With EA Playing For Another Team, FIFA Kicks Off New eSports Collaboration With Konami
Bringing eFootball to the eMasses
by Jim Norman · Nintendo LifeNow here's a move that we didn't expect. Following the split from EA, FIFA has announced that it is partnering with one-time rival Konami on a new eSports collaboration.
To be clear, this isn't to say that Konami will be taking over the FIFA license, nor that the studio's current football series, eFootball (formally PES), will be getting a rebrand. Instead, the purpose of this collaboration is to "further boost the joy of the global football community through esports". M-hmm.
How will the partnership start this joy-boosting, exactly? Well, the teams have announced two "World Cups" — or, to give it its official catchy little title, 'FIFAe World Cup™ featuring eFootball™' — for starters, which will take place on mobile and console (PS5 and PS4) this year.
The tournament qualifiers are now live, where hopefuls will have to pass three rounds of eFootball in-game events to stand a chance of representing one of the 18 national teams appearing at the event — the full qualifying conditions are laid out on the Konami website. You'll find the full list of participating countries below:
- Argentina
- Brazil
- Costa Rica
- England
- France
- India
- Indonesia
- Japan
- Korea Republic
- Malaysia
- Morocco
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Portugal
- Saudi Arabia
- Spain
- Thailand
- Türkiye
Of course, the Nintendo Switch won't have a part to play in this tournament. Konami's free-to-play eFootball is only available on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, PC and mobile for the time being, but isn't it interesting to see FIFA teaming up with Konami, nonetheless? There was a time when the FIFA and PES series were bitter rivals in the football gaming market, so it does feel a little like the federation has come crawling back with its tail between its legs after EA has left to play on greener pastures.
The latest entry in EA's newly-formed football series, EA Sports FC 25, arrived last month, and we called it "the new best football game on Switch".
Related Articles
Review EA Sports FC 25 (Switch) - The New Best Football Game On Switch
We've been to Haaland back
What do you make of this new partnership? Dribble down to the comments and let us know.
About Jim Norman
Jim came to Nintendo Life in 2022 and, despite his insistence that The Minish Cap is the best Zelda game and his unwavering love for the Star Wars prequels (yes, really), he has continued to write news and features on the site ever since.
Comments 10
- 1
- Medic_alert
- 12:15pm
Awww plop! For a second there I had hopes of a new Pro Evo game and on Switch too...
....
....
God, I hate eSports
- 3
- YaGirlSkyByte
- 1:39pm
This is just phase 1 of a long-term branding strategy that will change the face of football as we know it. The end goal? The official renaming of Liverpool FC to Merseyside Red
@Zeebor15 You mean sports games right?
@YaGirlSkyByte A football joke that goes over my head
@Samalik I know what I said
So they decided to rebrand Pro Evolution Soccer as... eFootball???
That's like Nintendo saying "You know what? Jump Game is a much better name for our Mario franchise!"
- 8
- Ryu_Niiyama
- 2:52pm
As long as you can play as women’s teams, I am in. I don’t know anything about men’s football/soccer.
- 9
- bluemage1989
- 53m ago
FIFA is irrelevant as a brand now and watching the old men who run it slowly realise that is surprisingly satisfying.
- 10
- Orpheus79V
- 14m ago
Yeah this felt obvious. Who else were FIFA going to turn to for the license? 2K? Konami already has a football game out. But this is still kind of wild to see it, given the history between FIFA and PES.
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...