Konami has made the bold switch away from the PES franchise and to a brand new game - eFootball!
So, how will this affect their number of users in relation to EA Sports' FIFA?
Check out what we think below.
Konami's all-new free to play game
Konami has today announced that the Pro Evolution Soccer series is no longer!
What was previously known as PES, will now be eFootball.
eFootball is an all-new football simulation platform from the makers of PES and Winning Eleven.
The brand new game will be completely free-to-play!
eFootball will be a rebuilt version of PES in Unreal Engine that will launch worldwide first on PlayStation5, PlayStation4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows 10 and PC Steam this Autumn, with iOS and Android to follow soon after.
eFootball represents a fresh approach for the long-running franchise, previously known as Pro Evolution Soccer.
It seems that Konami is trying to re-establish itself as a big name in gaming - but will it pay off?
Will the gamble pay off?
The move away from PES and to a free to a completely new eFootball game is a clear attempt to try and reclaim a competitive share of the football game market.
We think that this is potentially a brilliant move from Konami.
The fact that the game is free will mean huge numbers of gamers will download it and try it out, because, why not?
We've seen massive success with free to play games in recent years, with Fortnite pretty much pioneering the idea on a mass scale and the likes of Warzone and Fall Guys following suit.
The worry for die-hard PES fans is that the new game may lose its original identity along with some of their favourite features.
There has been no mention so far of Master League returning in eFootball, but PES fans can hope that the game mode will be made available via DLC.
eFootball could slash FIFA 22 users
With what we believe will be a huge rise in eFootball (or PES) users, we could see a big drop off in FIFA 22 numbers.
There's no doubt that a huge proportion of potential FIFA 22 users will give the free to play game a go, as they may as well - it's free after all!
A number of would-be FIFA 22 players could potentially enjoy eFootball to such a degree that they see no point in spending around £60 on a separate football game.
FIFA fans' frustrations have been well publicised in the past few years, with EA neglecting popular game modes such as Pro Clubs and Career Mode.
So, Konami's fresh free to play football sim could be an attractive option for fed up FIFA users, which will potentially see a vast number make the transition away from the EA Sports franchise.
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