It was a sad day for PES fans, with the PES franchise axed, with a huge rebrand underway from Konami, renaming the series eFootball - and it becoming free to play.
Latest - eFootball FAQs
Ahead of another eFootball announcement coming later in August, Konami has taken to Twitter to answer some frequently asked questions around eFootball.
The main takeaways include tha tthe initial launch of the game in "early Autumn" will essentially be a demo, with Option Files also returning.
eFootball replaces PES 2022
eFootball is an all-new football simulation platform from the makers of PES and Winning Eleven.
It will be Free-to-play and completely rebuilt in Unreal Engine.
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.
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, taking a competitive share of the football game market by going free-to-play would be huge - but will it pay off?
Release Date
We don't yet have an official release date for eFootball - but we know it will arrive in early Autumn.
Judging from previous PES releases, we think the new free-to-play game is likely to arrive around Tuesday, 7 September.
For everything we know about eFootball's Release Date, head here.
eFootball Trailer
We have just got our first taste of the brand new game!
Check out the Official Reveal Trailer below.
It seems Konami are trying to improve the fundamentals of the game to try and create the greatest football head-to-head experience in gaming.
Cover Star
It looks like Lionel Messi will be the eFootball Cover Star - featuring on the first official image for the re-branded game.
click to enlarge
+ 7That said, just before the eFootball announcement - the official Twitter account, announced Neymar Jr has become the newest ambassador for the brand.
It therefore looks like Messi and Neymar will share the Cover Star honours.
Platforms
eFootball will be available worldwide first on PlayStation5, PlayStation4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows 10 and PC Steam.
click to enlarge + 7It will then become available on iOS and Android soon after.
Licences
PES fans will be now be wondering, will eFootball have the rights to the same clubs as PES?
Well, we think so.
With Konami recently adding Italian clubs Atalanta and Napoli to their roster, we shouldn't see too much change in the licenses.
Napoli & Atalanta join the franchise
Napoli became the first club to sign-on for PES 2022, in a licence agreement that will become exclusive from the 2022/23 season.
Konami has also signed a long-term, exclusive partnership agreement with Atalanta.
click to enlarge + 7This exclusive deal means that FIFA 22 will no longer include the official Atalanta team name, crest, kits and player names.
PES 2021 Licensed Clubs
Here's a selection of the licensed clubs that were on PES 2021:
- Juventus (Exclusive)
- AS Roma (Exclusive)
- Barcelona (Camp Nou Exclusive)
- Bayern Munich (Allianz Arena Exclusive)
- Arsenal
- Manchester United
- AS Monaco
- Bayer Leverkusen
- Schalke
- Lazio
click to enlarge + 7- Rangers
- Zenit St Petersburg
- Shakhtar Donetsk
- Corinthians
- Flamengo
- SC Internacional
- Santos
- Sao Paulo
- Boca Juniors
- River Plate
PES 2021 Licensed Leagues & Tournaments
Check out some of the tournaments that were available last year:
- UEFA EURO 2020
- Italian Serie A (Excluding AC Milan & Inter Milan)
- Italian Serie B (Excluding Brescia)
- French Ligue 1
- French Ligue 2
- Portuguese Liga NOS (Excluding CD Nacional)
- Turkish Super Lig
- Russian Premier Liga (Exclusive)
- Dutch Eredivisie
- Belgian Pro League
- Danish Superliga
- Scottish Premiership
- Swiss Super League
- Brazilian Brasilierao Assai 2020 (Excluding Palmeiras)
- Chinese Super League
- AFC Champions League
Unreal Engine
As you might know, Konami has chosen to switch engines in time for the arrival eFootball, moving to Epic's Unreal.
click to enlarge + 7In 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.
Master League
Despite all the changes and the game now being free to play, Master League will still be available.
However, the offline mode will NOT be free to play but can be bought as an optional DLC.
By the looks of the official Twitter page, the DLC may not be ready when the game is first released either.
We expect the Player Career "Become a Legend" will also become available in the DLC.
myClub
This is a bit of a tricky point for PES/eFootball, with the game struggling to compete with the dominance of FIFA Ultimate Team.
click to enlarge + 7The move to go free-to-play offers up the game to the masses - but it's worth pointing out this has been available on PES Lite in recent years, and hasn't been able to move the needle.
Mobile
We now know that a handheld version of eFootball will be available, shortly after the release of the game on major consoles.
click to enlarge + 7This means you can play the game on the go and never miss a thing, with cross-platform support to those on console.
We'll bring you more updates on the eFootball Mobile app once it drops.