UEFA Euro 2016 content coming for free to Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 next year

Earlier this year Konami announced they had acquired the license to the UEFA Euro tournament which had been with EA Sports since 2000. The next one, being held in France, begins June 2016 and runs for a month. Now the publisher has announced a basic plan for how that license will be utilized. 

UEFA Euro content will be coming to Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 next year through a data pack and it will be completely free. No further details have been provided.

The every-four-years tournament was represented by a standalone product in 2000, 2004, and 2008. Though naturally those didn’t sell as much as the World Cup games, they performed well enough worldwide to justify their development. In 2012 however EA Sports decided to turn it into a digital expansion pack within FIFA 12 to disastrous results, as the company attempted to conceal that 29 of the 53 nations were unlicensed, generic representations. The discount price and add-on nature meant lesser content and resources put towards it.

With the new UEFA Euro 2016 content being free it’s fair to wonder how much of an investment Konami will actually be making. Will it be like EA’s last effort, with many of the nations not even licensed? Considering Konami is transitioning away from console development with the exception of PES and trying to cut costs that seems possible. The other concern is related to the poor track record with post-release support for the PES franchise – whether it be broken patches or the inability to even provide regular roster updates.

The UEFA Euro tournament offers an opportunity for PES to get out of FIFA’s shadow in many regions across the globe. While being a free add-on could provide incentive for new consumers to pick up the game, they’ll have to deliver something of substance for it to make any difference.