Konami to end partnership with UEFA

Chuny

Chuny

-
11 December 2007
https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/about-uefa/administration/marketing/news/newsid=2551744.html


A ten year sponsorship partnership between Konami and UEFA will come to an end following the UEFA Champions League final in Kyiv.

The 2018 UEFA Champions League final in Kyiv will mark the end of a very successful and fruitful 10-year partnership between Konami and the UEFA Champions League.
The UEFA Champions League offered the perfect media and activation platform for Konami and has been a key feature within its world-renowned Pro Evolution Soccer video game.

Commenting on the end of this long-standing partnership, Guy-Laurent Epstein, marketing director of UEFA Events SA, said: "Konami has been a strong licensing partner for the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, with our competition brand being heavily featured within the video game and as part of the popular Konami-organised UEFA Champions League e-sports tournaments’.

"It has been a very cooperative and mutually beneficial partnership. UEFA would like to thank Konami for its tremendous commitment and support to UEFA club competitions for the last decade and we look forward to continuing to work with Konami in the sphere of UEFA national team football."

Jonas Lygaard, senior director of brand & business development for Konami Digital Entertainment B.V. said: "The UEFA Champions League licence has given us a platform to create unique experiences and provide football fans from all over the world with an opportunity to enjoy this competition first-hand.

"This year, however, we will shift our focus into other areas. We will continue to explore alternative ways UEFA and Konami can continue to work together, as our relationship remains strong."
Click to expand...

So... this is it.
 
Woof, that's a bummer. And yes, we may be nearing the end times of PES. I am surprised it has lasted as long as it has.
 
It could be a gift and a curse at the same time.
Why a curse? Well we all know what losing the Europa League and the Champions League licenses mean.
But why a gift? I think this forces Konami to bring their A-game. No more half-baked games. In order for any kid or any adult to want to spend their money on PES from now on, they must really push it forward and be creative. Or else, PES 2019 could really see the curtains closing.

One thing that got my attention though is how they decided to portray the news: KONAMI ENDED the deal with UEFA.
Not UEFA ended it with Konami. Not KONAMI AND UEFA decided to end it. It's almost as if they wanted us to know UEFA is not to blame for this, Konami is.
 
I'll buy PES if konami somehow manage to make a good game. I have no problem playing Fifa CM with its unlicensed "champions cup". If losing licences means they can shift their focus back to gameplay as a selling point it could even be good news. If the game is bad, then the licence doesn't matter anyway. That's just me though. :)
 
Last edited:
i guess by signing a lot of exclusive club partnerships in the last few years they were kinda getting ready for it? so they surely have to try harder now dut i don't think that this means the end of pes
 
So, the only real licensing deal Konami could throw in the face of EA is gone (and will probably end up at EA).

Now, the old stronghold of "game play no. 1"-PES players is a tough old group but it is also freaking tiny. Many of us in here could be convinced to play Blue Balls Utd vs. Red Dongs City if the game play was flawless, but there is hardly enough of us to maintain an annual game series.
Make no mistake, this is the beginning of the end.
 
Making it more editable if it's possible on consoles will help but sales will be impacted for certain especially in Europe. Maybe Konami walked away but I would expect they were priced out
 
I'm hoping this is a blessing in disguise, they need to show innovation and ambition in other areas now. My only worry is that EA will somehow try too shut down the editing options somehow (hopefully impossible) or at least that we, like now, can use edited kits/logos online.
 
Isslander said:
I suspect they ended it because they know they will be ending the whole thing very soon anyway.
Click to expand...
Won't be a great loss. Pes for me has been irrelevant for years. Better have no Pes than these games that share nothing with the quality of the good old Pes.
 
Isslander said:
Now, the old stronghold of "game play no. 1"-PES players is a tough old group but it is also freaking tiny. Many of us in here could be convinced to play Blue Balls Utd vs. Red Dongs City if the game play was flawless, but there is hardly enough of us to maintain an annual game series.
Make no mistake, this is the beginning of the end.
Click to expand...
If they make a genuinely brilliant game (from a gameplay perspective) - and bring the Master League into the 21st century - maybe there's the slimmest chance that the 90s could happen again (i.e. PES "winning", in sales). Especially if EA end up with the license (it's not really an "if" though, is it) and decide to let the game stagnate for the next ten years.

Given PES 2018, though, I've got to say. I think you're right.
 
Statement by the commercial director of #PES: "This year, however, we will focus on other areas and we will continue to explore other ways for UEFA and Konami to continue working together because our relationships remain strong ."

This bit though: "...we will continue to explore other ways for UEFA and Konami to continue working together"
Could be simple damage control or it could be something they already have talked about and, who knows, maybe it's some kind of shared license for both games. Maybe one game gets the CL and the other one gets the EL. Who knows...
 
Chuny said:
One thing that got my attention though is how they decided to portray the news: KONAMI ENDED the deal with UEFA.
Not UEFA ended it with Konami. Not KONAMI AND UEFA decided to end it. It's almost as if they wanted us to know UEFA is not to blame for this, Konami is.
Click to expand...

I think it's most likely that UEFA wanted too much money. EA were in the wings and going to add at least one 0 to whatever figure was on the table from Konami, and Konami walked away. I suppose it's more fuel for the whole 'Big nasty EA versus noble little Konami' rubbish that still gets spouted.
 
Chuny said:
Statement by the commercial director of #PES: "This year, however, we will focus on other areas and we will continue to explore other ways for UEFA and Konami to continue working together because our relationships remain strong ."

This bit though: "...we will continue to explore other ways for UEFA and Konami to continue working together"
Could be simple damage control or it could be something they already have talked about and, who knows, maybe it's some kind of shared license for both games. Maybe one game gets the CL and the other one gets the EL. Who knows...
Click to expand...

Or that there'll be European Championship 2020 DLC/standalone game.
 
EA killed the 2k NFL series if I remember correct by get the sole rights to the NFL, it's the way they work. That's a bit different though since NFL is everything when it comes to American football but the tactics are the same.
 
Another problem with this is how heavily Konami have leaned on the few licenses they have. Remote tribes in Bolivia probably know that Dortmund was licensed for PES 2018. Holy mother did they lean on that (Liverpool, too.) So what are people going to do with that freshly licensed Dortmund? Certainly not play in the Bundesliga. But they did have that nice Champions League (and EL) license...

You can edit the teams with the help of awesome folks on the internet but again, the number of people that actually want to go through that (very easy) work is low.
 
It’s not like UEFA ever got us club licenses. Konami still had to directly contact all of them. But still it was the only thing it had over FIFA in terms of licenses.
 
PES94 said:
It’s not like UEFA ever got us club licenses. Konami still had to directly contact all of them.
Click to expand...
All of that was definitely in preparation for this day, I reckon. The good thing about a ten-year license is that you know with about three years left whether you're realistically going to be able to renew it or not, and if not, you can start doing what you can to live without it.

But out of the box, playing with e.g. a licensed Liverpool in an unlicensed England League is just shiiiiiit, from an aesthetic point of view. Real shirts v T-shirts. There is literally no point to that club license IMO - except for the stadium.

When the whole game is anonymised, though (Manchester Reds and all that), it'd be better if we could just build a generic stadium that looks similar to it - if they then invested the money they'd saved on the license back into programmers, and gameplay.

But it will go straight into the back pocket.

More than anything, I think the club licenses are marketing tools as far as Konami are concerned. Maybe they think a lot of people in Liverpool buy PES because it's the Liverpool FC game. I'm betting they haven't...
 
Isslander said:
Woof, that's a bummer. And yes, we may be nearing the end times of PES. I am surprised it has lasted as long as it has.
Click to expand...

Totally agree.
EA have clearly snapped it up so that leaves Konami with....not a lot.
Not many people want PES anymore. Ive just bought PC and thought id get PES18 for it. Was amazed to find it on CDkeys for £7.99! Fifa was £24.99.
 
P34SEMM said:
Totally agree.
EA have clearly snapped it up so that leaves Konami with....not a lot.
Click to expand...
Indeed, don't even have the full league licenses apart from Ligue 1 and the Dutch League, im sure fifa will slowly start to take all the big clubs aswell with exclusive licences.

Id like to hope this means PES can put more focus on Gameplay, Masterleague and editing as these are what made up for the lack of licenses with pes 3,4,5,6. Im sure it will be more focus on bloody myclub instead...
 
Lost faith in EA long time ago. Sucks that there won't be a world cup game and rumours say PC wont even get WC game.

But, the condition of Konami is far worse than EA right now. They are literally killing their games [Metal Gear, Castlevania]. I think they will screw up with PES aswell. Afterall, all they want is mobile games. Don't be surprised if Konami decides to make PES only for mobiles.

No wonder they are giving up.
 
  • "We will continue to explore alternative ways UEFA and Konami can continue to work together, as our relationship remains strong."
damn thats like a girlfriend telling a guy "its ok we can still be friends" when she dumps him lol
 
I think this is not a joke that this is the end of PES brand as they have registered the "eFootball" brand... but it may just be a name of the so-called "e-sports" competition.
 
saintric said:
  • "We will continue to explore alternative ways UEFA and Konami can continue to work together, as our relationship remains strong."
Click to expand...

"We will continue to explore alternative ways" = If we had the slightest clue, we wouldn't need to do any exploring, would we?

"our relationship remains strong" = We still have each others' phone number and UEFA's bank account details. No one blocked anyone on facebook.
 
Last edited:
SiuMing said:
they have registered the "eFootball" brand...
Click to expand...

giphy.gif
 
saintric said:
  • "We will continue to explore alternative ways UEFA and Konami can continue to work together, as our relationship remains strong."
damn thats like a girlfriend telling a guy "its ok we can still be friends" when she dumps him lol
Click to expand...

LOL. Yeah...
Or more like "I don't want to be in a relationship RIGHT NOOWW...... but we can still see each other" = I want to fuck anyone I want without any strings attached. But hey, you might be one of them so cheer up!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom