Ace Combat Infinity/Development timeline

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This page lists the development timeline of Ace Combat Infinity as provided by the game itself, announcements from Project Aces and Bandai Namco, and various other sources.

Early 2012

Following the release of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy and Ace Combat: Northern Wings, Project Aces begins development of Ace Combat Infinity as part of Bandai Namco's "F2P Project" led by Katsuhiro Harada, an initiative on entering the free-to-play market.

2013

June

• 14 - Kazutoki Kono posts a photo of his Japanese passport and laptop on Twitter. His laptop shows a wallpaper version of the new Project Aces logo, which features meteors falling from the sky.
• 21 - The full wallpaper is posted to Project Aces's Twitter account.

July

• 10 - An image reading "ky fe||, the" is posted to Project Aces's Twitter account.
• 11 - A single word, "closening", is posted to Project Aces's Twitter account.
• 12 - A new trademark is filed by Namco Bandai for "Ace Combat Infinity". A new website is also created by Bandai Namco titled "PROJECT ACES NewTitle", and is subsequently announced through Twitter. The site contains the full teaser message that was partially revealed on July 10, which fully reads: "That day our sky fe||, the heavens split to create new skies." The website uses the Project Aces logo as its favicon and the source code contains the keyword エースコンバット (Ace Combat).
• 13 - Website updates to partially reveal the background of the new Project Aces logo.
• 14 - Website update clearly shows the new logo background.
• 15 - Website update shows a new subtitle, "Here comes the third strike!", referring to Stonehenge's attack during "Rescue".
• 16 - Website update shows a new subtitle, "All engines on Kottos 2 destroyed," referring to Kottos-class aerial warships from "Moby Dick Pursuit".
• 17 - Website update shows a new subtitle, "Ridgeback One. Edge, reporting," the first teaser of Ridgeback Squadron and Nagase.
  • Kono posts a photo of a soda bottle, behind which is the first teaser of the emblem of Bone Arrow Squadron.
• 18 - Website update shows a red infinity symbol, later used in the Operation Future Prospect trailer.
• 19 - Ace Combat Infinity's first teaser trailer "The day our sky fell..." is released, showing glimpses of 1986VG1 Ulysses, "Far Eastern Front", Ridgeback Squadron and their ASF-X Shinden IIs, Stonehenge, the Aigaion, Iyuli, the Butterfly Master and her Mappy references and QFA-44 Carmilla, "Tokyo Martial Law", and the T-50 PAK-FA.

August

• 2 - Ace Combat Infinity's second teaser trailer "Create new skies..." is released, starting with Omega giving dialogue from "Lost Butterfly". While "Rex Tremendae" plays, the trailer shows the United Nations Forces, Bone Arrow Squadron, Goodfellow, "Aerospace Center Defense", "Pipeline Destruction", the Himalayan Mountains (later changed to the Alps), the Aigaion in both "Moby Dick Pursuit" and "Far Eastern Front", Stonehenge, the QFA-44 Carmilla and the first teaser of the MQ-90L Quox bis, and Kvasir. Also shown are an F-4E Phantom II (cockpit only), a Typhoon, and an Su-35.

September

• 2 - Ace Combat Infinity's third teaser trailer "Alpha Vs Bravo" is released, this time teasing Online Co-Op Missions and featuring "Alps Air Corridor" and the Aircraft Tree.
• 19 - Ace Combat Infinity's first trailer "Ulysses Disaster" is released at Tokyo Game Show 2013, showing an overview of the campaign missions.

October

• 3 - "Stonehenge" and "Great Migration" gameplay previews are released.
• 17 - Another Online Co-Op Missions trailer is released, this time featuring gameplay from Project Aces developers. The trailer shows all available Online Co-Op Missions at the time and provides information on a Japanese public beta test.

November

• 7 - Japanese public beta test goes live.
• 8 - Japanese public beta test goes offline.
• 12 - Multiple trailers previously uploaded by Bandai Namco are hidden or removed. They are reuploaded over the next few weeks.
• 13 - Originally the end date of the public beta test, Project Aces issues an apology for the extended downtime and announces a second beta test would be announced by December 4.

December

• 4 - Project Aces announces that a new Japanese public beta test will take place on December 12–18.
• 5 - New trailer announcing the new Japanese public beta test goes live.
• 9 - Another new trailer goes live. There are noticeable changes to the in-game cutscenes seen in previous trailers and the first beta test, primarily with removed map borders and a blur effect on the world map. Glimpses are seen of cutscenes from "Operation Bunker Shot".
• 12 - Second Japanese public beta test goes live and the website URL is changed.
• 13 - Japanese version of the previous released trailers goes live in a summary video, publicly showcasing the game's Japanese voiceover.
• 19 - Second Japanese public beta test ends and the website reports that Infinity will release in 2014.

2014

January

• 8 - Kono confirms to a fan on Twitter that a worldwide beta would be coming.
• 30 - Worldwide public beta test officially announced, taking place on February 4–11.

February

• 4 - Worldwide public beta test goes live.
• 11 - Worldwide public beta test ends.
• 17 - Aces at Operation: "Digital Hollywood", a presentation from Kazutoki Kono and Project Aces, is announced for March.

March

• 1 - Aces at Operation: "Digital Hollywood" takes place, showcasing various parts of the game's development: concept art of the characters and the Orbital Laser Defense System, a storyboard of a in-game cutscene during Operation Bunker Shot, and the first teaser of "Moby Dick Pursuit II".

April

• 17 - Eurogamer leaks the "Mission Notice" trailer, later uploaded officially by Bandai Namco, showcasing regional release dates. Also shown are glimpses of "Moby Dick Pursuit II" and the mysterious ADFX-????.
• 22 - Ace Combat Infinity release dates officially announced.

May

• 19 - The ability to pre-register for the game in Japan ends. A new trailer is released that shows the first glimpse of Area B7R.
• 20 - Ace Combat Infinity releases in Japan.
• 27 - Ace Combat Infinity releases in North America.
• 28 - Ace Combat Infinity releases in Europe.

September

• 18 - The "Operation Future Prospect" trailer is released, showing glimpses of the ATD-0, "Operation Bunker Shot", "Moscow Battle", the Su-37 -Yellow13- , the X-02 Wyvern (in development with a Prototype skin), the YF-23 Black Widow II, the F-5E -Shin Kazama- , the A-10A -Greg Gates- , the F-14A -Mickey Simon- , the CFA-44 Nosferatu, the ADF-01 FALKEN, the R-101 Delphinus #1 (teased with Ace Combat 3 guidebook renders), "Satellite Interception I", and "Moby Dick Pursuit IV".
• 29 - Area 88 Collaboration Event is confirmed.
• 30 - Version 2.00 maintenance begins.

October

• 1 - Version 2.00 patch is released.
• 2 - Version 2.00 maintenance ends. Infinity is accessible for less than 30 minutes, but is shut down for emergency maintenance.

2015

December

• 17 - After Ace Combat 7's announcement at PlayStation Experience 2015 on December 5, Infinity releases an event with the logo, the International Space Elevator emblem, and Nugget as the astronaut.

2017

December

• 8 - Bandai Namco announces that Ace Combat Infinity service will end on March 31.

2018

March

• 31 - Ace Combat Infinity's service ends.