Although eFootball PES 2021 Season Update will be only be a roster update to the existing PES 2020 game, Konami has managed to score some of soccer’s biggest names to be featured as cover stars. This year, the legends of FC Barcelona’s (as of this time of writing) Lionel Messi and Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo will appear alongside the rising stars of Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies and Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford.
Both Messi and Ronaldo have appeared on the cover of PES and its rival FIFA in various years, but this year marks the first time that the two superstars have appeared together on a video game cover. Like last year, the four cover stars represent the game’s partner clubs with Ronaldo, Davies, and Rashford replacing Miralem Pjanić, Serge Gnabry, and Scott McTominay respectively.
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This decision comes as a response to EA making PSG’s Kylian Mbappé the cover star for FIFA 21. The competing games appear to be heading in drastically different directions this year as evidenced by their release strategies.
While FIFA 21 is touting new features such as Career Mode improvements, PES 2021 will merely be a roster update with no plans to release on PS5 or Xbox Series X. Konami cited the need to prepare for the release of next-gen consoles.
Part of this preparation process includes the switch in game engine from Fox Engine to Unreal Engine 5. Though Fox Engine has provided great visuals for PES in its lifetime, there is immense potential in Konami using Unreal Engine 5 and how this new game engine can finally be the major advantage over FIFA.
eFootball PES 2021 Season Update will be available for PC, PS4, and Xbox One on September 15.
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