Remember last month’s ‘New Football Game Online Performance Test’ Konami quietly pushed to consoles? Many suspected it was a beta run for PES 2022. Today, Konami announced it was much more, unveiling not just a new free-to-play game in the storied PES series, but a brand new, if somewhat uninspired, name, eFootball.
Penciled in for release this Autumn on PC, consoles, and mobile, eFootball represents a major shift for the series, built from the ground up in Unreal Engine. eFootball comes with a new visual identity and sees Konami turn to rolling content updates for the new digital-only footy sim rather than the traditional yearly updates.
While today’s reveal lacked any substantial gameplay other than few fleeting seconds in the trailer below, Konami made a point of highlighting what it calls its new Motion Matching technology, designed to bring to life the thrill and complexity of one on ones. The eFootball tech promises to convert ‘the vast range of movements that players make on the pitch into a series of animations, selecting the most accurate one in real-time,’ with four times as many animations compared to previous PES entries.
eFootball Roadmap
While PES 2022’s – sorry eFootball – pivot to free-to-play means players can play local matches starring fan-favorite clubs such as Barcelona, Arsenal, Manchester United, Juventus, and Bayern Munich, in cross-generation console play at launch, Konami plans to release a slew of new modes and content moving forward.
These include online leagues, a Team Building Mode, a Match Pass System (presumably a stylized Battle Pass), cross-platform play between all platforms, mobile controller support, and eSports tournaments. The developer did note plans to assign a price tag to some future game modes, sold as optional DLC, allowing players to pick and choose as they see fit based on their interests (and wallets).
eFootball releases this Autumn as a digital-only title on PC via Steam and the Windows Store, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, iOS, and Android.
