We interviewed Lennart Bobzien, European PES Brand Manager, to learn more about PES 2021 and what we can expect from its next-generation debut.
Konami surprised us during the month of July with the confirmation of his short and medium term plans. The PES brand took a step to the side for the first time in its 2021 edition; a Season Update, as they call it, that takes the gameplay of eFootball PES 2020 and adds the new features in the templates of the 20/21 season.
But they went further: PES 2022, the first of the PS5 and Xbox Series X generation, would leave the Fox Engine behind to switch to using the Unreal Engine. An authentic declaration of intentions to start this new stage on the right foot. For this reason, we interviewed Lennart Bobzien, European PES Brand Manager, by email, to find out how the situation of the coronavirus has affected the development team and what we can expect from what is to come.
FreeGameTips: How has the coronavirus crisis impacted the development of eFootball PES 2021? Was the transition to work from home easy?
Lennart Bobzien: The current situation of COVID-19 has not helped, as it slowed down the internal processes, but in general the international teams have adapted quickly. The main impact we received was due to the delay in the conclusion of the football season, which also led to the delay of the metadata for the game. However, we’ve already taken care of it and will offer a day one patch to make sure that most leagues, teams and players are up to date.
What is the situation of the team in Japan? Have you been able to retake the full job yet?
I can’t go into specific details, but the development team in Japan is working to maintain the government’s security advice.
Was eFootball PES 2021 planned from the start as an update to eFootball PES 2020? Or was it due to the current situation?
As we began planning our next-gen debut, we quickly realized that our ambitions required more development time together. As a result, we wanted to make sure that our team had the resources they needed to fully focus on it; the decision we made was to take the strategy of the Season Update.
What will happen if the seasons of the major leagues are further delayed? How will it affect the game?
While we hope for the best, we have been transparent on that: Should delays increase, some leagues may offer the 2019/20 launch season data. Our teams are well positioned to move fast and deliver the latest data as quickly as possible.
We have seen Leo Messi star in the first materials of the game. What has it been like working with the big stars in these circumstances?
It has certainly been different than usual! But as always, Messi and the rest of the players are true professionals and adapt to all situations. We are grateful to FC Barcelona and all our partner clubs for their work in these difficult times and for promoting the best of football.
Can we wait for a new licensed club until the official launch?
We don’t have anything specific to share right now, but stay tuned.
Even based on eFootball PES 2020, can we expect anything from the gameplay part? Some new movement, improvement, etc.
We cannot share specific information, but as we made clear in our first announcement, eFootball PES 2021 Season Update offers the features and gameplay of PES 2020. We will have more to reveal before its release in September, but the bottom line is the ” season update approach ”, will not change.
This year we will have the special series of Icon Moments. Can you tell us a little more about it? How many of these moments will we have at launch?
Players in the Icon Moments series are a special version of the current or legendary player. This special version reflects a moment in the player’s history that was memorable for something particular. For example, 13 years ago, Lionel Messi scored that extraordinary goal against Getafe, where he dribbled virtually all of his rivals from midfield to finish at the net. We’ve captured that moment in the series, which means we’ll have a version of the 2007 Messi including his looks and stats for that night. We will continue to build on the Icon Moments series since its debut as it brings together everything we think is special about PES.
We know it is still early days, but recently we knew the first data about the future of PES. What can the Unreal Engine offer that cannot be done with the current engine?
Unreal Engine enables our development team to see the game from other different angles and offers them more opportunities to take PES to a new level. We’ll talk more about the technicalities in the future, but it’s worth noting that we’re rebuilding our next-gen game from the ground up. It’s a really exciting time for the PES franchise and we’re doing everything we can to make sure our players can be proud of it.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of PES. What is your special moment during your time involved in the game?
It is very difficult to choose just one moment since there have been several special moments that I have lived since I worked in the eFootball PES franchise. Like the promotional sessions with players (meeting Usain Bolt in Jamaica was quite an experience), being part of developing the future of PES eSports, visiting seven countries in two weeks during the PES 2019 Press Tour or hosting the announcements from last year’s partner clubs and announce one great deal after another. Overall I would say it’s great to work closely with the international PES team and see the promising future of eFootball PES as a brand.
