PES 2011 needs to change its concept

Some may claim that they’ve heard it all before, but developer Konami has again pledged that the next version of its Pro Evolution Soccer series will feature a radical gameplay overhaul.

Speaking to Famitsu (as reported by Andriasang), the series’ lead developer Shingo ‘Seabass’ Takatsuka noted that the last release, PES 2010, came in for some harsh criticism – particularly in Europe – and promises that PES 2011 will be powered up many levels”.

Winning Eleven [as the series is known in Japan] games until now, he said, have been just extensions of the Famicom era,” Andriasang reports. Players were fine with this through the PS2, but the development staff now need to change their concepts and ideas to something more appropriate for the new generation machines like Xbox 360 and PS3.”

Konami has previously been open about the trouble it has experienced in trying to keep PES up to speed with modern sports games and has actively sought the feedback of the game’s users. Takatsuka has openly expressed his admiration of the FIFA game engine, going as far as to admit that given the chance to use EA’s tech he would think about it really seriously”.

While PES still enjoys a strong following in Japan, EA claimed late last year that its FIFA 10 has outsold Konami’s PES 2010 by a ratio of four-to-one worldwide.

Indeed, there was once a time when the latest PES release would be a year-round fixture in the UK Top Ten. At the time of writing PES 2010 sits at 23rd in the ELSPA GfK-ChartTrack All Formats Top 40.

That’s slightly better than at the same stage in 2009, when it occupied 26th. However, in the same week in 2007, PES 6 sat at number four. PES 5 was sitting at number three in the charts at the same stage in 2006.