PES 2016, last year’s best football game, is getting an update to help tie in with this winter’s big international tournament, Euro 2016. It is one of the saddest pieces of sports DLC I have ever seen.
Before we get into the details, you should know the Euro 2016 update is free. So there’s really nothing to get upset about here. Just enough to make you shake your head and wonder what the point of the whole thing is.
The actual Euro 2016 will feature 24 of Europe’s best national sides competing across France’s best stadiums. Normally, when a game (or update) like this comes along, it’s a fairly comprehensive affair! Every team is in there, every team’s kit is authentic, every player’s face is there and there’s a decent attempt at recreating the main stadiums that will play host to the tournament.
At least, that’s how EA have done things previously. Now that Konami has the rights to the Euros, things are…less comprehensive.
As we’ve seen, Konami have long struggled to match EA’s FIFA series when it comes to things like team and image rights, and their Euro 2016 content is no different.
Only 15 of the 24 teams are going to be properly represented in the update, with stuff like authentic shirts and logos. The other nine will, in time-honoured PES style, have generic placeholder branding. Those missing the full effect include decent sides like Russia, Switzerland and Sweden, and even one of the absolute favourites — and current top-ranked team in the world — Belgium.
Oh, and there’ll only be one stadium (the Stade de France). One.
Things get sadder when you skim the press release and see (emphasis added):
“All eyes will be on France as Europe’s most prestigious international competition gets underway in June, and we are delighted to present the official game of the UEFA EURO 2016 tournament,” stated Erik Bladinieres, European Brand Director of Football for Konami Digital Entertainment B.V. “With such a high standard of football on show, only the PES series could truly recreate it in all its glory.
Yes, again, it’s free, but..eh, it’s just so bleak, isn’t it? This is the official tie-in of the year’s biggest football tournament, and instead of being able to recreate the whole thing in full we’re getting an update with nine phoney teams and one stadium. Blergh.
Comments
15 responses to “Konami, This Is Sad DLC”
Is PES’s general lack of official teams, stadiums, etc a case of EA having exclusive rights? Or just Konami being tightarses with the budget?
I’m assuming that means that EA doesn’t have the rights. At which point it’s just them being lazy.
Yeah, but does having the rights to the Euros give them the rights to all of the competing teams, strips, players etc? That’s what I’m wondering… just how comprehensive are all these different sets of rights floating around.
I know EA have an exclusive rights deal with FIFA, but does that just allow them to brand their game with the “FIFA” logo (probably not worth nearly as much as it used to be, given some of the recent revelations about how FIFA operate!)? Or does it give them rights to every FIFA affiliated league, team, player etc? Or do they have to go and purchase those rights separately? I assume it’s not completely exclusive since PES does have SOME real teams, strips etc in it.
If it’s just Konami being cheap then that’s pretty shabby.
My understanding of it is that in general, each league and national team has their own licensing. I also believe the clubs can work on their own deals, but the vast majority conform to the league licensing.
EA have had pretty major exclusive deals in the past with the vast majority of leagues/national teams, so I think that contributes. However with national teams, even EA has had trouble in the past. I recall the Netherlands continually blocked EA from using their team in game because they could not work out a deal.
Having said all that, wouldnt surprise me if Konami just decided to be dicks about all this and just got the bare minimum since hey, its Konami…
Konami racing EA to the bottom for the ‘most hated games company’ wooden spoon
Interesting how the only good things these companies seem to do at this stage is soccer games… 😛
Except they don’t.
Bye Konami. Nice knowing you.
Konami is dead to me.
Glad I went FIFA 16
I thought people would be more annoyed at Konami turning microtransactions on PC into a temporary thing. If you don’t use it, you lose it.
What?!
How is that even possible?!
You buy, then there is an expiry on the item you purchased so that if you do not use the item/unlock code/whatever in game after a period of time, it disappears and you have to purchase again? They’ve been doing this with preorder DLC for years, just that the time limit is like 2 years or something…
It’s news like this that makes me think the Devil and the CEO of EA have decided to just be friends.
Fuck you, Konami.
#FucKonami
Just because it’s free, it doesn’t mean you should half ass it