‘PES 2021’ release date: Konami finally uses Unreal Engine but not for this year’s ‘PES’

Konami has broken its silence about the future of the “Pro Evolution Soccer,” and it just announced some drastic changes that will take effect this year. “PES 2021” will not be a full game release, but the future still seems bright as “PES 2022” is being developed using Unreal Engine.

Next full ‘PES’ is an Unreal Engine project, but it won’t arrive in 2020

Avid fans of the “PES” franchise have been asking Konami to make the switch from Fox Engine to Unreal Engine, and the developer finally listened. This week, Konami announced that it decided to scale down its plans for this year as it finishes its “next-generation football title.” The only downside to this is that fans will have to wait until “PES 2022” to see the result of this long-requested development change.

The announcement came with a minute-long video that flashes the Unreal Engine logo at the beginning, thus, confirming Konami is ditching its own development engine for “PES 2022.” Most of the responses to this confirmation are very positive, which only shows how much fans have been waiting for this change to happen.

Konami has big promises for “PES 2022,” including major updates on the myClub and Master League gameplay along with making player models and overall animations much more realistic. This move is hardly surprising now that the world is anticipating the release of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

The developer added that “testing” for “PES 2022” should be available in mid-2021, which likely refers to an official demo of the game. Konami did not mention a fall release window but confirmed the next game will be released before 2021 ends.

Konami confirms ‘PES 2021’ as standalone ‘season update’ only

It had been known for a while now that “PES 2021” is going to be released as just a “season update.” But what Konami confirmed this week is that it will not be free content, unlike the UEFA Euro 2020 update that was added to the game for free last month.

Konami has yet to reveal the price of “PES 2021” as well as its specific release date. But the developer said, “We are pleased to announce that this year's PES will launch at an affordable anniversary price and will also come with several bonuses.”