PES becomes eFootball and changes its business model

Many series have a new installment every year, sports games in particular, which mostly follow real-world seasons and competitions. This is the case of Konami's football series Pro Evolution Soccer, but it seems that after last year's installment, the company has decided to change its formula. 

We told you last month that Konami was holding a beta for what was thought to be PES 2022 or eFootball PES 2022, or at least the successor to eFootball PES 2021. "New Football Game Online Performance Test" was the name given to this beta, and even if it wasn't enough to reveal the name of the new game, everything in its content suggested that it was indeed the next installment in the series. It turns out that it is... but not quite.

Konami has announced that the series will no longer be called Pro Evolution Soccer, but simply eFootball, and that's not the only change to come. We have known for a few months already that this new game will run on a different engine, the Unreal Engine, and the rumor that has been circulating for a few weeks saying that it would be a free-to-play game turns out to be real.

"To ensure that all football fans can enjoy the ultimate head-to-head action, eFootball™ is available Free to Play on multiple devices! Furthermore, in the near future it will become completely cross-platform, allowing everyone to join the fun without being held back by their device of choice. eFootball will take eSports to the next level, becoming the ultimate football experience!"

Although there is no specific release date for eFootball, it will launch in early autumn on PC via Steam and Windows 10, Xbox and Playstation consoles, and then on Android and iOS. The presentation video and a roadmap detail the game's features, which include motion matching and the arrival of crossplay. 

eFootball, and this change in business model, have had a mixed reception from gamers, but it's not impossible that it could allow Konami to make a bigger name for itself by adopting a different approach to the genre than the FIFA series, its great rival for years. In any case, we should learn more in the coming months, including the release date of eFootball.