Through a letter addressed to all fans of the Ace Combat series, the Franchise Director Kazutoki Kono announced today that the release of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown was officially moved to 2018 . The previous target was place by the end of 2017 but this, says Kono, would not reach the level of perfection that study everything expect for this title. Below is the letter from Kono, followed by a set of new screenshots of the game.

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Dear riders,

I took this opportunity to speak directly with you, our loyal fans of ACE COMBAT, and to give you a first-hand update on the launch of ACE COMBAT 7: SKIES UNKNOWN .

The team Project ACES and I worked hard on ACE COMBAT 7 and we are determined to get everything we imagined for this title. To achieve our vision, we then decided to move the launch of ACE COMBAT 7 to 2018.

We wanted to launch it at the end of 2017, as originally planned, but doing so would compromise our mission for the game. We take our job very seriously and that means choosing to devote additional time and effort to refine and optimize the new installment of ACE COMBAT.

The combination of Unreal Engine 4 and the power of the new generation of consoles and PCs have literally opened "heaven of opportunities" for us to develop the best ACE COMBAT ever. Over 20 year history ever these ACE COMBAT game technology has allowed us to work on a level of detail so thorough for air combat-like clouds and the air currents – or give players more ways to experience the dogfight and the fighting through new hardware like PlayStation VR.

We will have lots of information and details to share with you in the months to come, starting with 2017 E3 where we plan to unveil a brand new demo that will show, for the first time, not ACE COMBAT 7 VR missions!

From all the team Project ACES, I want to thank you for your patience and continued support.

Kazutoki Kono – ACE COMBAT Franchise Director