Konami has officially renamed its popular football franchise — Pro Evolution Soccer (PES)– to eFootball. The company is also going a step further and adopting a new strategy to gain an upper hand against its biggest rival by going completely digital and free-to-play.across the platforms.
Renaming isn’t the only thing that is part of the major overhaul of the PES franchise. Konami has practically rebuilt the game. The developer has also ditched its Fox engine for a custom-built engine based on Unreal engine 4. The same engine will power the game across all platforms including mobile, PC and console.
The new engine has also allowed Konami to add a new motion matching animation feature to the game. According to the developer, this will allow them to put four times more animations compared to earlier versions of the game.
The developer is planning for an autumn release for the game. It will be available on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows 10 and Steam. The Android and iOS versions will follow soon. According to a report by IGN, Konami hasn’t said anything about the mobile version launch.
“eFootball is aiming to take a ‘platform’ approach with regular updates – there will no longer be annual paid releases of eFootball, but the platform will get free, yearly updates for new seasons”, eFootball series producer Seitaro Kimura told IGN.
eFootball will also come with cross-generation play in addition to cross-platform support. Android and iOS versions will feature controller support and it will be required for cross-platform matches.
Konami has also dropped the roadmap for the game. The game will offer local matches featuring FC Barcelona, Juventus, FC Bayern, Manchester United, and other teams and cross-generation support at the launch.
Renaming isn’t the only thing that is part of the major overhaul of the PES franchise. Konami has practically rebuilt the game. The developer has also ditched its Fox engine for a custom-built engine based on Unreal engine 4. The same engine will power the game across all platforms including mobile, PC and console.
The new engine has also allowed Konami to add a new motion matching animation feature to the game. According to the developer, this will allow them to put four times more animations compared to earlier versions of the game.
The developer is planning for an autumn release for the game. It will be available on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows 10 and Steam. The Android and iOS versions will follow soon. According to a report by IGN, Konami hasn’t said anything about the mobile version launch.
“eFootball is aiming to take a ‘platform’ approach with regular updates – there will no longer be annual paid releases of eFootball, but the platform will get free, yearly updates for new seasons”, eFootball series producer Seitaro Kimura told IGN.
eFootball will also come with cross-generation play in addition to cross-platform support. Android and iOS versions will feature controller support and it will be required for cross-platform matches.
Konami has also dropped the roadmap for the game. The game will offer local matches featuring FC Barcelona, Juventus, FC Bayern, Manchester United, and other teams and cross-generation support at the launch.
It will be then followed by Online Leagues, Team building mode, Match pass system and cross-platform matches between PC and consoles.
In the final stage, the game will feature complete cross-platform support across all the platforms including mobile, eSport tournament and mobile controller support.
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