Since last year's report of over 6 million copies sold, it took Ace Combat 7 about a year to sell another million. Total sales of the Ace Combat franchise have now likely exceeded 22 million copies.
Bandai Namco also announced a new installment in the series — Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, which takes place in 2029 in the Strangereal world familiar to the franchise. Development started in 2020. According to producer Manabu Shimomoto, the game will retain three key elements of the series: freedom of flight, the thrill of defeating enemies of your own choosing, and a sense of achievement after overcoming difficulties.
Ace Combat 8 will use new technologies: the Cloudly engine together with Unreal Engine 5 creates clouds, and all first-person cutscenes will take place within the engine, allowing players to better perceive the details of the world and interact with characters.