The long-runningPro Evolution Soccerfranchise developed by Konami looks like it will be undergoing some fairly substantial changes moving forward. For one,PESno longer has some major licensesfor AC Milan and FC Internazionale Milano giving long-time competing franchiseFIFAa leg up.
Konami has been in a fairly substantial development rut since parting ways withMetal Gearcreator Hideo Kojima, butPro Evolution Soccerhas always been a consistent franchise for the developer to put out. Now though, it seems like Konami is dropping its famous Fox engine in favor of developingPES 2022in Unreal engine.
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For those who may not be familiar with the Fox engine, many of Konami’s games from the last eight years were developed using this engine. The engine was built by Konami and used for major game releases likeMetal Gear Solid V:The Phantom PainandGround Zeroes,Metal Gear Survive, and even theP.T.demo. The engine has also been used forPEStitles from 2013 to 2020. Needless to say, Konami has gotten plenty of use from the Fox engine.
Still,PES 2020continues to receive updates in the Fox engine. In fact, Konami fairly recently revealedDLC based on a canceled soccer tournament. However, Konami has revealed that the next full-fledged title in the series will instead be developed on the Unreal engine. To be more specific, this news was confirmed by a brand new trailer on the officialPESYouTube channel teasing the future of the franchise.
The description of the trailer reads, “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 thePESfranchise with you… This title is being developed with an updated engine that will enable us to dazzle you with staggering improvements to all areas of the game.” Players can expect more realistic models and animations, enhanced physics, and photorealistic visuals among other things. Whether or not the next major installment inPESwill stand toe-to-toe in graphical fidelity withFIFA 21on next-generation hardwareremains to be seen, of course.
Yet, the switch to Unreal Engine is not the only big shake-up for thePESfranchise. Konami also announced that thePES 2021will not be a full-fledged release like every prior yearly installment of the franchise. Apparently,Konami did not have time to developa fully fleshed-out version ofPES 2021. While some confusion initially surrounded the announcement, Konami has confirmed by way of IGN that the game is not just an update toPES 2020, but will be a standalone game released at a lower price instead.
The next installment in thePro Evolution Soccerfranchise is estimated to release sometime in late 2021.
