Does Konami have a surprise this year and release PES 2022 as a free-to-play game? A recent rumor suggests this.
PES 2022 going full Free-To-Play later this year
Konami has not found a really suitable means in the past few years to be able to counter the superiority of FIFA in terms of sales figures. Building on this, it can be safely assumed that the sales figures for FIFA 22 and PES 2022 will once again be very far apart.
But what if Konami stopped selling the soccer game and instead offered it for free? That rumor is currently making the rounds. The speculation was triggered by statements from VGC’s Andy Robinson, who emphasized in the latest VGC Off The Record podcast that Konami will do things differently this year and “flickering to life.”
“Konami are flickering to life and there’s also gonna be new stuff with PES this year I hear. They are gonna go properly free-to-play and really change it up this year,” said Robinson, referring to the recently announced online playtest for an unspecified Konami soccer game as the show progressed. There was little doubt that it was PES 2022.
A complete free-to-play concept would be a big change for the popular soccer franchise. For years, FIFA was the top dog in the premium soccer game market. And with the move to free-to-play, PES 2022 could open up a new audience and make the player base larger than ever before.
While it must first be confirmed whether the current rumors have anything to do with reality, Konami is striving in other places to make the upcoming football game PES 2022 more attractive. The company is investing more and more in-licenses and partnerships.