Konami has revealed that it is renaming its famous football franchise, abandoning the PES title and adopting eFootball as its official name in the future. As part of the announcement, the publisher also confirmed that the series would be free on all platforms.
The move was unveiled in a press release and an official reveal trailer for the game, which showcased some of the revamped visuals created in the Unreal Engine, as well as the movement’s matching. This is a piece of technology that “converts the vast range of movements that players make on the pitch into a series of animations, selecting the most accurate in real time.”
According to Konami, eFootball will launch this fall on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X | S, with versions for Android and iOS coming later. The game will also support multi-generational play while cross-platform play will be added at a future date.
As part of the free-to-play model, eFootball will give players access to a select number of teams, such as Manchester United and FC Barcelona, which can be used in local matches. It will be possible to buy other modalities and clubs.
It seems Konami is moving away from the annual releases and now moving to a services-based approach that sees eFootball updated regularly over time. This will make it very different from its main competitor in the form of EA’s FIFA series.
“Starting with the solid foundation of Unreal Engine, which allowed us to massively change the expression of players, we have made a number of changes to virtually create a new football engine that will power eFootball for years to come.” series producer Seitaro Kimura said in the press release.
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