The encyclopedia · Product & Design · Product decision · 2021–2022
eFootball: Konami killed PES, and the replacement became Steam's worst-rated game ever
Konami ended the PES brand for a free-to-play platform; eFootball 2022 scored 25 on Metacritic and became Steam's worst-rated game in a day.
Konami · 2021-09-30
What happened
On July 21, 2021, Konami announced the end of Pro Evolution Soccer — the brand it had built since 1995, and one of the two pillars of football gaming alongside EA's FIFA. In its place came eFootball, a free-to-play 'football platform' that would live on updates and microtransactions.
eFootball 2022 launched September 30, 2021 with a fraction of the previous game's content: no Master League, no offline modes, and a buggy shell of a football game. It scored 25 on Metacritic for PC and 34 for PS5, and within a day of launch Steam players had made it the worst-rated game on the platform — 92% negative reviews, with Steam 250 ranking it the worst game it had ever tracked.
Konami apologized and promised fixes, but the damage was done: the free-to-play pivot had killed the PES brand's goodwill in a single launch. The game that had competed with FIFA for 26 years was gone — replaced by a platform whose first impression was the worst in Steam history.
Why it happened
- The pivot threw away the product's content, not just its price: PES fans paid for a complete game, and eFootball launched with a fraction of the modes.
- The launch quality was catastrophic: glitched animations, PS1-era character models and missing features made the game a joke.
- Konami traded a loyal 26-year audience for a speculative live-service model: the transition burned the franchise's goodwill in one day.
The lesson
A free-to-play pivot that ships less than the paid game is a farewell, not a transition: Konami ended PES's 26-year brand and launched its replacement at a 25 Metacritic.
Sources
- Polygon — Konami's eFootball is a disaster at launch and Steam's worst-rated game ever
- Wikipedia — eFootball
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