By abandoning its identity, namely the brand Pro Evolution Soccer, and by changing its business model to now see itself as a free-to-play powered by later updates, eFootball embarked on a daring bet. Unfortunately, the gamble attempted by Konami does not seem to take off with players who have been able to test the game in advance.
The images and videos recovered have aroused strong reactions from players because, while they are certainly tests carried out on a non-final version of free-to-play, all this is not reassuring as the release official, September 30, is getting closer.
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It all started with the broadcast of an 11-minute video made by Great Game, a Chinese YouTube channel. If, unfortunately, the video no longer appears on the platform, a Twitter thread written by @Durandil67, a PES modder, compiles many concerns raised by the player.
Among the long list of messages posted in this thread, Durandil points to recurring frame rate drops, jerky crowd animation in the stands, and surprising collisions between players during contact.
Faced with these disappointments, the players were not kind to eFootball. Some point to the lack of innovation, even a regression compared to the old opuses of PES, when others are particularly frustrated with what they describe, no more and no less, as a mobile game.
Beyond the concerns of animations, physics of the ball and many others, it is the decision to direct the license towards a mobile and "casual" market which does not pass with the players, so much Konami gives them the feeling of having swept away the heritage and history of PES with the back of the hand.
