Konami says it is taking criticism of its free-to-play soccer game, eFootball, "very seriously" and acknowledges 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 told VGC. "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.
“Resultantly, the game received harsh feedback about the quality. Since eFootball’s launch back in September, however, we have prioritized improvements and corrections based on the feedback and opinions we received," the statement continued.
"We are taking the opinions of our players very seriously. Since the release last September, we have prioritized improvements and corrections based on the feedback and opinions we received. We will continue to work on the game’s improvement and as always, the player’s valued feedback is much appreciated."
A new 1.0.0. update - which takes the game to its first "full" version and hopes to resolve many of the issues players have had - is expected to release on April 14, 2022.
ICYMI, the Commonwealth Esports Championships has unveiled its games line up for later this year, and Konami's eFootball series has made the cut over FIFA.
This is an absolutely wild turn of events. The Commonwealth Sport Twitter account just announced the three games would that feature in the Championships yesterday, revealing that DOTA 2, Rocket League, and eFootball would comprise the line up of titles that competitors will battle it out over in August.
In other soccer news, it looks like EA is indeed rebranding its smash-hit FIFA franchise as EA Sports Football Club.
Read up on our new games 2022 guide for a complete look over all the other games launching over the next few months.
