Ace Combat Zero will get a standalone Steam app for pre-order owners

Bandai Namco will make Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War available as a standalone Steam app, PC Gamer reported on 14 October 2026, citing an update on the Ace Combat 8 Steam news page.

Why players asked for the split

Zero shipped as a pre-order bonus with Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, but it launched inside the AC8 launcher. That meant owning a roughly 3.2 GB PS2-era port still required the much larger Ace Combat 8 install (about 136 GB in PC Gamer’s reporting) — a decision that drew heavy criticism at launch.

What changes — and what does not

According to the Steam update summarised by PC Gamer:

• Zero becomes its own Steam application after final quality assurance and compatibility testing.
• Only players who already have Zero from the Ace Combat 8 pre-order get it; there is no new store purchase path announced.
• Steam Cloud saves are expected between the bundled and standalone versions.
• No release date was given in the coverage.

Players who do not already own the bonus will not gain Zero this way. The studio has not promised Steam achievements for the PC standalone in the notes PC Gamer quotes.