The latest eFootball information comes courtesy of Senior Producer Seitaro Kimura as he sits down with TechRadar’s Adam Vjestica to go over all things eFootball, including the next-gen visual upgrades.

Graphics

“Expect to see major visual enhancements on PS5 and Xbox Series X” but confirmed that “there is no 120Hz support on console.”

After seeing the Unreal hype trailer, expectations centered around graphics were raised. Promising better detail and improved textures among other things, eFootball looked like it was heading into next gen with some momentum. Our expectations abruptly U-turned once we set our eyes on the reveal trailer because the graphics looked to be noticeably scaled down and just downright ugly.

Stills, especially when shown in video games, are often enhanced and rarely reflect what we actually see during gameplay. However, the little gameplay action we saw looked just as bad in motion as it did when at a standstill. Also of note is that eFootball won’t be available in 120Hz, a major selling point of the next-gen consoles. Without getting into the weeds, there’s a good article on TechRadar that covers the basics of refresh rates and frames per second, as well as this cool little test here. It’s unknown at this time what FIFA 22 will offer in terms of these visual enhancements, but the overall trend towards 120Hz and 60 fps is something the community wants and expects given the power of consoles and high-end gaming PCs.

The Future Of Live Update

If you’re not familiar with Live Update, it’s generally just Konami’s weekly data update service. Using match data from the prior weekend, Konami adjusts everything from form to ratings to offer online players and those who start their Master Leagues a chance at playing with updated players. It’s one of the few online areas that Konami has done a good job with over the years, perhaps to keep pace with FIFA‘s ultra popular Ultimate Team. Well it looks like Live Update will be back with eFootball:

“We will also continue to offer Live Update, a free data update service, so each team’s transfers and squad changes will be updated weekly,” says Kimura-san. 

Live Update is a cornerstone for the competitive PES players out there. It influences not only team selection but also player selection within various teams. Its inclusion in eFootball is vital, especially if the idea is to connect a multitude of players across the various devices eFootball will be available on.

Match Pass System

In a nutshell, a Match Pass system is a system where the player receives benefits stemming from matches played. It’s more instant reward than lottery, and from the looks of the screenshot above taken from the eFootball Roadmap, it looks like players will be available to unlock, and coins will be included to purchase other incentives such as boots, balls, and so on. While modes like Master League and MyClub will probably come at a cost, the Match Pass system will feature both free and paid content:

“Both free and paid passes will be available,” says Kimura-san. “Paid elements will include individual players for our new Team Building Mode, the aforementioned Match Passes, and we plan to sell additional modes in the future.”

This is a good sign in today’s “pay to win” climate where secondary black markets reign supreme. As always, there has to be a balance and that’s something that Konami has clarified:

“We are focusing on making sure that all players can enjoy a fair game, so the game specifications will not be a ‘Pay to Win’ system where paid elements will determine who wins or loses in a match.”

Mobile Connections

As Konami strives for full cross-play, one of the areas of concern stemmed around internet connections. While most consoles are either hardwired or use in-home WiFi, mobile gamers are often at the mercy of those pesky little bars at the top of your phone when you’re out and about. This brings about questions such as “how will my experience be affected if I’m playing someone who’s on their phone?”

“Yes, it is possible to play online using 4G or 5G connection,” Kimura-san explains. “We are developing and adjusting so that differences in communication quality depending on the environment you are playing in will have as little impact on gameplay as possible.”

That’s refreshing information, but I still suspect that most players will use the matchmaking filter to limit their choices to like-devices.

Motion Matching

“In addition, realistic gameplay requires both varied animations and high responsiveness. To achieve this, we built a completely new animation system, including technology we call ‘Motion Matching’. You can enjoy the delicate touch of the ball, feinting to deceive your opponent, defending with your body, or blocking a shot at the last second.”

So you’re going to just casually mention that you have a completely new animation system called “Motion Matching”? OK, now we’re talking! I’ve made no attempts to hide my affinity for PES‘ animations. They’re not perfect, but apart from skill moves, they animate at realistic speeds and look realistic at times. They take into account ball physics, body position, as well as other variables. While FIFA has more animations, even more now with HyperMotion being added to FIFA 22, they often don’t look realistic — and more worrisome, they sacrifice physics in favor of responsiveness.

Here’s where Konami touts their two Barcelona-based ambassadors, Pique and Iniesta, to help nail the new animation system:

 “In order to understand how the best players in the world play, we brought in [Andreas] Iniesta and [Gerard] Piqué as our gameplay advisors and asked them for their advice.”

Moving to new animation systems is always tricky, especially when it incorporates the demands of new systems and a new game engine. Perhaps this is one reason that eFootball will adopt a new control scheme, although the realist in me thinks it’s just a way to bridge the gap of familiarity with the FIFA players they’re looking to attract:

“Also, instead of having more complicated controls, the game is more intuitive and allows players to focus on the gameplay against their opponents, so we believe that people who have enjoyed the PES series in the past will be able to get used to it and enjoy playing against each other.”

Complexity within video games is a growing concern. Games like NBA 2K and MLB The Show, the two benchmarks for sports games these days, are often criticized for having overly complex control schemes that can deter some who haven’t played a video game in some time but are intrigued by the reviews and graphical enhancements that have come with more powerful consoles. I’ve grown quite fond of PES‘ double-tap sprint button, but as someone who plays both FIFA and PES, the switch between games can take a few moments for me to adjust. Hopefully, this is the only major control scheme change we’ll see, especially as Konami has committed to adding controller support to mobile devices in the near future.

Bottom Line

Another day, another piece of eFootball info from someone not named Konami. I’m not a betting man, but if I were, I would wager that we’ll see more of these types of “leaks” as opposed to anything directly from Konami, at least until Gamescom, which is rapidly approaching. This information is encouraging as the optimists out there aren’t quite ready to stick a fork in PES. For now, all we can do is stand ready at the buffet with our plates and hope that Konami serves us a nice heaping of eFootball information come late August.