No game is worth preordering. Especialy in times of digital distribution!

Is there a notable preorder discount?

If no, then don't.

The only case would be if you know you're going to buy it anyway, even if its bad (just to support the franchise or something like that), and if there's a preorder discount. Otherwise there's no logical reason to preorder.

Digital distribution of games means that no game should be preordered. Ever.

Back in the day, a preorder was done to get the physical media (cartridge, disk, CD) in your hands on release day. The premium was either paying for early shipment, or ensuring a copy was reserved so that you could pick it up on release day.

Then digital distribution meant that you could buy a game and be playing it in minutes. When there is no physical media, there is no need to reserve anything.

The industry responded by turning preorders into bonuses. But almost universally, these bonuses are not worth the premium. They tend to be a single mission, or some custom skins, or other items that were relatively cheap to produce and that serve only to justify charging more for a "preorder" on a product which is distributed digitally.

So:

Is Ace Combat 8 (Deluxe) worth pre-ordering for ¥11,990?

Negative. And neither is any modern game. If you want to play a game, wait until it releases and buy it.

Let the concept of preordering die.

No game is ever worth preordering.

As an Ace Combat fan, don't buy anything other than the base game.

• They're playing Edition Roulette with a bunch of different bundles hoping to confuse consumers.
• They're including a mouse pad in some of the bundles. A mouse pad... for a flight simulator.
• The soundtrack on vinyl is great if you're a vinyl collector, but there will almost certainly be other ways to buy the OST after launch, and without all the other preorder gimmicks.
• Multiplayer bonuses for pre-ordering are literally paying for power. Don't support Namco's endeavor to turn this game into another toxic competitive online game.

The only pre-order benefit that I think is remotely worth it is Ace Combat Zero on PC. But there's huge caveats for that too.

• If you have a PC capable of running AC8, it is more than capable of playing AC0 on emulator.
• it's a straight port of the game from the PS2, so no new high definition assets, but...
• The Pixy cutscene looks like a bad AI upscale job. Look at his chin stubble in the trailer and you'll see what I mean, it looks like broken glass.

I'm excited for the game too, but I have reasons to be cautious.

in general, don’t pre-order stuff. wait till it’s out and then judge wether you think it’s worth it.

especially a digital game. pre-ordering a physical product can make sense if you’re afraid it’s gonna be out of stock, that’s not a concern with digital games. please don’t pre-order.

Pre-ordering digitally available games only helps publishers with their financial forecasting. The best case pre-order scenario for a consumer is "early access" by a few days, but that isn't benefiting the user as they run without day-1 patches and the whole concept isn't meant to help pre-order players just penalize non-pre-order players.

I can tell you Ace 7 goes on sale for like $6 all the time. Check isthereanydeal.com

This is on PC of course.

Nope

Game isn't out yet, so how do we judge if the game is worth the price? Also never pre-order any game, especially if its digital. Why not wait until launch? Then you can watch reviews or read opinions and then decide if the game might be worth it? Also on Steam you can play the game up to 2 hours and have a time frame of 2 weeks to refund, if you don't like the game (just don't refund too often like that, as they don't want you to abuse the service).

In general, pre order hardware and not software, but if you're excited for the game though then go for it :)

I don’t think anyone can give you an answer yet since the game has not officially released so no one has played to say whether it’s a good game or not, let alone if it’s worth the price they want.