In news that comes as a surprise to anyone who has been following eFootball 2022, Konami and the United States Soccer League (USL) have inked a multi-year partnership. Raise your hand if you saw this one coming. With its less than ideal release, eFootball 2022, which is virtually a playable demo at this stage, has added the second tier of American soccer:

“We’re proud to join forces with the USL as part of our strategic effort to capitalize on the surge in popularity of soccer in the United States,” said Yuta Kose, President, Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. “USL has played a pivotal role in the growth of U.S. soccer over the past several decades, and we look forward to building our collective reach in North America while delivering a comprehensive USL experience to eFootball all over the world.”

For those not familiar with the USL, it’s currently the second tier in the US soccer hierarchy. Unlike its counterparts from across the pond, there is no promotion/relegation in the United States. Several USL clubs have folded over the years while a few have taken advantage of Major League Soccer’s expansion to ply their trade in the MLS.

“Today is a huge day for the USL, our clubs, and our fans,” said USL Executive Vice-President, Court Jeske. “For nearly 30 years, soccer video games have been a part of fan culture across the globe. Konami has a rich history in producing some of the most popular and successful games in the industry, while also engaging with the next generation of fans. This partnership is timed perfectly with the evolution of USL. We’re excited for our fans to download the game and have the opportunity to play as their favorite USL club, and fans from around the world to be introduced to our league through eFootball.”

Will We See The USL In eFootball 2022?

At some point, we should see the USL in eFootball 2022 per the official news release that can be found here. This marks the first time that there are plans for the USL to be included in a soccer game. What’s unknown at this point is whether or not the MLS will be included in eFootball 2022. EA Sports currently hold the rights to the MLS, with the contract being renewed back in 2016. While there is still a lot of work to be done in FIFA for an authentic MLS experience, having a second-tier league without its big brother is a bit strange. In addition, if you remember back to last summer, Konami signed another deal with the Major League Soccer Players Association (MLSPA).

Spring of 2022 is the rumored date that has been floating around in regards to when we could see the USL in all its glory but realistically, given the setbacks and challenges Konami has faced (or self-inflicted if you’re so inclined) along the way, I wouldn’t exactly hold my breath.

Nearly every step of the way eFootball 2022 has stumbled, unable to find its footing despite taking a year off to prepare for this. Deviations from the “roadmap” and promises to update the product have been about the only feedback we’ve seen from Konami to this point, so it begs the question as to why clubs and/or organizations want to partner with what seems like a sinking ship.

Perhaps in this case, the USL is just eager for representation, perhaps playing into the old media adage that “all press is good press.” Regardless, it’s good to see American soccer get some love even if there’s no timetable for when we’ll actually see the USL in eFootball 2022.

Latest On eFootball 2022

Speaking of eFootball 2022, Konami is back again with an apology for the issues presented with the launch back in August/September:

[In-Game Events for eFootball PES 2021 SEASON UPDATE (Console)]📢

Thank you for playing eFootball PES 2021 SEASON UPDATE and eFootball™ 2022. We would like to apologise once again for the issues found in eFootball™ 2022 and the postponement of the release of v1.0.0.

— eFootball (@play_eFootball) November 26, 2021

As the thread goes, Konami is issuing in-game coins as an incentive to those who complete certain in-game tasks such as the tutorial. This is also marking the return, even it’s from a brief hiatus, of Matchday events and the like. What’s interesting about this particular communication from Konami was this tweet:

On a side note, we did consider the option of updating the license data of eFootball PES 2021 and continue its service for an extended period. However, unfortunately there were too many technical issues that could not be overcome, so we were forced to discard this option.

— eFootball (@play_eFootball) November 26, 2021

One of the suggestions from the larger PES community was that perhaps Konami should just do another roster update of eFootball PES 2021 Season Update for the 2021/22 season. Transfers, updated kits, and the like would have gone a long way towards rebuilding the trust we once had in Konami. This approach would have required significant time to implement, but on the flip side, could have scared off players who would have played the older game instead of eFootball 2022 — for which they are probably counting on downloads as a way to sell advertising space.

I’d personally love to hear how much support this approach was given considering Konami will be removing PES 2021 Season Update from the Steam catalog in early December. This move isn’t as devious as it seems on the surface given the past games have all been pulled from Steam nearly a year or so after an initial release, but it also conflicts with Konami actually updating the .exe file for eFootball PES 2021 Season Update in order to resolve “stability issues.”

This .exe update did conflict with many PC mods, which furthered speculation that this was a calculated move to drive folks away from PES 2021 and to eFootball 2022. Rumor and speculation is never far away from PES, but Konami has done little both historically and in the present in terms of good PR to get out in front of its products.

Bottom Line

As we edge closer to the end of 2021, the pressure for Konami to deliver on its Spring 2022 “major update” to eFootball 2022 is large. Failing to deliver on the back of taking a year off to ease the transition to both a new engine (Unreal) and hardware, Konami must come through and entice those folks who were left with a sour taste in their mouth after downloading eFootball 2022 earlier this fall. With a free price point, the incentive to delete the game and move on was too enticing, and it’s something that Konami will have to work hard to rectify. How successful the company ends up here largely depends on this Spring 2022 update, but as always we’ll keep you abreast of all eFootball 2022 news.