Konami's free-to-play eFootball 2023 has now been downloaded over 600 million times.
Despite a troublesome launch that once saw it rated as one of the worst titles on Steam, the soccer game has now clocked up over 600m downloads worldwide across mobile, PC, and consoles.
To celebrate, Konami is giving away free eFootball coins - just log in each day between now and March 30 - along with Neymar Jr, which should be a welcomed addition to most dream teams. If you manage to score with him between now and March 16 - or Lionel Messi between March 16 and 30 - you'll get more free eFootball coins, Game Points, and experience points for your trouble.
As part of a wider "commemorative campaign", there's a new card theme available now, too: Show Time. Offering different abilities and skills such as Game-Changing Pass, Phenomenal Finishing, Momentum Dribbling, and Fortress, the new card will be available for the "top players who reflect these skills in real-life football".
This time last year, Konami committed to accepting criticism of its free-to-play soccer game, eFootball, promising that it was taking fan feedback "very seriously" and acknowledging that the game's "incompletion" was just one of "multiple factors" that impacted the sports game's troublesome launch.
It also appears that there was a rush to get the game ready in time for the start of the European soccer season, with Konami stating it had a "strong desire to deliver the new eFootball 2022 game to users as soon as possible", "in parallel" with the start of the season.
“It’s hard to point to one deciding aspect," a Konami spokesperson said at the time. "The incompletion of the game came as a result of multiple factors, including the transition to a new football game engine, the support of next-generation consoles such as PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, the change of play style to free to play, and furthermore, we tried to deliver new eFootball 2022 for players as soon as possible."
Since the release in September 2021, Konami said it had prioritized improvements and corrections based on the feedback and opinions it received, calling players' feedback "much appreciated".
Keep up to date with all the best games set to launch this year with our guide to new games 2023.
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