eFootball Release Date

 

eFootball will be released in Autumn 2021 for PC via Steam, PS5, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, and will only be available as a digital download. That is to say: there will be no boxed retail copy of the game available at launch.

An iOS and Android launch is planned for the game, too, but all we know so far is that the mobile version of the game is coming ‘later’.

Cross-platform play will arrive post-launch at an as-yet-unspecified time, but cross-generation play will be available at launch (that means you’ll be able to play on PS4 if you friend has a PS5, for example).

The base package will be free to download and play.

Local matches featuring FC Barcelona, Juventus, FC Bayern, Manchester United, and others will be available, for free, at launch.

Konami will make announcements about what other clubs and modes will be added further down the line. It remains unclear how the pricing structure will work, but the company has said some of those modes released post-launch will be paid.

eFootball gameplay

One of the highlighted features that prompted Konami to move away from the PES moniker and call the series eFootball is “Motion Matching”. This tech “converts the vast range of movements that players make on the pitch into a series of animations, selecting the most accurate one in real-time”. The result? Four times as many animations will be present in this game compared to previous entries. It sounds fairly similar to what EA is doing with FIFA 22 and its Hypermotion.

eFootball Master League and Option Files

As part of a Twitter thread, Konami confirmed that the game’s initial launch in Autumn 2022 will be very limited in scope. The upside? The launch package will have no microtransactions and everything on offer will be available for free.

Konami has confirmed, though, that a battle pass style Match Pass will arrive in the game after launch, and that the Master League will arrive as a premium DLC post-launch.

“Previous games had a strong ‘lottery element’, but eFootball lets you nominate and acquire your favourite players with Match Pass, a system to receive items based on matches played. Free & Paid Match Passes will be available,” says the publisher.

Option Files are also due to make a comeback, but (as is tradition for the series) only for players using the game on PC and PlayStation platforms – Xbox users will not be able to use this feature. It’s unclear how Option Files will work with the mobile version of the game.