Ace Combat 8 In The Works With New Bandai Namco Team

The Ace Combat franchise has provided arcade-style flight combat gameplay for nearly three decades. The latest entry in the series became a massive success, selling over 4 million units, and Bandai Namco is working on Ace Combat 8.

Last year, Bandai Namco announced the establishment of Project Aces, the team working on the Ace Combat franchise, and a new interview reveals Bandai Namco Aces is looking to hire and create a new team for Ace Combat 8.

Why it matters: The Ace Combat franchise holds a special position for fans of flight gameplay as it is one of the few IPs that seamlessly merge simulation and arcade gameplay.

The studio aims to make Ace Combat 8 a fully polished game with high-quality visuals and immersive flight combat, and for that, the studio is hiring experienced developers. Speaking to Automaton, President Takuya Iwasaki said:

“We are looking for a development team as a studio that pursues photorealistic expressions.”

The Bandai Namco Aces team has established a new office recently and is looking to recruit various developers. A few of the open positions include a background artist, character artist, UI effects artist, level designer, and more.

During the interview, Executive Vice President Kazutoshi Kono explained that the decision to establish a specialized studio for the series was driven by the desire to achieve even greater levels of quality and to cultivate a new generation of flight simulation.

Previously, Bandai Namco confirmed that the next Ace Combat title would utilize Unreal Engine 5 for a new generation of flight combat. The engine’s capabilities will play a major role in the studio’s ambitions of photorealistic visuals.

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is quickly approaching a new sales milestone, with the developers confirming it is closing in on the 5 million sales figure.

This success has motivated the team to pursue a more polished and immersive experience for Ace Combat 8. While the title has been confirmed to be in development since 2021, not much is currently known about the project.

Therefore, fans may have to wait a few more years, but the team’s ambitions and goals for the flight-combat game could make it worth the wait.