In the lead up to Sony’s PlayStation State of Play, a new listing for Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve popped up on PEGI’s game rating board, suggesting that an official release date was incoming. Sure enough, during the showcase, Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve was shown off alongside confirmation that it will launch on the 2nd of October.

Making the announcement during Sony’s State of Play, the Ace Combat team officially confirmed that Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve will arrive in just a few months’ time on the 2nd of October.

While the trailer itself focused primarily on the game’s campaign and story, we did get some gameplay details, including new techniques such as “ground attack,” “anti-ship missions” and what they are calling “giant weapon battles.”

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is available to pre-order now, with those who do so being given a port of the PS2 classic ‘Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War’ as a freebie. As with many games nowadays, the Deluxe Edition includes 3 days of Advanced Access, meaning the title technically launches in late September.

Either way, with the last entry releasing over 7 years ago at this point, the wait for a brand new Ace Combat adventure is finally almost over.

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KitGuru says: What did you think of the State of Play? Are you picking Ace Combat up on day 1 / day -3? Let us know down below.

The Ace Combat series is easily the most well known in the combat flight sim genre, with the franchise stretching all the way back to 1995. That said, the last entry ‘Skies Unknown’ released more than 7 years ago – selling over 7 million copies during its time. Finally however, Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve (officially unveiled late last year alongside a 2026 release window) has now popped up on PEGI’s game rating board, suggesting an impending release date announcement.

In going to the official PEGI (Pan European Game Information) board, users will find a new listing for Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve alongside a pre-release date set for the 30th of May.

As with most rating board listings, these dates can safely be ignored (not least because the aforementioned date has already come and gone).

Even so, we have gotten some ancillary details, including the fact that the game has been given a 16 rating for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC citing ‘violence’ and ‘in-game purchases’ as the reasons.

This week is set to be huge for the video games industry, with PlayStation hosting a massive State of Play, Microsoft doing their own Xbox Showcase and of course Geoff Keighley set to go live with this year’s Summer Game Fest.

Given this, expect Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve to show up in one of these three impending showcases – likely alongside a concrete release date.

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KitGuru says: Are you excited for Wings of Theve? Which of the showcases do you think it’ll appear in? Will the game come out before or after GTA VI? Let us know your thoughts down below.