Konami has announced that they will be delaying the official launch of eFootball, the companies attempt to revitalize its Pro Evolution Soccer franchise after nearly 20 years. Announced in July of this year, a roadmap was released with plans to take eFootball from a game to a full-fledged “platform” for the company.
These plans have hit a snag in the road however when the game’s early rollout in September was critically panned. The title premiered with a limited number of teams, including several teams featured in tutorials but not the main game, as well as limited modes to access. The game also debuted a new engine which featured several bugs and textural issues.
Due to all this Konami has decided to delay the v1.0 update for the game until spring of 2022. Previously this update was planned for November 11, 2021, but seeing the state of the game it is easy to understand why they have chosen to do so.
Alongside this delay, Konami has also delayed the mobile version of the game into the same timeframe. They will also be automatically refunding a premium player pack which was available for preorder. These packs will allow gamers to unlock players in the game, which uses a much-meligned chance system to do so.
In a post on the eFootball website, this delay to the launch was stated to be so that the company could add more polish to the game and release a product that met player expectations. It was stated:
We have been working diligently towards distributing an update that will bring new content to the game, including a new mode where you can strengthen and play with an original team, as well as support for mobile devices on November 11, 2021.
Unfortunately, we have concluded that more time is needed to deliver the product in the quality that will meet the expectations of our users and have decided to postpone the delivery. Also, we have decided to cancel the pre-order for eFootball 2022 Premium Player Pack, which includes items that can only be used in-game after the update.
In other, related news, Fifa has parted ways with EA meaning that the game series, which remains the most popular sports game in the world, is also in need of rebranding. Another Soccer/Football game is also poised to broach the free-to-play market as a game entitled UFL is currently in development with a very similar business model.
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