Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve Release Date and All Aircraft Confirmed So Far

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Published Jun 2, 2026, 8:23 PM EDT

Jaime Tugayev is the News Editor at DualShockers, where he covers gaming news, reviews, features, guides, and major industry updates. He has been writing professionally since 2013 and covering games since 2015, with a focus on FPS games, tactical shooters, strategy titles, JRPGs, and PC and console gaming.

His work often covers games and franchises such as Escape From Tarkov, Gray Zone Warfare, Battlefield, ARC Raiders, Arma, STALKER 2, and Six Days in Fallujah. Before joining DualShockers, Jaime contributed to IndieGameCulture and Aviator Insider. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Developmental Psychology from the University of Coimbra.

If a nuke falls in the woods but nobody is left alive to hear it, does it make a sound? It looks like we might get an answer to this question this October, as Ace Combat 8 gears up to be the second-ever game in the franchise to feature an atomic bomb going off.

The gigantic mushroom cloud and shockwave were featured in a 'blink and you'll miss it' shot during the Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve release date trailer in today's PlayStation State of Play showcase event.

While Ace Combat has always had a flair for the dramatic, to put it mildly, the franchise has always been shy about nukes, given both in-universe and real-world constraints. Combined with the recent confirmation that the game will have the most mature rating in the series, today's trailer is an indication that Project Aces isn't pulling any punches with this entry.

Fox 2(nd October)!

Ace Combat 8 Wings of Theve Nuclear Explosion

As cool and unexpected as the nuke sequence was, the main news of the day is that we finally have an official release date (no, the May 30 PEGI one doesn't count).

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is coming out on October 2 this year. For the average player, this means we only have to wait four months to get our hands on this. If to measure things by the gaming industry's latest timekeeping unit, Ace Combat 8 will have a month and a half of uninterrupted attention until people dive into GTA 6, with the bonus of giving you some flying lessons before you take on Rockstar's famously 'realistic' aircraft.

Now, back to the nukes, please. Nuclear proliferation has been a hot topic in Earth's global security since the inception of the atomic bomb, but Ace Combat's realm of Strangereal hasn't had to deal with that.

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When devising the lore of Ace Combat, Project Aces decided it would be more fun to put all points into making huge flying machines with immense firepower instead of nukes. This decision has made for a distinct art direction in the game's tech, but also is better aligned with the Japanese public's historical apprehensions over nuclear weapons.

And yet, nukes remain closely associated with Ace Combat, thanks to one single game. In Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War (2006), Belkan forces detonated seven nuclear weapons in their territory to stop the enemy advance.

Project Aces decided it would be more fun to put all points into making huge flying machines with immense firepower instead of nukes.

It's the kind of over-the-top plot point that makes Ace Combat great, and Project Aces isn't shy about the connection between the two games. Ace Combat Zero is being offered as a pre-order bonus for Ace Combat 8. On top of that, players also get access to the F-14A Tomcat swing-wing carrier fighter, most recently featured in Ace Combat 7's Top Gun: Maverick pack.

If Ace Combat 7 is of any indication, the Tomcat will also be available for purchase later, as was the case with the F-4E offered as a pre-order bonus back then.

All Aircraft Known to Feature in Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve

Ahead of the release of the game this October, here is a list of the aircraft spotted in the promotional materials so far. This list includes both playable and AI-controlled aircraft, separated by real-world area of origin.

United States: