eFootball 2022 finally launched today, quickly amassing over 3,000 reviews on Steam deemed overwhelmingly negative. This was a critical launch for Konami. eFootball 2022 represents their attempt at transforming the PES license – molding it using a live service, free-to-play model. Instead of releasing a new game every year, the publisher wanted to have a free base game with seasonal updates, and semi-regular content additions over time. Therefore, it isn’t too surprising that eFootball would at least be a tad barebones compared to a regular, yearly sports simulation entry. What players didn’t expect, however, was the number of issues the game would have at launch… Even if it’s a free game.
As of the time of writing, the game’s Steam store page holds 3,209 reviews. It’s a dire sign when a game has got such a large sample size of overwhelmingly negative reviews on its launch date.
Players haven’t held back in their criticism of the game. One of the top reviews reads that “the ball weighs 100kg” and that there are player collision issues as well. Another review mentions that the resolution options do not go above 900p, making the game feel like a cheap mobile port. The fact that PES enthusiasts have waited two years without any release whatsoever for this likely influences a lot of the negativity.
Players have also vented their frustrations on Twitter, with some of the posts being borderline comical. Many of the Tweets show examples of janky, unpolished facial animations.
Messi & Ronaldo in eFootball, They look drunk? #eFootball2022 pic.twitter.com/BmlNQGYOPF
— LT The Noob Master?? (@Levy_T_) September 30, 2021
Some others also showcase collision-related problems.
Credits to Spoony Pizzas for capturing this garbage @play_eFootball #eFootball2022 pic.twitter.com/IEYNWtNzgO
— NeodymiumTITAN (@Saagar_Bhargav) September 30, 2021
eFootball Negative Steam Reviews: How Will Konami Respond?
Only a handful of reviews on Steam were willing to give Konami the benefit of the doubt. After all, the developers did make it clear that the game would lack systems on release. It was also already announced that content would be added on a seasonal basis.
However, the biggest gripes seem to come from the basics of the game, and not just only from the lack of playable teams or modes. Problems surrounding player models, game pace, and collisions reflect issues with the game’s core. It’ll take a lot more than regular content updates to fix these kinds of missteps.
It remains to be seen whether Konami will be able to regain the trust of its player base. However, with such a disastrous launch a mere day before FIFA 22‘s official release date, EA will be seen as the biggest winner of this whole affair.
