However, Konami says that the game is designed to be 'fair and balanced' for all players, despite its transition to a free-to-play model – which will also seemingly include Battle Pass-like unlocks called Match Passes.

We're still somewhat unclear on how new teams will be added to the game, and the exact breakdown of how eFootball's modes and monetisation will work won't be revealed until a later date. No mention has yet been made of M圜lub, PES' equivalent to FIFA Ultimate Team, or Master League, the series' long-running career mode – although it seems likely that the former will be represented by an unnamed 'Team Building Mode' coming after release. It will subsequently sell other modes as optional DLC, seemingly allowing players to pay for what they want out of their game. Speaking to IGN, series producer Seitaro Kimura explained that eFootball is aiming to take a 'platform' approach with regular updates – there will no longer be annual paid releases of eFootball, but the platform will get free, yearly updates for new seasons.ĮFootball will launch with exhibition matches and seemingly a selection of 9 clubs to play with (see the roadmap below for the full list). Crucially, it appears that all versions of the game, from new-gen consoles to mobile, will be functionally the same (not unlike Fortnite) – presumably meaning that the hugely successful PES Mobile will also be phased out or replaced.

It's a major move for the football series (now called eFootball globally, rather than PES in the west and Winning Eleven in Japan), and it's been matched with a shift from Konami's FOX Engine to a custom-built new engine created with Unreal 4.

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