Source:
https://scmp.com/sport/football/article/3154962/konami-sorry-again-efootball-2022-update-pushed-spring-next-year
Sport/ Football

Konami sorry again as eFootball 2022 update pushed to spring next year

  • Japanese video game giants say November 11 update of revamped Pro Evolution Soccer series moved to next spring, offer refunds
  • Mobile version of game also delayed amid criticism of long running rival to EA Sports Fifa series
Manchester United players Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane pictured in the Konami video game eFootball 2022. Image: Konami

Japanese video game developers Konami have pushed back their promised update to the much-maligned eFootball 2022, apologising to fans for the latest disappointment.

“We would like to inform our players that the version 1.0.0 update scheduled for November 11 has been postponed until Spring 2022,” Konami wrote in a tweet.

“Also, we are announcing the cancellation and automatic refunds of eFootball™ 2022 Premium Player Pack pre-orders, which included items that can only be used in-game after the version 1.0.0 update.” Fans had been critical that these premium packs were still for sale despite the reaction to the game’s original release.

“We are working as hard as possible to deliver an experience that our players expect and deserve by Spring 2022,” Konami added.

“We apologise for the inconvenience and thank you for your continued patience.”

The new game – which launched to critical reviews on September 30 despite being free-to-play – is the latest in the long-running series formerly known as Pro Evolution Soccer.

Beginning in 1995, the series has been a long time rival of EA Sports’ Fifa series.

This year’s eFootball 2022 marked a name change for the Konami series but fans were left disappointed on launch and the company apologised, promising an update.

The Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 edition of the game was used for the demonstration eSports competition at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, where gold was won by Japan ahead of Iran.

ESports will be an official medal event at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou next September but Konami had already missed out to be replaced by their long-running rival.

The Olympic Council of Asia announced last September that EA Sports’ Fifa series was among the eight official games for the coming Asian Games.

The company also announced that the mobile version of eFootball 2022 would be pushed back to spring.

“We have decided to postpone the release of eFootball™ 2022 on mobile, which was scheduled for this Autumn, until Spring 2022,” they wrote in another tweet.

“We apologise for the inconvenience and will share more updates in the future.”

Konami had announced on Wednesday that there would be an update for PC and consoles on November 5, which had originally been set for release in October.

“This update serves to fix bugs only,” they said in a statement, “with detailed patch notes made available on our website at the time of release”.

Konami had surveyed fans on how to improve the game, which had been pilloried for its graphics, gameplay and lack of features on release.