occupied their homeland. Between missions, players will forge bonds with their squad members and experience a story of identity, duty, and hope, with Bandai Namco Aces using Unreal Engine 5 to bring it all to life. Despite the extremely detailed and lifelike planes, one of the things that makes Ace Combat one of the games with the best aerial combat is its emphasis on experience over pure realism, and it looks like there's plenty of that in the new title, too. Players will fly recreations of real-world jets but can expect the thrilling, over-the-top gameplay the series has become known for.

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve doesn't have a firm release date yet, but it's currently aiming to join the many big games coming out in 2026, though it's unclear how late in the year it'll release. When it does, the game will be available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X. There's no word of a Switch 2 version for now, but Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown did get a Switch 1 release three years after its initial rollout, so something similar could happen this time around with the new game and Nintendo's latest console.

Beyond Ace Combat, things are looking good for its developer right now. In the last fiscal year, Bandai Namco's gaming profits grew by almost 1,000%, and now it has a strong lineup of games in 2026 for fans to look forward to. In addition to Ace Combat 8, Bandai Namco has Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Directive 8020, and My Hero Academia: All's Justice announced so far for next year.

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