The very first eFootball title is arriving in just one week!
We can't wait to get stuck into Konami's new game, so, here's all the information you need to know about the Demo below, along with the latest eFootball news.
Latest - Will there be a hard copy?
At this current time, eFootball 2022 will be a digital-only product.
This means you won’t be able to get your hands on a physical copy of the game.
This might disappoint some of the more traditional gamers amongst you.
It's not completely out of the question, however, as Konami has stated that they will monitor the situation, so there is the potential for hard copies of the game in the future.
Demo at launch
In turns out that eFootball at launch will be a stripped-back version of the full game.
This was confirmed by Konami in an FAQ post on Monday, 2 August.
Local Matches against the CPU/AI have been confirmed, with Option Files also confirmed to be arriving in eFootball.
Check out all the details here.
eFootball Demo Release Date
An official release date has been set for Thursday, 30 September for the full eFootball 2022 game.
So, we could see a Demo arrive a couple of weeks earlier, perhaps on Thursday, 16 September.
Platforms
eFootball 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.
Teams
Konami's demos tend to be a lot more fleshed out than their EA counterparts - with 13 clubs, three stadiums, and four game modes available on PES 2020's demo.
Only a few clubs will arrive at eFootball's launch, with more being added afterwards.
PES 2020 Demo Teams
- Barcelona
- Manchester United
- Bayern Munich
- Juventus
- Arsenal
- Palmeiras
- Flamengo
- Sao Paulo
- Corinthinas
- Vasco da Gama
- Boca Juniors
- River Plate
- Colo-Colo
Expect eFootball exclusive clubs, Roma and Atalanta, to feature this time around, with Lazio ad Napoli in the frame too.
It would be great to see Old Firm rivals Celtic and Rangers, who are both eFootball partners, on the next demo too.
The stadiums available on the PES 2020 Demo were the Allianz Arena (Bayern Munich), Allianz Parque (Palmeiras) and the generic Neu Sonne Arena.
The Emirates (Arsenal), Old Trafford (Manchester United), Stadio Olimpico (Lazio & Roma) and Wembley Stadium (England) were all licenced on PES 2021, so it would be great to see them arrive on the eFootball Demo.
Of course, this all depends on whether Konami can pick up any new licences for eFootball, and keep hold of the clubs they are already partnered with.
Game Modes
Most demos just have one simple game mode, but Konami is likely to give us a fuller feel of the game - especially with the new game engine.
Local Match and Co-Op (or "kick-off" for FIFA players) are the standard modes where you can take on the AI or a friend offline.
We are also likely to see an online mode - probably "Quick Match" where you are assigned a random team and battle it out online.
Not only that, but we saw an Edit Mode on PES 2020's demo, where you could edit the look of the players and clubs that were available.
This only applied to PS4 and Steam players.
Unreal Engine
As you might know, Konami has chosen to switch engines in time for the arrival eFootball, moving to Epic's Unreal.
In an interview with Konami's Seitaro Kimura, producer on the eFootball series, he pointed to a few examples of how Unreal has already helped the development process.
One specific example is that with Unreal Engine, designers can take on various tasks without programmers’ help by using Blueprint.
By doing so, we believe that we can improve the production speed, improve the skills of individual designers, and receive many other benefits.
Graphics
Konami is preparing for life on next-generation consoles such as PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and have changed to a new 'Unreal Engine'.
And early images of the detailed graphics, created by an independent artist using the all-new engine, look very promising.
Fans can't get over how realistic the pair look in these images!