It's official, the next FIFAe World Cup will be played in eFootball, Konami's free-to-play football game, which replaced the historic Pro Evolution Soccer franchise in 2019.
Konami and FIFA have partnered to organize the FIFAe World Cup 2024, where players from 18 countries will battle each other to be crowned the best player in the world. The tournament will have mobile and console categories, and its qualifiers have already started.
Let's find out everything about this surprising partnership.
Konami and FIFA Join Forces to Present the Biggest Esports Football Tournament
In what may be a surprising partnership for many, Konami and FIFA have joined forces to organize the FIFAe World Cup 2024.
Previous editions of the event were organized by EA Sports and FIFA, with the tournament being played on the EA Sports flagship title, FIFA, now called EA FC.
However, after their break up in 2022, FIFA needed to find a new partner, but fans didn't expect it to be Konami. Infantino had sworn to bring the battle to EA Sports, and this is certainly one way to do it.
“We are developing new partners and a new game which, obviously as everything we do, will be the best. So get ready for the new FIFA game".
While the FIFA president made it clear they were "developing new partnerships", fans weren't thinking a partnership with long-time rivals Konami was on the cards.
But Konami is more than happy with this partnership, with Senior Executive Officer, Koji Kobayashi, saying the following about it:
"At KONAMI, we have continued to take on challenges in the development of football simulation and esports. We are very pleased to be able to contribute to the promotion of eFootball™ in a new dimension through this collaboration with FIFAe."
According to both parties, the main goal is to "promote football globally and to provide a platform for players to showcase their skills", which the FIFAe World Cup 2024 certainly does.
However, it's impossible to not speculate if this isn't just the beginning of a strong relationship between Konami and FIFA, that can lead to the Japanese publisher becoming the chosen one to carry the FIFA name,
After all, Infantino said the plans were to develop a new e-game and Konami has a lot of experience when it comes to developing football games that can reach a worldwide audience.