Konami’s PES name is no more. Instead, it’s been rebranded as eFootball 2022, and players will be able to experience the series’ new direction later this month. eFootball 2022 is set to launch on September 30 (just a few days before FIFA 22) and is shaking things up in more ways than just a new name.
eFootball 2022 is making the intriguing choice to switch to a free-to-play model. This means players can engage with the game across multiple devices without buying the game more than once. That fits in perfectly with the fact that Konami’s football sim supports cross-platform play, something EA’s FIFA series has yet to add. This shift to free-to-play doesn’t come without a few concessions, though.
Most notably, the game will only ship with a few of the final product’s intended features ready to go. Players will only be able to play exhibition matches in September, with other modes not coming until later this year. That means players won’t be able to jump into Konami’s version of Ultimate Team from day one. Additionally, the game will only have cross-generation matches at launch. Cross-platform will come with the Ultimate Team-like update.
That could be a tough sell for a crowd used to having everything drop at once with FIFA. However, with eFootball 2022 being free to play, it might help development for the game to start out a bit more nimble. That could allow the developers to construct features around what players ask instead of guessing during a yearly development cycle.
Fortunately, we only have to wait until September 30 to try out Konami’s new football experiment on Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
