Each fall, the competitors in the sports genre come out with their latest creations to amaze their fans once again. The sequels usually include the following year in their name which has been the case for Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) for a long time.
PES has been the main competitor of FIFA for so long and the game has improved significantly over the years. Despite all the additions and unique elements, PES still found itself one step behind FIFA in terms of popularity. It looks like Konami is changing its fighting style, but since PES is now rebranded to eFootball and it’ll be a free-to-play (F2P) game.
Aside from going F2P, eFootball will be using a different game engine, Unreal Engine 4. EFootball is looking to be more accessible than FIFA and its wide range of available platforms support that. EFootball will be available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam for PC players.
While the game will be mechanically ready for its launch in autumn, Konami also released a roadmap that showcases all the additional features that the players will be looking forward to after the release. Shortly after the game goes live, Online Leagues and the Team Building mode will become available, increasing the level of competition in the game.
Cross-platform matches will also be added to the game around late autumn and toward the beginning of winter. Esports tournaments will also start taking place around winter, so it may be a decent idea to start training as soon as the game goes live.
Considering eFootball is F2P, players will be welcomed with some of the common monetization models for such games. Konami is looking to add a Match Pass system, which is essentially a Battle Pass that has risen to popularity in games like Fortnite and Call of Duty. Though there haven’t been many statements regarding the game’s business model, it wouldn’t be surprising to see cosmetic items at the center of the game’s monetization system.
