Ace Combat 8: Wings Of Theve's Multiplayer Is Strong Enough To "Have Been Its Own Game"

Published Sep 22, 2026, 11:32 AM EDT

Brandon Zachary is a Lead Writer for Screen Rant's New Movie Team. He also writes or has written for Comicbook.com, CBR, That Hashtag Show, Just Watch, and TVBrittanyF. Brandon is an Emerging Screenwriters Semi-Finalist, co-writer of a Screencraft Quarter-Finalist, a seasoned on-screen interviewer, and a MASSIVE nerd. You can reach him at bs.zachary@gmail.com

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve has more than just an illustrious legacy to live up to. The series debuted over thirty years ago and has remained a major fixture of the aerial sim genre for decades. Beyond that, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown was a bona fide hit for Bandai Namco, selling millions of copies worldwide. The newest entry in the series does more than just live up to that legacy, however.

Beyond a compelling and challenging single-player campaign, the game contains a very deep multiplayer component that leans into various different potential gameplay paths. During an interview with Screen Rant, Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve Producer Manabu Shimomoto and Ace Combat series Brand Director Kazutoki Kono discussed the motivation behind the massive expansion of multiplayer.

In Ace Combat, Everyone Is The Hero

The core Ace Combat experience is all about making the player feel like they're the unstoppable hero in their own action epic. That presents a natural challenge in a multiplayer mode, where multiple players may be vying for that same sensation and in-game role. It's also something the team behind Ace Combat noted was baked into their approach to multiplayer.

"We are expecting the players' definition of hero is the protagonist. It's them. You may be a hero even though your role is supporting others. Whether you contribute to the team or you're the main fighter, there are a lot of different roles to be played by each player. We're asking them to define certain definitions of hero themselves. There's a freedom there... we're expecting players to get excited."

The game will feature several multiplayer options that can cater to those different preferences, fully removed from the single-player campaign. "We see the single-player campaign as a way for players to improve their skills and head into multiplayer challenges," the development team explained.

This includes shared hub locations that can have 100 players from across platforms all in a shared space. Between missions, players can have customizable avatars, utilize a variety of emotes, and even test their skills in classic arcade games. The multiplayer modes include Co-Op Assault -- where players are split into two teams to compete in difficult boss battles from the base game -- and Co-Op Warfare, where opposing teams face off one another independently.

Those bosses for Co-Op Assault also give the development team a chance to bring back classic threats from older entries in the series, effectively creating a quick burst through the history of the franchise. "We wanted to bring back the bosses or threats that are really going to [challenge] the players," the team explained.

"This is a game where battles can have eight players. We wanted to choose the threats that made players want to work together to defeat them." This also plays into the team's clear intentions for Ace Combat 8's future. Citing the longevity of Ace Combat 7's online player base as well as the expandable depth that comes with seasonal challenges and boss updates, the Ace Combat 8 team teased a massive future.

In theory, these kinds of challenges could easily lengthen the shelf life of the game far beyond what the campaign can offer. "We recognize the length of the creation of the game. The lifespan can be really long, so we expect Ace Combat to be played for a while. We cannot really discuss the many details at the moment. But we want to make sure that we operate and maintain the game for a long time."

Take To The Skies For Ace Combat's Massive Multiplayer

One of the things that inspired the Ace Combat 8 team above anything else was the enduring success of the previous game. While the Ace Combat series has always done well, the seventh mainline entry was a massive hit. The title was confirmed to have sold over 7 million copies since it debuted in 2019 and still has a dedicated player base.

Seeing the communities that game spawned online was a huge inspiration for the team working on Ace Combat 8, but it also came with some harsh realities that those groups could feel disconnected from one another. "The fans have been voicing their need to be with others. The online lobby attracts fans, not just people who want to play but people who want to just meet."

[Our] process creates something really strong and really appealing. It creates the feeling of goosebumps.

"Each Ace Combat is really ambitious. If you look at the previous titles and those campaign modes, an online mode was additional. But now, the online mode for Ace Combat 8 could have been a stand-alone game. It has the bonus of a high-quality campaign mode as well. It's a place where players can really come together and make a community."

Looking at the sheer scope of the multiplayer modes and how it stands out from the rest of the series, Kono and Shimomoto noted that the vision for this series always starts big -- and never gets smaller. "At the beginning of the development, the vision can be very large. It takes a lot of work. It takes lots of work on the development, the visual realism, the storylines, the characters, the gameplay, the music."

"That process creates something really strong and really appealing. It creates the feeling of goosebumps. Before the end of development, we identify the most impactful elements, and we try to enhance those elements even further by incorporating more into the presentation and techniques. Which parts can be more emotional? That's not something we can design for."

Instead, as the pair explained, the focus has to come into view during the final stages of development. For Ace Combat 8, that meant embracing the community and the challenge that comes with an expanded multiplayer mode that could be the key to making Ace Combat 8 an enduring entry in the modern gaming landscape.

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve

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