Pre-order bonuses are supposed to be a goodwill gesture. For ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE, the $70 standard edition came with what looked like a genuinely great incentive: a free copy of Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, a 2006 series entry that has never previously appeared on PC. The problem? The fine print changed quietly before launch, and players who read the original store description feel burned.
What the store page promised vs. what players got
The original Steam listing stated that Ace Combat Zero would be delivered as a standalone application separate from ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE. That wording mattered to a lot of buyers. A standalone app means its own library entry, its own achievements, its own cloud saves, and the ability to download and play it without touching the main game's install.
That description was updated before launch to read: "ACE COMBAT ZERO: THE BELKAN WAR (Steam Version) is available as a DLC executable launched separately from the base game."
Same game, very different packaging. And for a chunk of the player base, that difference is the whole point.
The 140GB problem nobody saw coming
Here's the thing that really sharpened the frustration: Ace Combat 8 currently occupies around 140GB on disk. Ace Combat Zero, the 20-year-old game bundled as a bonus, takes up just 3.2GB of that total. Because Zero is packaged as a DLC executable tied to AC8 rather than its own app, you need the full 140GB install just to launch it.
That is not a small ask. Players who wanted to revisit a beloved classic on their Steam Deck, where storage is precious and Zero would run comfortably given its age, are now stuck either carrying the full AC8 install or skipping it entirely. Separate cloud saves are also absent, which makes the handheld use case even messier.
The console version of the bonus does not have these issues. On PlayStation and Xbox, Zero ships with its own trophies and achievements list alongside the main game. Steam players get none of that.
Nearly 1,000 negative reviews and counting
The backlash showed up fast in the Steam review section. Close to 1,000 negative reviews accumulated in the early access window alone, with the Zero situation sitting alongside other complaints including performance issues, multiplayer connectivity problems, and a lack of HOTAS support. The Zero grievance stands out because it is specifically about a promise that was made and then quietly walked back.
One Steam reviewer flagged the exact before-and-after language from the store page, noting that the Belkan War was their all-time favorite entry in the series and that the standalone promise was half the reason they purchased. That sentiment echoes across dozens of similar reviews.
Some players have pointed to a developer livestream from September 28 where the team indicated that aircraft licensing terms only permit giving Zero away for free, not selling it separately. The argument goes that this licensing restriction forced the DLC packaging decision. But that explanation does not fully hold up when you consider that consoles managed to ship Zero with its own achievement list, and that Steam itself has precedent for unlisted standalone DLC pages that are not purchasable on their own.
Whether Bandai Namco can still fix this
The licensing angle is real, but the execution gap between platforms is hard to ignore. A separate Steam app entry that is free and non-purchasable is technically achievable, and it would have resolved the storage and achievements complaints entirely. Whether Bandai Namco revisits the packaging or leaves it as-is remains to be seen.
For now, the negative review weight from pre-order buyers will gradually dilute as the broader player base filters in post-launch. The Zero situation will matter less to someone who picked up AC8 after release and never saw the original store description. But for the players who made their purchase decision based on that standalone promise, the change feels like a direct breach of trust.
If you want to stay across all the edition differences, pre-order bonus details, and early access timing before pulling the trigger, the ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE release date and editions guide breaks down exactly what each tier includes. For everything else, the full ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE guide collection has you covered as the game continues to roll out.
