gerd
Retired Footballer
Sir,
Dear Adam,
I realize that this a most unusual and very old fashioned way of contacting you. I’m not on Twitter and what i want to say is longer than what is possible on Twitter. So i write an open letter publish it on Evo-web and hope it somehow reaches you.
Who am i? I am a 53 year old Belgian (not a native English speaker, so forgive me for all the incorrect English). I play the game since PES 1 and a couple of months ago somebody on Evo-web called me one of the 4 biggest PES fanboys on this site. So it’s safe to say that i’m rather positively inclined towards the game.
Before i go further with this letter, i have to say something important. I know Adam, that you have received lots of personal insults in the past years. That is absurd. Nobody deserves internet thrashing. I’m also convinced that you have played a major role in the big steps forward that the franchise had made the last two years. Thank you very much for doing this.
Nevertheless, this is an open letter with complaints. Don’t take it personally, i see you as some sort of go between between the European fans and the Konami hierarchy in Japan. In my professional life i have learned that complaints are not a nuisance, but an opportunity to make progress.
Do we have reason to complain as PES costumers? I think we have, even as fanatics of a sports game… We got to admit, that buying a sports game year after year will always be some sort of rip-off. Fanatics like me buy the game yearly because they want to have the EPL with Bournemouth and not with QPR. We want Carpi in Serie A and Las Palmas in La Liga. This is the reason why each year we pay 60 euro’s and less so because the gameplay has evolved (there seem to be hunderds of people who still play PES6 and do these yearly updates themselves).
What we also want, and what is among the bare essentials of sports games, is having the correct squad rosters. We expect them on launchday, maybe not in the game but at least with DLC on the first day. As a fanatic i’ve pre-ordered the game and i was very disappointed when i saw that not a single transfer was done and that we had to wait more than a month for roster updates via DLC. As a long time customer i think this is unacceptable. I’m convinced that you feel exactly the same about this as most customers. After all, the last two years the franchise has taken giant leaps forwards gameplaywise, but this is totally overshadowed by something that should be merely cosmetic… On the various forums there are people who are able to do all the transfers in one or two days…so this should certainly be possible for professionals. Konami let us down here.
People who don’t have the time to do all this editing have waited for end octobre to begin their ML campaigns in order to have the correct sqaud rosters. We now know that even this was not possible for Konami. What happened is that once again a game was released too soon. Konami focused only on My Club and a release before FIFA16 and treated it’s customers like ordinary cash cows. This is inadmissable. Since PES1, i have bought every single game (on PS, Xbox and portable) even if the gameplay was attrocious (and you of all people knows that the lastgen games were attrocious, you saved us from that misery). We don’t deserve this.
Konami should think about a form of compensation for this most unprofessional behaviour (and i’m not thinking about some balls and boots, i’m thinking about a real compensation: extra game modes or extra leagues).
Should i mention the F-word and the EA-company? Yes i should. In the PS2 days Konami was the underdog and i forgvave them for the lack of licenses, i changed Roberto Larcos’ name and Merseyside Blue, because i had an abundance of time… and because Konami was the underdog. But underdogs take care of their costumers. Do you think we feel spoiled since PES6, Adam? I think you know the answer to this question. I don’t blame you for it, but i’m adressing you to pass the message to Japan…
It’s time Konami develops a totally different marketing strategy. Most fans have enough of the announcement of an announcement about an upcoming patch or DLC. The people who buy all your games and who really care about the franchise are hurt by the general sloppyness of Konami. Shall i give you a recent example?
A couple of days ago there was another annoucement of an announcement of upcoming DLC. As some sort of teaser Konami publishes pictures of Italy and Spain and their new kits. The first reaction of the fan is genuinely enthousiasm. Great, two licensed teams! But then you take a closer look and (thanks to the fantastich player models) you observe Veratti on the Italian national team picture. And then you see he has number 5 on his shorts and number 10 on his shirt. Is this important? Frankly and as a reasonable person (i hope so), no it isn’t. But it’s one of the hunderds of litle things that are wrong. Shall i give you another example? I Already said that i’m Belgian. For Japanese people we are far away and a tiny litle country. At the moment i write this, we are number one on the FIFA ranking. When i look at the Belgian squad i nthe game, i see players who have stopped as international (Ciman and i remeber well Van Buyten) or players who aren’t selected anymore (Vandenborre). There is one Belgian team in the game. As a Belgian football fan i would like to see a licensed Jupiler League, but i do understand that Konami has other priorities. After all we are a small country and (more important) a small market. So i can understand the decision to include only one Belgian team (but didn’t there used to be two Belgian teams?). Somebody at Konami opted for champions AA Gent. This is an excellent choice, that team are Belgian champions. Let’s take a look at the squad roster now. Does Gent have superstars? No. The team has good players. One of them is upcoming talent Brecht De Jaegere. He is an AMF, SMF or sometimes WB. In the game he is a CB. He never, ever played as a CB. This is the equivalent of the Real Madrid roster with Cristiano Ronaldo as a CB. IMO this is outrageous. AA Gent and the way the team is treated in the game is the benchmark for PES in Belgium… Sadly, it turns out to be a big failure and thus a marketing disaster…
Is each of these examples essential? Once again: no. Gameplay is essential and the game has taken a giant leap forward gameplaywise (athough i would love to see more fouls and still haven’t got a single penalty). I’m very happy with the gameplay. The examples that i mention are details, but there are dozens of details Konami got totally wrong. Another example: i’m playing a ML with Atletico Madrid. And in my first 7 matches, i only got one home game…Litle glitches like that spoil the game. The people who “make” the gameplay and people like you, don’t deserve this.
I guess this letter must sound very negative to you. I’m truly sorry about this. You don’t deserve this after all the efforts you’ve made to make PES a better game. Perhaps i should end this letter on a positive note and try to offer som advice for the future. As a longstanding fan of the franchise, i feel i have the right to do that.
What should you do next year?
· Release the game when it’s finished, even if that is only in november.
· Release a game that is similar to the demo and that doesn’t change after every patrch or DLC.
· Give a forum (= a server) to the community who edits things like kits, stadiums, balls and other things. If this isn’t possible due to licensing issues, communicate about it with the fans. This is important.
· Release a game with the correct squad rosters and this for each and every team. Surely in every country there are people who want to help you. I would do it for free for Belgian teams, and thousands of other people would do the same thing.
· Give us valuable DLC (new leagues).
· Try to have as much licensed leagues as possible, and why not go for leagues from litle football countries. There are thousands of players who like to play with other teams than AC Milan and Manchester United.
· Give us more stadiums.
· Make the game much more customizable (why isn’t it possible to have a European team with the Saitana stadium as home stadium in the ML?).
· Why not use gameplay sliders?
· Have an eye for details. They are less important than gameplay, but they do matter. EA has an ey for details.
· Don’t accept personal insults, but listen to fans who care about the franchise. We are your future, even old men like me.
· Take a look at the NBA2K franchise. That is an example of how a sports game should be.
I wish you and your colleagues luck with future editions of this great franchise, even if my wife will not agree with that statement.
Thanks for all the hard work and for listening to me.
Gerd De Keyser
Duffel
Belgium
Dear Adam,
I realize that this a most unusual and very old fashioned way of contacting you. I’m not on Twitter and what i want to say is longer than what is possible on Twitter. So i write an open letter publish it on Evo-web and hope it somehow reaches you.
Who am i? I am a 53 year old Belgian (not a native English speaker, so forgive me for all the incorrect English). I play the game since PES 1 and a couple of months ago somebody on Evo-web called me one of the 4 biggest PES fanboys on this site. So it’s safe to say that i’m rather positively inclined towards the game.
Before i go further with this letter, i have to say something important. I know Adam, that you have received lots of personal insults in the past years. That is absurd. Nobody deserves internet thrashing. I’m also convinced that you have played a major role in the big steps forward that the franchise had made the last two years. Thank you very much for doing this.
Nevertheless, this is an open letter with complaints. Don’t take it personally, i see you as some sort of go between between the European fans and the Konami hierarchy in Japan. In my professional life i have learned that complaints are not a nuisance, but an opportunity to make progress.
Do we have reason to complain as PES costumers? I think we have, even as fanatics of a sports game… We got to admit, that buying a sports game year after year will always be some sort of rip-off. Fanatics like me buy the game yearly because they want to have the EPL with Bournemouth and not with QPR. We want Carpi in Serie A and Las Palmas in La Liga. This is the reason why each year we pay 60 euro’s and less so because the gameplay has evolved (there seem to be hunderds of people who still play PES6 and do these yearly updates themselves).
What we also want, and what is among the bare essentials of sports games, is having the correct squad rosters. We expect them on launchday, maybe not in the game but at least with DLC on the first day. As a fanatic i’ve pre-ordered the game and i was very disappointed when i saw that not a single transfer was done and that we had to wait more than a month for roster updates via DLC. As a long time customer i think this is unacceptable. I’m convinced that you feel exactly the same about this as most customers. After all, the last two years the franchise has taken giant leaps forwards gameplaywise, but this is totally overshadowed by something that should be merely cosmetic… On the various forums there are people who are able to do all the transfers in one or two days…so this should certainly be possible for professionals. Konami let us down here.
People who don’t have the time to do all this editing have waited for end octobre to begin their ML campaigns in order to have the correct sqaud rosters. We now know that even this was not possible for Konami. What happened is that once again a game was released too soon. Konami focused only on My Club and a release before FIFA16 and treated it’s customers like ordinary cash cows. This is inadmissable. Since PES1, i have bought every single game (on PS, Xbox and portable) even if the gameplay was attrocious (and you of all people knows that the lastgen games were attrocious, you saved us from that misery). We don’t deserve this.
Konami should think about a form of compensation for this most unprofessional behaviour (and i’m not thinking about some balls and boots, i’m thinking about a real compensation: extra game modes or extra leagues).
Should i mention the F-word and the EA-company? Yes i should. In the PS2 days Konami was the underdog and i forgvave them for the lack of licenses, i changed Roberto Larcos’ name and Merseyside Blue, because i had an abundance of time… and because Konami was the underdog. But underdogs take care of their costumers. Do you think we feel spoiled since PES6, Adam? I think you know the answer to this question. I don’t blame you for it, but i’m adressing you to pass the message to Japan…
It’s time Konami develops a totally different marketing strategy. Most fans have enough of the announcement of an announcement about an upcoming patch or DLC. The people who buy all your games and who really care about the franchise are hurt by the general sloppyness of Konami. Shall i give you a recent example?
A couple of days ago there was another annoucement of an announcement of upcoming DLC. As some sort of teaser Konami publishes pictures of Italy and Spain and their new kits. The first reaction of the fan is genuinely enthousiasm. Great, two licensed teams! But then you take a closer look and (thanks to the fantastich player models) you observe Veratti on the Italian national team picture. And then you see he has number 5 on his shorts and number 10 on his shirt. Is this important? Frankly and as a reasonable person (i hope so), no it isn’t. But it’s one of the hunderds of litle things that are wrong. Shall i give you another example? I Already said that i’m Belgian. For Japanese people we are far away and a tiny litle country. At the moment i write this, we are number one on the FIFA ranking. When i look at the Belgian squad i nthe game, i see players who have stopped as international (Ciman and i remeber well Van Buyten) or players who aren’t selected anymore (Vandenborre). There is one Belgian team in the game. As a Belgian football fan i would like to see a licensed Jupiler League, but i do understand that Konami has other priorities. After all we are a small country and (more important) a small market. So i can understand the decision to include only one Belgian team (but didn’t there used to be two Belgian teams?). Somebody at Konami opted for champions AA Gent. This is an excellent choice, that team are Belgian champions. Let’s take a look at the squad roster now. Does Gent have superstars? No. The team has good players. One of them is upcoming talent Brecht De Jaegere. He is an AMF, SMF or sometimes WB. In the game he is a CB. He never, ever played as a CB. This is the equivalent of the Real Madrid roster with Cristiano Ronaldo as a CB. IMO this is outrageous. AA Gent and the way the team is treated in the game is the benchmark for PES in Belgium… Sadly, it turns out to be a big failure and thus a marketing disaster…
Is each of these examples essential? Once again: no. Gameplay is essential and the game has taken a giant leap forward gameplaywise (athough i would love to see more fouls and still haven’t got a single penalty). I’m very happy with the gameplay. The examples that i mention are details, but there are dozens of details Konami got totally wrong. Another example: i’m playing a ML with Atletico Madrid. And in my first 7 matches, i only got one home game…Litle glitches like that spoil the game. The people who “make” the gameplay and people like you, don’t deserve this.
I guess this letter must sound very negative to you. I’m truly sorry about this. You don’t deserve this after all the efforts you’ve made to make PES a better game. Perhaps i should end this letter on a positive note and try to offer som advice for the future. As a longstanding fan of the franchise, i feel i have the right to do that.
What should you do next year?
· Release the game when it’s finished, even if that is only in november.
· Release a game that is similar to the demo and that doesn’t change after every patrch or DLC.
· Give a forum (= a server) to the community who edits things like kits, stadiums, balls and other things. If this isn’t possible due to licensing issues, communicate about it with the fans. This is important.
· Release a game with the correct squad rosters and this for each and every team. Surely in every country there are people who want to help you. I would do it for free for Belgian teams, and thousands of other people would do the same thing.
· Give us valuable DLC (new leagues).
· Try to have as much licensed leagues as possible, and why not go for leagues from litle football countries. There are thousands of players who like to play with other teams than AC Milan and Manchester United.
· Give us more stadiums.
· Make the game much more customizable (why isn’t it possible to have a European team with the Saitana stadium as home stadium in the ML?).
· Why not use gameplay sliders?
· Have an eye for details. They are less important than gameplay, but they do matter. EA has an ey for details.
· Don’t accept personal insults, but listen to fans who care about the franchise. We are your future, even old men like me.
· Take a look at the NBA2K franchise. That is an example of how a sports game should be.
I wish you and your colleagues luck with future editions of this great franchise, even if my wife will not agree with that statement.
Thanks for all the hard work and for listening to me.
Gerd De Keyser
Duffel
Belgium
