eFootball PES 2021 Season Update coming this year, next-gen PES will be PES 2022

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PES 2022 is being developed using Unreal Engine for next-gen consoles

(Image credit: Konami)

Update: Konami has officially revealed the next PES entry is set to release September 15, 2020. Officially called eFootball PES 2021 Season Update, the pre-order page for the upcoming release is now officially live with a special anniversary price and will include all of the latest player and club data along with an exclusive UEFA Euro 2020 mode. 

The release date and official title come just after Konami announced that it would be shifting its focus on the franchise's next-gen debut with PES 2022, which led to the decision to release this year's PES as a season update rather than an entirely new game. 

Original story: 

Konami is currently "hard at work" on a next-gen PES game that will take the franchise "to a whole new level" with more realistic player models, animations, enhanced physics, photorealistic visuals, and more. 

"As the industry stands at the precipice of an exciting new generation of consoles, we believe that now is the perfect time to share some of our plans for the future of the PES franchise with you," Konami said in an official post. "To that end, we are excited to announce that we are hard at work on a next-generation football title that aims to truly embody our core concept of the 'The Pitch is Ours.'" 

The new PES game is being developed on with Unreal Engine to "dazzle you with staggering improvements to all areas of the game." Along with improved graphical enhancements that will no doubt make the most of both next-gen hardware, big updates to the myClub and Master League modes are also in the works. 

Konami currently plans to start testing the next-gen entry in the PES series sometime in mid-2021, and estimates it will launch later that same year. While work is underway to take the franchise into the new generation with the PS5 and Xbox Series X on the horizon, the developer has also announced that PES 2021 this year will come in the form of a streamlined "season update" rather than an entirely new game due to the "sheer scale" of everything Konami hopes to achieve for its next-gen debut. 

"That being said, we are still extremely confident that this year's game offers fans more than enough thrills to tide them over until our next-gen title is ready for launch." This year, 2020, also marks the 25th anniversary of the very first PES release, and to commemorate the milestone and show gratitude to players, this year's PES release is set to launch at an "affordable anniversary price" with several bonuses. 

As we look towards the next-generation, here's our roundup of all of the upcoming PS5 games and upcoming Xbox Series X games we know about so far. 

Heather Wald
Heather Wald
Evergreen Editor, Games

Heather Wald is the Evergreen Editor, Games at GamesRadar+. Her writing career began on a student-led magazine at Bath Spa University, where she earned a BA (Hons) in English literature. Heather landed her first role writing about tech and games for Stuff Magazine shortly after graduating with an MA in magazine journalism at Cardiff University. Now with almost seven years of experience working with GamesRadar+ on the features team, Heather helps to develop, maintain, and expand the evergreen features that exist on the site for games, as well as spearhead the Indie Spotlight series. You'll also see her contribute op-eds, interview-led features, and more. In her spare time, you'll likely find Heather tucking into RPGs and indie games, reading romance novels, and drinking lots of tea.