EFootball

This article is about the eFootball series. For the PES series, see Pro Evolution Soccer. For the first game to be branded eFootball, see eFootball PES 2020.

eFootball is a series of association football simulation video games developed and published by Konami. It has been completely rebranded from the original Pro Evolution Soccer series (known as Winning Eleven in Japan).^[1] The game's first year, entitled eFootball 2022, was released on 30 September 2021. It was later changed to the game's second year, eFootball 2023, on 25 August 2022, the game's third year, eFootball 2024 on 7 September 2023 and its simplified title eFootball for the game's fourth year (2025) on 12 September 2024. This game is part of the International Esports Federation's World Championship, the North and Eastern Europa League (NEEC) and the FIFAe World Cup.

eFootball
Logo used since 2021
Developer(s)	Konami
Publisher(s)	Konami
Series	eFootball
Engine	Unreal Engine 4
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Xbox One Xbox Series X/S Android iOS
Release	Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S 30 September 2021 Android, iOS 2 June 2022 2023 Season 25 August 2022 2024 Season 7 September 2023 2025 Season 12 September 2024
Genre(s)	Sports
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Gameplay

Development

On 21 July 2021, Konami released a six-minute video revealing the new game.^[2] The announcement revealed that the Pro Evolution Soccer (Winning Eleven) brand had been dropped.^[3]

The game was released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on 30 September 2021.^[4][2] It was built using Unreal Engine 4 for the first time in the franchise.^[5]

On 8 October 2021, Konami announced that it would release a new update with fixes for the game's issues on 28 October 2021.^[6] The update was delayed and the release postponed to November 2021.^[7] Konami then launched the update 0.9.1 on 5 November,^[8] and announced that the 1.0 update release was delayed until Spring 2022.^[9] Version 1.0.0 of eFootball 2022 was finally announced on 6 April 2022, with release date on 14 April 2022.^[10]

On 31 May 2022, Konami announced their roadmap for the rest of 2022 up until 2023 for features such as Master League and the number of teams that can be used in offline mode which will all be released as paid content.^[11] However, as of September 2024 of eFootball's latest series release, features such as Master League and Edit Mode have not been released on PC or consoles, and no further announcements have been made by Konami.^[12]

Reception

This screenshot of then Manchester United players (L-R) Paul Pogba, Cristiano Ronaldo and Scott McTominay was widely shared, according to Polygon, as "the most notorious example" of the game's poor graphics.^[13]

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	(PC) 25/100[14] (PS5) 34/100[15]

Review scores

Publication	Score
GamesRadar+	[16]
PC Gamer (US)	30/100[17]

Reception

At launch, eFootball 2022 was panned by critics and players, who criticized the "atrocious" graphics,^[18] lack of content, laggy engine and finicky controls.^[18] With 92% negative reviews, it became the worst-rated game on Steam a day after launch,^[19] and the lowest-rated game of 2021 on the review aggregator Metacritic.^[20] Konami later apologised for the game's many issues and said they would work on improving it.^[21] A major "1.0" update, that aimed to address many of these issues, was released 14 April 2022 on PC and consoles.^[22]

Versions overview

Released versions of the game

Title	First release	Version number(s)[23]	8th Gen	9th gen	PC	Handheld
eFootball (2022 Season)	30 September 2021	v1.1.4 (21 July 2022)	PS4, Xbox One	PS5, Xbox Series X/S	Windows	Android, Apple iOS
eFootball (2023 Season)	25 August 2022	v2.6.0 (8 June 2023)	PS4, Xbox One	PS5, Xbox Series X/S	Windows	Android, Apple iOS
eFootball (2024 Season)	7 September 2023	v3.6.2 (11 July 2024)	PS4, Xbox One	PS5, Xbox Series X/S	Windows	Android, Apple iOS
eFootball (2025 Season)	12 September 2024	Current stable version: v4.2.0 (5 December 2024)	PS4, Xbox One	PS5, Xbox Series X/S	Windows	Android, Apple iOS
Legend: Old version, not maintained Old version, still maintained Latest version Latest preview version Future release

References

1. Skrebels, Joe (21 July 2021). "PES Has Been Renamed eFootball, and It's Fully Free-to-Play". IGN. Archived from the original on 21 July 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
2. Good, Owen S. (21 July 2021). "Pro Evolution Soccer is now simply eFootball — and it's free to play". Polygon. Archived from the original on 25 August 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
3. Stanton, Rich (21 July 2021). "PES is dead, replaced by the F2P 'football platform' eFootball". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
4. eFootball [@play_eFootball] (2 September 2021). "Announcing #eFootball 2022 - the official title for our platform's first season! Launching September 30th on consoles and PC fans can finally experience how we have #SetFootballFree Find out more right here: https://t.co/XGJAKZFGaV https://t.co/HqQRjjHQuv" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021 – via Twitter.
5. Skrebels, Joe (21 July 2021). "How Unreal Engine Helped Turn PES Into eFootball". IGN. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
6. Makuch, Eddie (8 October 2021). "eFootball Update Coming October 28 With Fixes For The Game's Issues". GameSpot. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
7. "eFootball Update That Includes Big Fixes Delayed To November". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
8. "TOP". Archived from the original on 5 November 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
9. "eFootball 2022 hit with worst delay yet – next update not out till spring". Metro. 5 November 2021. Archived from the original on 28 August 2024. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
10. "Announcements 14/04/2022 v1.0.0 Release Confirmed". konami. 6 April 2022. Archived from the original on 19 July 2024. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
11. Dinsdale, Ryan (31 May 2022). "eFootball Will Not Get Master League Mode Until 2023, Will Be Paid DLC". IGN. Archived from the original on 15 April 2024. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
12. "eFootball 2025: The Return of the King? Run through New Stadiums, Player Faces, Master League and More". 24 September 2024. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
13. Good, Owen S. (1 October 2021). "Konami's eFootball is a disaster at launch and Steam's worst-rated game ever". Polygon. Archived from the original on 1 October 2023. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
14. "eFootball 2022 reviews for PC". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 11 October 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
15. "eFootball 2022 reviews for PlayStation 5". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
16. Wilson, Ben (4 October 2021). "eFootball 2022 review: A disastrous start to the post-PES era". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on 9 October 2021. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
17. Iwaniuk, Phil (13 October 2021). "eFootball 2022 review: The pitch is ours—but where's the rest?". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 3 August 2024. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
18. Winslow, Jeremy (30 September 2021). "Konami's eFootball Is Steam's Most-Hated Game Right Now". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
19. Smith, Graham (30 September 2021). "eFootball 2022 is now the worst rated game on Steam". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on 13 October 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
20. "Metacritic: "The 10 Worst Video Games of 2021"". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 4 June 2022. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
21. Makuch, Eddie (1 October 2021). "Konami Apologizes For eFootball 2022's Many Issues, Including Wonky Face Scans And PS1-Era NPCs". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 20 November 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
22. "Even Konami Agrees With The Criticism About eFootball's Quality". Kotaku. 7 April 2022. Archived from the original on 22 November 2023. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
23. "Info". konami.com/efootball. 11 July 2024. Archived from the original on 18 April 2024. Retrieved 14 August 2024.

External links

• Official website
• EFootball's channel on YouTube
• eFootball on Twitter
• eFootball on Facebook
• eFootball on TikTok (in Japanese)
• eFootball on Twitch
• eFootball on Instagram