Konami has announced that the new patch eFootball 2022–the company’s free-to-play PES replacement that has been overrun bugs and other issues–will not release on time. Originally planned for release on November 11, the v1.0.0 update is now coming in Spring 2022.
Related to this, Konami is cancelling the eFootball 2022 Premium Player Pack and offering refunds to people who already bought it. This expansion pack includes content that can only be used when the v.1.0.0 update arrives.
Konami said in a statement that it has been “working diligently” on the new eFootball patch, but it needs more time to make sure it’s up to the “quality that will meet the expectations” of players.
While the big v.1.0.0 patch has been delayed, a new update–v0.9.1 is out today, November 5–and it fixes “numerous bugs” with the professional football game.
“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this causes our users and other stakeholders who have been looking forward to this title,” Konami said.
As for the Premium Player Pack refunds, Konami said players do not need to take any action to receive their money back, though it said the process might “take some time.”
The Premium Player Pack might be re-launched in the future, Konami said, though it doesn’t know for sure just yet. “We will announce the details once it has been confirmed,” Konami said. “We apologize again for the inconvenience.”
Separately, Konami announced that it has delayed the launch of eFootball 22’s mobile version, and it’s now scheduled to arrive in Spring 2022. “After much thought we came to the conclusion that we would need more time to deliver the quality that you all deserve. Therefore, we have decided to postpone the update and work on improvements to the game,” Konami said.
“Please understand that we have made this choice to make sure that your experience with eFootball 2022 for mobile is the best one possible. To this end, all of us are fully committed to work on both the mobile and console versions to improve the gaming experience for everyone. We promise this wait will be worth it…”
On Steam, eFootball 2022 has an “overwhelmingly negative” aggregate review rating, and it is one of the lowest-rated game on the entirely of Steam, according to Eurogamer. Many are calling out the game’s free-to-play business model, in addition to its ongoing issues.
The game’s face scans for popular players like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo do not exactly look realistic in eFootball 2022. NPCs in the crowd, too, also don’t look great, with players joking that they seem to be more fitting of a PS1-era game.
