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Posted

Is this the end of PES?

Quote

"The 2018 UEFA Champions League final in Kyiv will mark the end of a very successful and fruitful 10-year partnership between Konami and the UEFA Champions League."

 

Posted
57 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Is this the end of PES?

Aww shucks.

I grew up on PES as opposed you FIFA, and I used to adore it. After getting custom kits and ground names out of the way (never knew how to patch stuff in when I was playing them, as I was considerably younger), I’d spend hundreds of hours in Master League with my own completely customised team winning every trophy out there, and I spent plenty of time in Become A Legend as an Italian with an English surname. Those were some fun times. The game’s also had some great cutscenes (be it in the background or foreground), such as being able to see your players in training as you skipped ahead on the calendar. There was also an excellent Owner mode in 12, if I recall correctly, which allowed you to bring in new managers, sanction big signings, etc. 

I think the last one I played was 13, which is when I made the swap over to FIFA; seeing how transfers were much more accurate to how they are in real life, and the licensed kits, really won me over (even if the players were oddly proportioned and their kit numbers abnormally large).

53 minutes ago, Kaepora_Gaebora said:

If the license goes to EA then surely it will be, which is a shame as IMO since 16' PES has been a much better game of football.

In my mind I always built it up as UEFA not wanting anything to do with FIFA, but those days are long gone with Blatter and Platini out of the way. It’d be interesting to see the official licensing make its way over to FIFA, but they haven’t even managed to incorporate the Club World Cup (if I recall correctly, even PES has had  a version of that - and official rights to the Copa Libertadores) into the game at this point, so it’d be interesting to see how they coped with it.

It’d be a shame for Konami - and for everyone who plays these games, because there’s no other substantial competition for FIFA around these days - but they’ve been in what seems like freefall since everything came to light a few years back. 

Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Kaepora_Gaebora said:

If the license goes to EA then surely it will be, which is a shame as IMO since 16' PES has been a much better game of football.

Konami were undoubtedly the king of football games during the late 90s and early 00s with ISS and ISS Pro, which became Pro Evolution Soccer. The franchise obviously had a difficult transition into the HD era though we got some fantastic Wii entries during this time :hehe:

The change of gameplay in 2011 was the start of PES clawing their way back though 2014 was a massive step back after the progress of the previous years. Since PES 2016, though, it's been we'll and truly back on top in the gameplay department. Unfortunately, the lack of licences seems to be bothering me more as I get older and the loss of the Champions League licence is only going to be yet another blow :hmm:

Edited by nekunando
Posted

Once Ultimate Team and Pro Clubs became a thing in FIFA it was game over for PES. Those two modes alone are enough to kill off any football competitor. 

I used to play PES all the time on the PS2 and it was the football game everyone played. However, as Nando mentioned, the developers really struggled in the HD era and that's when EA were able to make their move.

Posted

Wait... this is a "Konami - What the hell are they doing?" thread and there's nothing on the brand new 2D Castlevania game being made... only for iOS? :blank:

Come on, keep up. ;)

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Posted
3 minutes ago, S.C.G said:

Wait... this is a "Konami - What the hell are they doing?" thread and there's nothing on the brand new 2D Castlevania game being made... only for iOS? :blank:

Come on, keep up. ;)

I just wanted to go a few weeks without wanting to rip my hair out, that’s all :p 

Definitely think a Konami that cared would be trying to make a Soulsborne Castlevania game, though. 

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Posted
16 hours ago, S.C.G said:

Wait... this is a "Konami - What the hell are they doing?" thread and there's nothing on the brand new 2D Castlevania game being made... only for iOS? :blank:

I blame Brad. I was listening to this weeks episode of Frame Trap and he said he was desperate to get a 2D Castlevania game. It's all his fault. :D 

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  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

Man, the gameplay of PES 2019 looks gooooood...

Also, Konami have had their most profitable year since FY12. 

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Getting Kojima and co. off their books, moving to mobile, pachinko/gambling, etc., seems to have really worked for their bottom line. I can’t think of any reason that they’d want to return to creating AAA games outside of the annual PES cash-in. A Metal Gear Solid FOX Engine collection also seems like a great shout for a potentially massive cash-in.

But, good lord, I wish they’d, at the very least, let other developers do something with their engine and licenses. Having something like the FOX Engine gathering dust over in the corner besides occasionally using it for PES seems a waste, and having IPs such as Silent Hill, Castlevania, Metal Gear, Suikoden, etc., gathering dust is also a massive waste. 

I was reading something quite interesting the other week about how other companies seem to be picking up from where Konami left things, though, such as Capcom with Resident Evil VII (Silent Hills) and potentially Ubisoft with Splinter Cell (Metal Gear?). So, at least in spirit, I guess some of their IPs are getting to live on. 

Posted

And BAM.

Evert ten Napel, a Dutch soccer commentator who has lent his services to EA for FIFA games, has seemingly confirmed that the UEFA Champions League and Europe League licenses are coming to FIFA 19. 

I was planning on skipping the next game, because of how much I’m surprisingly enjoying FIFA 18’s gameplay when compared to FIFA 15 - 17, and I’m only a couple of seasons into a managerial career mode which is proving a lot of fun. But this sort of throws a wrench into that...I think I’ll be picking this up if it does turn out to be the case :D 

Now if they could just finally add the Club World Cup and actually flesh out the manager mode a bit more...

  • 1 month later...
  • 3 months later...
Posted (edited)

So, David Hayter, Robin Atkin Downes and Kris Zimmerman have all been teasing something Metal Gear related on social media in recent days. 

It doesn’t seem like much, and I think it’s a bit far fetched to say for certain (apparently the last time something like this happened it was for a car advertisement...), but it will be the 20th Anniversary of Metal Gear Solid in North America tomorrow, and I could certainly see Konami wanting to cash-in on that in some way, whether immediately, or with a reveal at the TGAs as Downes seemed to imply could be the case. I’m not sure how I would feel about that considering that Kojima-san will more than likely be in attendance, so...

It could be nothing. It could also be those FOX Engine remakes which everyone has been screaming out for — or, you know, a remake of MGS in particular. I suppose it could also even be a Metal Gear Solid VI, a piece of Metal Gear Solid V DLC to round things off, or another spin-off attempt. Or VR. Or some more pachinko machines — a Metal Gear Solid x Castlevania pachinko machine? 

Konami — just what the hell are you doing? 

Edited by Julius Caesar
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  • 1 year later...
Posted

Well, this makes for an interesting turn of events combined with the launch of Skelattack a few days ago. Slowly creeping their way back in..?

Quote

Konami is taking a new turn to strengthen its position in Western markets by launching an external publishing programme aiming at diversifying its portfolio.

Mobile, PES and esports have long been the pillars of Konami, but the publisher is now ready to step out of its comfort zone, following in Bandai Namco's footsteps -- another Japanese company that switched its focus to Western IPs in the past few years with titles such as Tarsier's Little Nightmares and Supermassive's Dark Pictures Anthology.

Margin_Skelattack
Western markets have already started to feel like a bigger focus at Konami, with PES' rebrand meant to help the series in Europe for instance. But this is now part of a wider strategy.

"The drive is towards publishing more titles from Western studios," Richard Jones, senior European brand and business development manager at Konami, tells GamesIndustry.biz. "So the focus for the European team is domestic audiences. Obviously everyone knows Konami, we have studios and teams in Japan, we have many well-known, well loved IPs. They're all being managed and looked after by our studios in Japan, and what we're looking for is complementary titles, to build the portfolio with things that perhaps [are] new to Konami -- Western titles for Western audiences."

Imagine this move is in part a result of their business now being so heavily focused on casinos...which is a poor gamble in a Covid-19 world. Very interesting. 

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  • 8 months later...
Posted (edited)

Not to get everyone excited, but in addition to the increasing number of reports about Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, and Castlevania being trusted to other developers (the most recent and promising if which was from VGC yesterday), Konami have just opened an official online store to sell their merch. 

More surprised that this wasn't already a thing before, and even more surprising still is that there's now official Suikoden merch (hell yeah). There's even an awesome map poster :D no Silent Hill merch is a bit weird though, especially when they have Sunset Riders stuff, and their prices are kind of outrageous for some items.

Just having a nose around now. Some select things I thought were worth sharing:

This could be yours for the low and awkward price of £23.62. 

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The perfect Valentine's Day gift...

matte-black-magic-mug-black-5fff07f33edd

"What the hell were they thinking?" in wearable form. 

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Probably the only thing I'd be interested in, the Suikoden II map poster. 

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Look, it could be nothing, but, where there's smoke...

(well, there could be Konami burning their studios to the ground)

Edited by Julius
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
Posted

So, there's a 99% chance this is nothing, as I would assume it's just the standard renewed trademark, but Konami just trademarked both Metal Gear Rising and Castlevania in Japan. 

I know it's in the thread title, but seriously, what the hell is going on? Because they've been especially weird this past year or so. Off the top of my head, they've thrown some MGS games on GOG, handed a sequel to a super niche and Japanese exclusive IP from decades ago to an indie developer, launched a brand new IP in Skelattack, launched an online store, and officially ditched the Fox Engine for PES in favour of Unreal. 

Weird bunch those Konami guys. 

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Posted
On 20/04/2021 at 4:03 PM, Hero-of-Time said:

There’s also that crazy MGS related Twitter account that is doing the rounds at the moment. Could be nothing but a prank but it seems to be hinting at something happening next week.

Crossing my fingers and toes! As I've learned over the last year, Metal Gear Solid is way too unique and captivating a series to be left to rot by Konami. 

I try to not get too excited by the possibilities, but seriously, a Bluepoint remake of the first game and a collection coming to modern consoles just makes way too much sense to not happen at some point. Konami can continue cashing in, and I think a ground-up remake from Bluepoint would be a good proving ground that they aren't just making old games look better, but that they can revitalise them to the standards of modern game design. Weirdly I feel like 4 would need the most work, just because of some of the product placement with Apple products? 

I can imagine Bluepoint implementing both the top-down perspective of the original MGS, and the third-person perspective from later games, so that you can swap between them, and it makes me very excited. Also, the possibilities with Psycho Mantis and the DualSense are endless! 

And then you've got David Hayter saying he thought it was a pretty baseless rumour but has heard from an insider it might be on the way...

...take all my money. 

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