The classic football video game has had a complete makeover, even ditching its historic title in order to win back fans from FIFA.
For years, PES and FIFA competed shoulder to shoulder among football followers around the world to be the ultimate soccer simulation game, just as intensely as Real Madrid and Barcelona do on the pitch. But as FIFA has now built a commanding lead, PES had been reinvented: starting with the name, which from now will be eFootball.
While the adoption of the European name of the sport in place of the Americanized, almost cyborg-like name Pro Evolution Soccer, is surely to be welcomed, it accompanies a host of other changes which might be a little more divisive among sports video game fans.
Most notably, the game will become digital-only, cross-platform and free-to-play, joining the growing trend that has followed the rampant success of titles such as Fortnite.
The free yearly updates are certainly a welcome change compared to splashing out on a whole new game just to get updated team line-ups and a slight graphics makeover, but the catch is that seemingly only 9 teams will be playable, namely: Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Arsenal, Juventus, Corinthians, Boca Juniors, Sao Paulo, and River Plate.
eFootball will be available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PC. Later it will also be available on Android and iOS mobile platforms, but there’s no word yet on whether it will reach the Nintendo Switch.
Developer Konami has released a roadmap detailing the forthcoming stages of the video game’s release, which seems scheduled for early autumn this year while progressive changes will be made to the all-new platform through the rest of the year:
Image Credit: Konami
Do you think these changes will be enough for eFootball to knock FIFA off its pedestal? Let us know what you think in the poll below:
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