eFootball 2022: Konami apologizes for the deplorable release of the game

eFootball 2022: Konami apologizes for the deplorable release of the game

© Konami

The transition to free-to-play of Konami's football franchise is heading for disaster and the Japanese publisher is now embarking on a perilous undertaking to limit the damage.

Only three days ago, Konami released eFootball 2022, the new version of its football game. Hasty release, lack of resources and questionable economic model had then got the better of the benevolence of PC players, who "destroyed" the game in the reviews published on the Steam platform with a record of 8% favorable reviews on more than 10 reviews left in a few dozen hours.



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Make amends

Konami could not let the situation escalate and the Japanese publisher logically issued a press release to explain the situation and try to put out the fire.

eFootball 2022: Konami apologizes for the deplorable release of the game

© Konami

“After the release of eFootball 2022, we received a lot of feedback and queries relating to the overall balance of the game, including passing speed and defensive handling. We would also like to acknowledge user-reported issues with cutscenes, facial expressions, player movement, and ball behavior.”

In doing so, Konami admits that its game does not live up to expectations and does indeed highlight most of the issues raised by players, particularly against animations bordering on the ridiculous that leave the impression of players literally sliding on the lawn, like skaters.

The publisher's statement continues:

"We sincerely apologize for these issues and want to assure everyone that we will take them seriously and do everything we can to improve the current situation."


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An unconvincing mea culpa

Alas, the publisher's press release does not really reassure us at JVFR. First of all, it is indeed very nice – after the launch – to specify that we will do our best to find a solution to the problems, but we especially wonder why Konami has decided to market eFootball 2022 in this state.


Remember that from the publication of the first gameplay video, it was obvious that the game was not going in the right direction with technical problems that were obvious. It would have made sense to see Konami push back a title that had only been announced a few months earlier. It should also be noted that with this new version, the Japanese publisher has launched a vast project by swapping the FOX Engine for the Unreal Engine 4.


Of course, we can always imagine a return to grace with players, but to be completely honest, it's hard to see how to reverse such a disaster in a few weeks of development and a few corrective patches. In addition, this does not change the economic orientations taken by Konami: free-to-play game and Master League mode exclusively in DLC.


Let's finish by specifying that, for PC players at least, the situation on the football scene is not rosy in this fall of 2021. Certainly FIFA 22 is not delivered in such a sad state as Konami's game, but EA Sports seems to have ensured the union minimum with a PC version based on the old gen version and not on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions.

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