ACE COMBAT ZERO gets standalone Steam version for pre-order bonus owners
Bandai Namco says ACE COMBAT ZERO: THE BELKAN WAR is being prepared as a standalone Steam app for players who already got it as a pre-order bonus.
- The change is meant for players who already received the game as a pre-order bonus; new players will not gain access through this update.
- The standalone version is expected to exist alongside the current version via ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE, with Steam Cloud save sharing expected.
What happened
Bandai Namco says ACE COMBAT ZERO: THE BELKAN WAR is being prepared as a separate application on Steam. At present, the game is launched through ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE, but according to the update, a standalone version will be added alongside it. The notice does not describe a new general release for everyone, but rather a change in how the existing Steam entitlement is delivered.
The publisher says the standalone release is intended for players who already obtained ACE COMBAT ZERO as a pre-order bonus. Players who do not already own that bonus will not be able to get the game through this change, according to the same notice. The available text therefore makes a clear distinction between existing bonus owners and players without access.
Bandai Namco also says the final quality assurance and compatibility tests are still ongoing. The notice does not include a finalized release schedule and does not provide definitive distribution details. Based on the information available, further details will follow once that verification is complete. That means the standalone app has been announced, but has not yet been confirmed as fully rolled out.
The publisher also expects save data to be shared between the current version and the standalone version via Steam Cloud. In the notice, that is still presented as an expectation rather than a final confirmed outcome. Access requirements also remain partly open: the source does not explain whether the standalone app will be tied only to the pre-order bonus or whether other conditions will apply as well.
Timeline
2026-10-13 — Bandai Namco says ACE COMBAT ZERO: THE BELKAN WAR is being prepared as a standalone Steam app.
2026-10-13 — The publisher says the game is still accessible through ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE for players with the pre-order bonus.
2026-10-13 — Bandai Namco says the final QA and compatibility tests are still underway and more details will follow later.
2026-10-13 — The notice names Steam Cloud as the expected way to share save data between the current version and the standalone version.
2026-10-13 — No final release date has been announced for the standalone Steam app.
Background
ACE COMBAT ZERO is currently tied to ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE as the access method on Steam. The new notice points to a change in distribution, but not to a new general release for everyone. For now, the existing version remains the route for players who already have the pre-order bonus, while the standalone app is being prepared as a separate Steam application.
The available information does not yet include a final release date, confirmed regional availability, or a completed explanation of the exact access requirements for the standalone app. It is also not confirmed whether Steam Cloud synchronization will work immediately at launch or only become fully available later. The source only describes this as an expectation, which means the technical setup could still change after the final tests are finished.
The notice also leaves open how the final Steam distribution will be structured. There is no confirmation that the standalone version will be a separate purchase, and there is also no confirmation that access through ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE will disappear. Based on the available text, both routes appear likely to coexist, but the publisher has not yet published a full specification of the final app structure.
Because the update is still in testing, it is also unclear whether the standalone version will go live worldwide at the same time or whether there will be regional differences. The source does not mention countries, platform variants outside Steam, or any extra conditions for players who already have the pre-order bonus. That leaves the core of the notice limited to one concrete change: a separate Steam app for ACE COMBAT ZERO: THE BELKAN WAR is in preparation, with more details to come later.
Sources
- User-provided source notice about the Steam update for ACE COMBAT ZERO: THE BELKAN WAR.