PES replacement eFootball will be ‘basically a demo’ at launch

Konami are playing the long game (pic: Konami)

When eFootball launches this year it’s only going to have a fraction of the number of options you’d expect, but that’s all according to plan.

The announcement that Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) is to be replaced with eFootball was a big shock for fans of the series, even if many accepted that change was necessary.

The plan is that eFootball will be free-to-play but that extra modes and features, such as Master League, will be sold separately as DLC.

That means that the basic download will be short on traditional options but a tweet from the official eFootball account confirms that it’s basically a demo, with other features not available until some time after.

Although official announcements have been short on details the eFootball Twitter account has been answering a lot of fan question, one of which was simply whether the early autumn launch of the game was just a demo.

The account answered that it essentially was and would only have a limited number of teams and modes.

As ever, fans are being told to wait for more details but it now seems all but certain the game will only launch with nine clubs and possibly only 1v1 matches.

Q: Is “Early Autumn” launch basically a demo?

A: In many ways, yes. We want people to get hands-on with eFootball™ as soon as possible, so we will launch with a limited number of teams and modes. Exact details to follow.

— eFootball (@play_eFootball) August 2, 2021

The roadmap for the game is vague but online leagues and a ‘team-building mode’, possibly a variation of myClub, are promised for the autumn.

Cross-play between PlayStation and Xbox consoles will be available at launch and will later be extended to all formats, but there will be filters to ensure you can avoid this if you want.

More: Games news

There is no exact release date for the game yet, but the idea is that it launches as a bare bones release with other options (including an edit mode) being added afterwards.

The biggest addition for the game though will be an equivalent of battle passes, called Match Passes, which will be one of the most important ways for the game to make its money.

However, like most things to do with the game at the moment, the exact content of these passes is currently a mystery and we can only wait until Konami announces more information.

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