Konami's PES is now 'eFootball,' a mobile-quality game for all platforms

[Cal Jeffrey]

Facepalm: Fans of Konami's PES are not too happy with the direction the game is taking. Aside from Konami changing the branding, the FIFA competitor is becoming free-to-play, branching out to mobile devices, and turning core game elements into optional premium DLC. All this while also giving next-gen console and PC players mobile-level graphics and animation.

Komani is retiring its long-running Pro Evolution Soccer brand (aka PES) in favor of the more plainly named eFootball. According to the game's website, Konami has been working on creating "the perfect soccer environment."

Apparently, the "perfect" soccer environment means dumbing down the graphical fidelity, slinging the game to mobile devices, and making it free-to-play (as long as you are okay with microtransactions for core content). You can see for yourself in the official reveal trailer below.

The game maker says it created a new soccer engine from scratch with a new animation system bringing the player's movements, the crowd in the stadium, and even the grass on the field to life.

"The final result was even more impressive than we had originally conceived," said Konami. "We went beyond the border of PES, into a new realm of virtual soccer. To signal this new era, we have decided to part ways with our beloved PES brand and rename it 'eFootball!'"

Not happy that Master League has been relegated to "will be sold in the future as optional DLC". When eFootball releases, I want ML to be available day one. That's all I play PES for. I don't care if I have to pay, just give it to me day one. This is BS if I have to wait for it.

— David Cameron (@GamerBhoy89) July 22, 2021

The main mode of the game has just became an "Optional DLC".

— TheKingOfPES (@TheKingOfPES) July 22, 2021

The game will have cross-platform play no matter what system you are playing it on, which is a plus. However, PES fans are not too happy with the changes Konami has made. Some are angry that aspects of the core game are being peeled off and sold separately as premium DLC, which will not even be available on release. Others are upset that the graphics and animation reflect the power of mobile devices rather than that of next-gen consoles and PCs.

Fix your bad graphics and gameplay 😂😂😂 first we want power next generation game not mobile version 😡😡😡😡😡 pic.twitter.com/0frxMZHVSi

— lifa (@SpriSaper) July 22, 2021

waiting only to play it with the mobile game graphics, on a PS5 🤭 pic.twitter.com/mb9WAQXM1y

— aianneyz 📌 (@Aianneyz) July 22, 2021

Regardless of what the complaint is, Konami is certainly getting an earful from Twitter. The game is set to launch this fall. Whether that is enough time to sculpt the game to its fanbase's liking is doubtful. The only thing for sure is that PES is no more and eFootball is its replacement. Well, and that its primary competitor, EA's FIFA team, is probably thrilled with the new changes.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/90527-konami-pes-now-efootball-mobile-quality-game-all.html

 

[Puiu]

That youtube video clearly used bots to get early upvotes.

 

[Geralt]

Sad. Goodbye PES, because I don't agree with the free-to-play marketing and its micro transactions... Never.

 

[Bl00dyMinded]

I guess EA wins after all.

 

[Dimitriid]

Konami as a case study for the videogame industry is very interesting: Everybody loves to just absolutely pile on them but honestly, if you're on the executive level of a videogame company, you'd probably look up to them: things like these announcements for them are probably great innovations.

Fundamental problem is pretty simple actually: gaming nerds hate Konami for being very open about not caring at all for their properties and what they do with them. Truth is the "AAA" games industry are *ALL* like these: just businessmen wanting to make money. If they can take 10 dollars from Nerds that demand very high quality games or they can take 100 dollars from some unsupervised kid with an iphone guess what? They'll chose the mobile game, 10 times out of 10.

Say what you will about Konami but EA, Ubisoft, Acti-Blizzard, Bethesda, Epic: they're all the same. They're all looking to make big bucks out of mobile gaming and will eventually just leave all the great franchises you love abandoned to rot and not lose any sleep over the billions they're making by exploiting children and teens through gambling mechanics.

 

[Puiu]

Konami as a case study for the videogame industry is very interesting: Everybody loves to just absolutely pile on them but honestly, if you're on the executive level of a videogame company, you'd probably look up to them: things like these announcements for them are probably great innovations.

Fundamental problem is pretty simple actually: gaming nerds hate Konami for being very open about not caring at all for their properties and what they do with them. Truth is the "AAA" games industry are *ALL* like these: just businessmen wanting to make money. If they can take 10 dollars from Nerds that demand very high quality games or they can take 100 dollars from some unsupervised kid with an iphone guess what? They'll chose the mobile game, 10 times out of 10.

Say what you will about Konami but EA, Ubisoft, Acti-Blizzard, Bethesda, Epic: they're all the same. They're all looking to make big bucks out of mobile gaming and will eventually just leave all the great franchises you love abandoned to rot and not lose any sleep over the billions they're making by exploiting children and teens through gambling mechanics.

Nobody said that many others aren't the same, I personally hate them all equally.

But let's face it, Konami deserves the hate they are getting. They've managed alienated their entire previous fanbase, fans which were very loyal. Kinda like what Blizzard is doing right now.

 

[Aceseven]

I mean if I led konami why not do this?

sure I could pour in tons of dollars to compete against fifa but why, fifa blows and makes its money off of snatching cash from dummies, why not go the same route? sure us few may gripe but the gamer monster as a whole will just "ooooh free soccer game" and probably justify konami in the end.

because isn't that always the case, game goes free to play or comes out as free to play and gets all the money ever, konami didnt do this just to do it, they did it cause there is a mountain of proof that it'll probably pay off in spades for them.

 

[Xex360]

This should be the norm for sports games, you play for free exhibition matches, and if you're interested by championships or career mode then you buy a dlc.

 

[Luay]

Konami is tackling a whole other issue that no one mentions. PES is probably the most pirated game in video games history and they just solved the problem. My optimistic guess is that once they secure their financing and their income increases, they will pour that money into bigger concepts such as unlimited animations using AI to move the player bodies while manipulating the ball, or high end graphics for the latest and most powerful vga cards.

 

[Nobina]

I don't know why people settle for dogshit like this.

 

[McMurdeR]

Sad thing is they'll probably make a killing. Fact of the matter is all big franchises are destined for mobile bottom-of-the-barrell once the money men get their hands on them.

Hopefully it will leave space for a competitor in the console/pc market.

 

[yukka]

No problem with a football game having a monthly or yearly sub structure or f2p with additional purchases - afterall I do buy fifa every year and get it to have all the newest squads. I enjoy it and find value in it. Head to head games are great, the same sort of thrill as the brawlers in the arcades used to have.

But dont' release a version that works on everything so you can crossplay mobile and next gen console. Thats pretty out there.