What's Going on With eFootball?

It’s been a while since we here at OS touched on Konami’s eFootball series and with good reason. The once beloved franchise PES (Pro Evolution Soccer) has slowly faded into obscurity after its rebrand in 2021 to eFootball.

Despite starting off with a strong initial release of PES 2021 Season Update where PC modders are still working wonders, the subsequent releases (eFootball 2022 – present) have seen the popularity of the game diminish to nearly an afterthought in the football gaming community, getting lapped by EA’s EA FC franchise and facing a new challenger in Strikerz Inc.’s UFL. Before we touch on the current state of eFootball, let’s take a quick trip down memory lane.

eFootball Roadmap

Do you remember this? I know, I almost forgot too because shortly after it was released in fall of 2022 it was derailed and thus forgotten by early 2023. While Konami did get cross-generation (PS4 -> PS5, Xbox Series X/S -> Xbox One) working, there’s still no true cross-platform (PlayStation vs. Xbox vs. PC) available yet as Konami appears to be squeezing the juice out of its eSports Tournaments while still skimping on modes that we came to associate with PES over the years.

Konami doubled down here:

Back in February of 2023, Konami updated the community about what was on the horizon, and to their credit, they did deliver on everything they planned for — although there’s absolutely nothing worth bragging about in this list with updates like “additional player slots” and “additional number of substitutes for Dream Team.” These are simple fixes that shouldn’t require too many resources. Now the list on the bottom is where we should start to hold Konami accountable:

• Master League – MISS
• Co-op Mode – HIT
• Edit Mode – MISS
• Additional selectable teams in Authentic Mode (Exhibition) – MISS
• Cross-platform compatibility on console – MISS
• Cross-platform compatibility between console and mobile – MISS
• Mobile controller compatibility and support – MISS

In football terms, if you convert 1 of your 7 chances, chances are you won’t be around too long. And that right there is only a PORTION of the long list of neglected features and modes that were in eFootball 2021 Season Update yet still haven’t made it to eFootball.

What’s To Come With eFootball?

Well, for starters, Konami has rebranded the name again, dropping the “2024” or in this case what would be “eFootball 2025” to simply eFootball.

So back to square one figuratively, but as EA proved, a name is just a name and considering that digital sales exceed hard copies, changing a brand name isn’t the no-no it once was.

What’s Coming With eFootball (2024)?

If we’re being honest, it’s hard to say as Konami teases the new September update with assurances that assets will carry over (eFootball coins and points, GP, and so on). What’s not carrying over you ask? Well, for starters, it seems like the never-ending carousel of top-flight Italian teams sees Napoli, Roma, and Monza going over to EA FC, with rumors of both Milan-based top-flight clubs (AC Milan and Inter Milan) heading back to eFootball.

Considering Konami’s past history with incorporating legendary players into their various modes, this actually bodes well with both Milan clubs boasting a long history of iconic players (Maldini, R9, and Seedorf to name a few). As is the case with losing licenses, the removal of players comes with the territory as Konami confirms on their official website:

And folks, that’s about all we know as Konami, true to their past, drops this tidbit on the bottom of their 2024 update page:

Large-scale maintenance for License Update: We will conduct a large-scale maintenance in mid-September as part of the eFootball™ v4.0.0 update.

So if you’re wondering about a game that will update in what could be less than two weeks then rest assured, you’re not alone.

Bottom Line

Football games are always in a precarious position when it comes to release dates. With most top-flight European seasons starting this past weekend, there’s the thought that it would be nice to beat market-leader EA FC to the punch but then you have the transfer window shutting at the end of August, which requires a lot of resources to swap players to new teams, create new players, and the like.

Release your game after EA FC and you run the risk of no one noticing. Konami seems to have their base players set and don’t seem to be in that much of a rush to add PES staples like Master League and Edit Mode. If I were a betting man, I’d wager that we’ll see neither of those two modes as Konami would have made a major announcement by now, especially with the rumors that when they do come they’ll be available via paid DLCs. As for now, my expectations are at an all-time low with this franchise, but the lure of the old ways will always have me tempting fate.