After a release that saw eFootball 2022 become the worst-rated game on Steam, Konami has apologized for the game's state on launch and promised improvements over the coming months. eFootball is the new replacement for Konami's long-standing Pro Evolution Soccer series, and has so far received a much more negative reception than its predecessor. Pro Evolution Soccer had released yearly for more than two decades before its replacement by eFootball, and many fans had misgivings about the new direction even before the release.
The biggest change from Pro Evolution Soccer to eFootball was the design of the new game as free-to-play. Microtransactions were a part of the most recent PES games, but they were included to a far greater extent in eFootball. Fans of the old series worried about the changes before eFootball's release, but a host of other problems became apparent when footage of eFootball first leaked. Poor animations, uncanny character models, and badly-implemented physics were all on display in the video, and remained unfixed when the game officially launched.
In the face of this criticism, Konami made a public apology through the eFootball Twitter account. The statement referenced issues with in-game balance as well as problems with "cut-scenes, facial expressions, movement of players, and the behavior of the ball." It went on to apologize for users' experiences in the game, and to express Konami's commitment to improving the game moving forward. Details on the company's plan for the title moving forward remain vague, but it has announced the next steps for eFootball.
The publisher confirmed that an update with unannounced content will release in October, and that it would receive "further opinions through questionnaires to our users." It ended the announcement by stating that "we will do our utmost to satisfy as many users as possible, and look forward to your continued support of eFootball 2022." While Konami had previously announced that eFootball would have regular updates with new teams and players, this latest statement indicates that the developer is committing to bug fixes and general improvements as well.
While the team behind eFootball 2022 has said it will do whatever it can to make the game better, the title is unlikely to radically improve by the next update. The physics engine, character models, animations, and other aspects of the game would all need to be reexamined to fix the complaints players have had, which would be difficult to achieve within the next month. Even before the changes with eFootball, the PES series fell well behind its competitor FIFA in sales. Whether fixes are made to the game or not, that status is unlikely to change in the near future after eFootball's poor first impression.
Source: eFootball/Twitter