PES is going to a “whole new level” as Konami charts the next-gen future for the football franchise

Another year, another Pro Evolution Soccer! Well, actually yes. That ol’ adage may be extra-true this year, as Konami’s single remaining franchise which hasn’t been driven into the ground by bad ideas, isn’t looking to rock the boat as this current generation of console gaming draws to a close. It’s the 2021 PES, that’ll be trying something new for the footie franchise. Like quick-time events to sell an injury with MAXIMUM ACTING. Konami, talk to me I’ve got plenty more great ideas like this.

Anyway, back to this year’s game. PES 2021 will be more of an iterative update, focusing on updating the current season more than properly meaningful changes. PES 2022 on the other hand, will be going for the full next-gen approach by ditching the FOX engine that powered many a Konami game, and will use the more industry-standard Unreal Engine. “As the industry stands at the precipice of an exciting new generation of consoles, we believe that now is the perfect time to share some of our plans for the future of the PES franchise with you,” Konami said in an official post.

To that end, we are excited to announce that we are hard at work on a next-generation football title that aims to truly embody our core concept of the ‘The Pitch is Ours.’

Konami’s sales pitch says that player models will be more realistic, physics will be enhanced and various other stuff will be taken “to a whole new level” while PES 2021 sticks to more moderate goals:

We recognise that many of you are enthusiastic for new myClub and Master League content, and we are also excited to share that large updates are in the works for both of these modes.

However, the sheer scale of everything we are aiming to achieve for our next-gen debut has made it necessary to pare back our efforts in other areas of development. As a result, we have made the decision to launch this year’s PES as a streamlined offering in the form of a “season update”. That being said, we are still extremely confident that this year’s game offers fans more than enough thrills to tide them over until our next-gen title is ready for launch.

Konami reckons they’ll be ready for match time come the middle of 2021. To make up for PES 2021 being more of the same and the franchise celebrating its 25th anniversary, this year’s take on the almost as beautiful as Badminton game will launch at an “affordable anniversary price” with a few bonuses included. Which to me is confirmation that Solid Snake is going to be a playable character. SCIENCE!

Last Updated: July 15, 2020