Lionel Messi is fronting a complete rebrand for Konami’s successful football video game Pro Evolution Soccer.
The Pro Evolution Soccer brand is no more with Konami deciding to shift away from the name after more than two decades.
Pro Evo, PES, however you refer to the brand, it has become iconic over more than 20 years, enjoying its glory years around the 2008 era.
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But after Konami only released an update last season rather than a full game, named ‘eFootball PES 2021 Season Update’, the full rebrand has now been announced.
Instead of a full, purchased game, Konami will release the new eFootball 2022 as a free-to-play game across all of the major consoles, as well as on mobile.
One of the features of the game is that it is ‘fair and balanced’, and it will allow players to plug a controller into their mobile and compete with players using consoles.
Konami are priding the relaunch on a new game engine, replacing the FOX engine with Unreal 4, which will bring in a new gameplay style.
Messi fronts the game with Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique having an influence on the relaunch.
As you can see on the video above, Konami have put a great deal of effort into one-on-ones, using real-life match actions from players to influence how players move in the game.
The game is likely to be released some time in September, with Konami confirming they will release more details about the game in late August.
Image by Konami