Namco targets Western triumph with Ace Combat

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon can do for the dogfighting genre what Call of Duty did for shooters, says Namco Bandai.

UK marketing director Lee Kirton told MCV he believes the game can establish the Japanese firm as a Western publishing force when it lands on October 14th.

We want to break the Western market,” he said. And if Ace Combat is the one that breaks the air combat genre, than this could be the one. Call of Duty broke the FPS market – it took it from a 100,000 unit seller to a 5m unit seller.

I’m not saying Ace Combat is going to do exactly the same, but wouldn’t it be nice to see a complete change in this genre?”

Assault Horizon appeals to shooter fans thanks to its Close Range Assault device, which zooms in on targets and makes the game feel more like an action title than a simulation.

We have a challenge with Ace Combat as aerial combat isn’t as popular as FPS titles,” Kirton said. But it’s a third-person shooter. It’s not just flying around and shooting distant targets.”