No squad update. Konami/PES shot themselves in the foot
There is some brutal truths behind Konami that really holds back PES from really being taken seriously this year. Essentially Konami have shot themselves in the foot. They have got the big things right but failed on the fundamental basics that has damaged the reputation of PES. The main controviousy being 3 month out of date squads at launch. Worse yet, information has come out that it won’t be ready until late October. This is absolutely ludicrous. I really don’t understand how you can release a football game with out of date squads. Buying new football games for updated squads is the cliche stereotype that many non football fan gamers preach. Having up to date squads in a NEW football game is not just vital but expected from all gamers, expected so much that it has become that cliche stereotype that gamers buy new iterations just for it. How could Konami not understand the importance of it? Why was they not working on updating the squads during and after the transfer window before the game launched? Or clearly not working efficiently enough. It is absolutely ludicrous and I have never heard of this before. I don’t want this point to take away anything from the gameplay and master league, because the game is fantastic ,but the incompetence of Konami to not be able to get the basic important foundations correct, really hurts the reputation of PES and gives gamers reason to not buy PES and buy FIFA.
Of course when the update arrives, this issue is irrelevant, however it will still live with me knowing that I had to wait for a game to be finished at my expense, a common trend with games these days. The general feel is they rushed the game to release earlier than FIFA to boost sales. Which appeared to have worked in terms of sales this time, but it is wrong, and fans won’t forget that. What’s pretty bad too is how the manager’s personal Twitter was the most viable option to find out news. On top of that, he has tried to justify all of this, by preaching it’s all about the gameplay. However as much as I agree gameplay is the most important part of the game, if you start taking away the core foundations and content of a game, it takes away any depth and authenticity a game can have. The developers of PES will have to be very careful with what they do in the future. I don’t want to draw to much negativity on the game because the game to the core is great, which is what makes the whole situation such a controversy, if the game sucked, no one would care. The gameplay might be fantastic, but other foundations of a game are just as important. I just hope they understand that next time.
(full review to come next month)
(full review to come next month)