eFootball’s first big content update is delayed to spring

Konami’s eFootballThe launch was already on the pad. Now, it’s even worse.

A title update to add the former Pro Evolution Soccer’s staple modes of play, like Master League and Be a Legend, now isn’t launching until spring 2022, Konami said Friday morning. Assuming that’s March, eFootball’s conversion to a free-to-play game will be stuck with game modes more befitting a demo, and a barebones roster of just nine teams, for its first six months.

“We have been working diligently towards distributing an update that will bring new content to the game,” Konami said, “including a new mode where you can strengthen and play with an original team.” This update was originally supposed to launch Nov. 11.

“Unfortunately, we have concluded that more time is needed to deliver the product in the quality that will meet the expectations of our users,” Konami said. Meantime, title update 0.9.1 was rolled out on Friday “to fix numerous bugs sequentially on each platform.

“We will continue to improve and update our game,” Konami promised.

Konami cancels preorders of one of its premium products due to the months-long delay eFootball’s new format. Anyone who bought the 2022 Premium Player Pack, “which includes items that can only be used in-game after the update,” is getting a refund, Konami said. No action is required on these customers’ parts, “but please note that it may take time.”

If the pre-ordered pack was purchased through Steam, then the player must redownload the whole game. This includes PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Xbox One. It also applies to Windows PCs purchased through another channel than Steam. eFootball The game was ranked as the least popular by players one day after it launched.

“We apologize for the inconvenience,” Konami said (the third use of that word in Friday’s statement). “Please note this should not affect existing play data as long as you are using the same account.”

Image by Konami Digital Entertainment/Konami through Steam

After parting ways in 2005 with Hideo Kojima and focusing its efforts on pachinko, Konami continues to develop Pro Evolution Soccer/eFootball, one of few remaining video games. The company changed PES’ name to “eFootball Evolution Soccer 2020” in 2019, skipped the next year to reinvent the game, and planned a multi-stage launch for the free-to-play eFootball Beginning Sept. 30, 2021

PES’ bigger and more popular modes, Master League and Be a Legend, were supposed to come later this fall. This is possible, Konami’s July content roadmap vaguely stated that two new modes will be available in the autumn. They were most likely to sell as DLC with optional features, the free base game being one-off matches, and online multiplayer.

eFootball It was launched on Sept. 30th with unresponsive, swampy controls and bewildering visual glitches. There were also cutscenes that featured disfigured characters. It has received 22,958 total reviews on Steam with 20,220 negative. Its poorly-planned reinvention, hurried launch, full of glitches, and ultimately failure to launch is reminiscent of the death of NBA Elite 11 More than a decade back, there was a catastrophic event that virtually destroyed the series’ status as a console title.