Atomic bomb for football fans: Konami has officially renamed the Pro Evolution Soccer series to eFootball (news circulated in recent weeks), and will become a digital-only, free-to-play game coming to PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One and PC this fall - with iOS and Android versions to follow (Konami declined to comment on any potential Nintendo Switch versions).
By this winter, all versions of the game will feature cross-play, although mobile gamers will need to use controllers to play against console and PC gamers.
The impression is that of one extraordinary strategic move for the football series (now called eFootball globally, ditching the PES denominations in the West and Winning Eleven in Japan), coupled with a switch from Konami's FOX Engine to a new custom engine built with Unreal 4. Basically, it looks like the game will move closer to the Fortnite model, with a single version for all devices. Presumably it means that PES Mobile, which has been very successful, will also be phased out or replaced.
Series producer Seitaro Kimura explained that eFootball aims to take a 'platform' approach with regular updates - There will be no more annual paid versions of eFootball, but the platform will have free annual updates for the new seasons. AndFootball will be launched with exhibition matches and apparently a selection of 9 clubs to play with (see the roadmap below for the full list). It will later support other modes such as optional DLC, apparently allowing players to pay for what they want from their game.
No mention has yet been made of MyClub, the equivalent of PES to FIFA Ultimate Team, or Master League, the long-running career mode of the series. - although it seems likely that the first will be represented by an unnamed "Team Building mode" coming after release.
It is not yet clear to us how the new teams will be added to the game, and how the monetization of eFootball will not be disclosed until a later date. However, Konami says the game is designed to be "fair and balanced" for all players, despite its transition to a free-to-play model - which will apparently also include Battle Pass-like mechanics called Match Pass.
eFootball will be launched as a lean experience, with more modes, teams, platforms and cross-play options added over the course of the year. This is Konami's current roadmap:
Switching to a new engine also allowed eFootball to add a new Motion Matching animation system, which according to Konami allows you to have animations four times better than previous PES games. It sounds no different from the HyperMotion animation system just announced by FIFA, but Konami points out that Motion Matching will be applied to all versions of the game, even on mobile.
Konami says it will announce more about eFootball gameplay and online modes in late August (which would place it around the Gamescom 2021 period).
Now, it is difficult to predict the development and fortune of such a thing, but the embrace of this new philosophy by a series-symbol it could undermine what is an extremely consolidated annual editorial process. It will be fun to see the consequences, no doubt.
