Key facts
- Cheapest right now
- € Standard · Global · Difmark
- Live offers
- 14 offers · 9 stores
- Our pick
- Standard · Steam Gift · Global · Gameseal — €
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€53.99 on PC, €79.99 on the PlayStation Store and the Microsoft Store. That is the gap between the cheapest preorder of Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve that leaves you a copy of your own and what the console stores ask, a month before it lands on 2 October. Bandai Namco spent 2 September laying out the multiplayer, the biggest the series has attempted, so platform and edition matter a little more than usual.
Ace Combat Online: what Bandai Namco confirmed on 2 September
The multiplayer is called Ace Combat Online and runs apart from the campaign, with its own progression and saves. There are two main modes. Co-Op Assault puts two squadrons of four pilots in the same sky, competing for points against targets flown by the AI. Co-Op Warfare is eight players in a PvPvE format Bandai Namco describes in MOBA terms: you fight with and against AI units while the other players do the same and try to outscore you.
Then there are limited-time missions. Scramble sends four players against AI aces; Emergency Sortie has eight players tearing down a superweapon. Standard matches are 4 v 4, or eight players all against each other.
Cross-play is full between PC, PS5 and Xbox Series, so your platform does not decide who you fly with. Before you fly there is Air Base, a 3D social lobby for up to 100 players at once, with text chat, arcade cabinets and a jukebox.
An Ace Pass every two months, cost still unknown
Progression runs in seasons. Every two months there is a new Ace Pass with a free track and a paid Premium one. Bandai Namco has not said what Premium costs and we are not going to guess, but for anyone planning a year online that figure will matter more than the Deluxe's extra euros.
There are no Steam reviews and no critic scores yet, because the game is not out. Nothing on our page can tell you whether it is any good.
On PC, Instant Gaming undercuts Steam by €16
Our PC page has 12 offers across 8 stores, and Steam asks €69.99 for the Standard. The cheapest ordinary code, the one you redeem on your own account, is Instant Gaming at €53.99, Europe region: €16 under Steam, or 23%. Gameboost follows at €55.47, also Europe.
Below that sits Difmark at €43.67, and it is a Steam account: access to somebody else's account, for a game that does not exist yet. We do not recommend the format for a game that is out, and even less for one that is not.
Three Steam Gift offers sit above the code, G2A at €63.42 and two more at €76.13. A gift comes from another account and is tied to region; at this money there is no reason to pick one over the €53.99 code.
The Deluxe on resale costs what the Standard costs on Steam
We do not have a verified breakdown of the Deluxe Edition, so this is cost only. Gamivo has it at €67.26, Driffle at €68.68, Instant Gaming at €68.99, Gameboost at €72.32 and Fnac at €89.99. Three of those sit within three euros of the €69.99 Steam wants for the Standard. Within one store, Instant Gaming, the step from Standard to Deluxe is €15, from €53.99 to €68.99. Whether that is worth it depends on the contents, which nobody has laid out clearly yet.
PC, PS5 and Xbox: the same preorder, three different bills
| Platform | Cheapest copy of your own | Official store | Cheapest offer of any kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PC | Instant Gaming, code, €53.99 | Steam, €69.99 | Difmark account, €43.67 |
| PS5 | Amazon FR, physical, €61.99 | PlayStation Store, €79.99 | Difmark account, €50.39 |
| Xbox Series | Humble Bundle, code, €69.99 | Microsoft Store, €79.99 | Difmark account, €50.39 |
On PS5 there are five offers. The Difmark account at €50.39 has the same problem as on PC. Next is a physical copy from Amazon France at €61.99, then Amazon Germany and the PlayStation Store, both at €79.99. The French box is the only way under €79.99 without buying a login.
On Xbox Series, seven offers. Difmark again at €50.39 with an account, then Humble Bundle with a code at €69.99, Amazon Spain at €73.90, Amazon UK at €75.52 and Amazon Germany at €79.99. Humble's Deluxe is €89.99. Microsoft charges €79.99 on its own store, so Humble saves you a tenner on a code.
Side by side, preordering on PC is €26 cheaper than either console's official store.
Six weeks at €53.99, and no reason to expect a preorder discount
We have 417 readings on the PC page since 8 July. The preorder opened at €54.49, dropped to €53.99 on 23 July, and the code has not moved in the six weeks since. The only thing that has shifted is the Difmark account, which appeared on 24 August at €51.99 and shows today at €43.67 with a discount code applied. Ace Combat preorders do not fall before launch, and there is nothing in our readings to suggest this one will before 2 October.
What happens months after launch we have not measured for this game, so we will not put a number on it. If you are going to buy Ace Combat 8 key ahead of release, the PC code at €53.99 is the sensible entry. If a console matters more to you than the €26, PS5 via Amazon France hurts least.
I have been a gamer for as long as I can remember, and for the last 14 years I have been making life easier for other gamers. CEO and co-founder of Gocdkeys.
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