A Konami representative sharply criticizes EA Sports’ Ultimate Team mode. The battle “FIFA 19 vs. PES 19″ is gaining momentum.
FIFA vs. PES: Year after year, the major football simulations from EA Sports and Konami compete for the favor of virtual soccer fans. While the FIFA series always comes with a plethora of licenses, Konami tries to impress with gameplay that is as realistic as possible.
This year, however, the situation for Konami and PES 19 seems particularly bleak: Because while Konami held the rights to the Champions League for the last ten years, EA Sports seized the opportunity this year and secured the licenses to the most important European cup competitions. The Champions League has so far been an important arrow in the quiver for PES in the battle against FIFA’s dominance.
Nevertheless, Konami remains confident: In an interview with Kicker, Jonas Lygaard, the Senior Director of Brand & Business Development at Konami, points out the strengths of Konami – and strongly criticizes EA’s FUT mode.
In FUT, fans are urged to spend as much money as possible
Players are pressured to spend money in FUT: According to Lygaard, the Ultimate Team mode “is clearly driven by getting consumers to spend as much money as possible.” EA has consciously chosen to do it differently (than Konami), Lygaard states.
By the way, Lygaard himself worked for EA as a business analyst for five years before moving to the competition. Now he criticizes his former employer.
What is the reason for this statement? The interview was conducted at the PES League World Championships in Barcelona. While EA pumps substantial prize money into its own eSports competitions yearly, participants in the PES League compete for a fraction of that prize money. However, authentic teams are utilized in the PES League – while in FIFA competitions, FUT teams featuring assembled super teams compete against each other.
Money-making will have consequences
In doing so, Lygaard refers to a topic that is also controversially discussed in the FIFA community. Many fans complain that only those users who invest a lot of real money can build top teams and participate successfully in competitions.
In FIFA’s Ultimate Team mode, players can buy so-called “Packs” with real money, which contain randomly selected players and other items to build their Ultimate Team.
According to Lygaard, this path will have consequences. Regarding the practices of certain developers, he says: “If you become complacent in your life or lazy about your development, or no longer push yourself, you will quickly see the reality and the impact of that.” Konami, on the other hand, does not sit back and say: “That’s good, we do it, and we’ll just change nothing about it.”
PES 19 is fighting for more relevance
Why Lygaard uses these words is clear. The release of PES 19 is approaching, and such clear statements do not hurt. In his opinion, PES 19 is the better simulation anyway, as it features real teams and not fantasy teams.
However, whether fans of virtual football will let these statements influence their purchasing decisions is questionable. The FIFA series has had significantly larger sales figures in recent years. And as EA Sports continues to secure lucrative licensing deals, it seems unlikely that anything will change soon. Nevertheless, PES 19 continues to fight for more relevance.
FIFA 19 vs. PES 19 – Which game is better?
The future will tell: The gameplay of the two football simulations has divided opinions for years. Some swear by PES, others by FIFA. From August 8th, the demo of PES 19 will be available, followed by the FIFA 19 demo in mid-September. Then everyone can form their own opinion on how the gameplay differs.
Many features of the football simulations are still not known. FIFA 19, for example, will present numerous innovations only at Gamescom 2018. Nothing is yet known about FUT 19.
Whether FIFA 19 or PES 19 will ultimately be the better football simulation remains to be seen.
FIFA 19 will be released on September 28, or on September 25, 2018, with early access. PES 19, on the other hand, will hit the market nearly a month earlier, on August 30, 2018.
