The release of eFootball wasn't quite overwhelming. Konami got a lot of criticism for its Free to play title. However, eFootball is at the forefront when it comes to download numbers.
The release of eFootball caused a lot of... let's say... excitement. Wait, that sounds too positive. It caused a lot of frustration. That's right. The fact that the Konami franchise became Free to Play wasn't the announcement the community was hoping for. Maybe it was a decision made out of sheer desperation. EA Sports is getting bigger and bigger with FIFA, breaking its own records every year. Since the war over the licenses of the big leagues is slowly becoming too expensive, the Japanese publisher had to come up with something else. The new strategy worked fine for the downloads... but not for the game.
eFootball was the F2P game with the most downloads in Europe in September 2021. Although the numbers are limited to the PlayStation, the console is the front-runner among the platforms for football simulations. So these figures are reliable. "Wait, the game came out on September 30th! How is this possible? Witches and black magic!" Football rules the world, my friend. It's that simple. eFootball generated more downloads in just one day than the other games in the ranking during the whole month. But what do these numbers show? Against which games did eFootball compete? Let's look at some sweet details!
eFootball Has More Downloads Than Fortnite
In September, eFootball smashed games like Fortnite, Genshin Impact, Rocket League or Call of Duty: Warzone. But why is that? It certainly has nothing to do with the quality of the game. The football simulation simply had an unfair advantage: when a huge brand is about to be released that is suddenly free to play, it's no surprise that its ranking that high. For example, eFootball would have no chance at all against a release of Fortnite 2.
In addition, the closest competitor plays quite a big role as well in this scenario. Many players have repeatedly threatened to skip one FIFA to make a statement and give Konami's game a chance. FIFA 22 also has to struggle with annoying bugs, regardless of whether it is the invincible goalkeepers, the OP bug shots or the missing FUT Champions Player Picks. EA Sports has done everything to make its community run away once again. And Konami did everything possible to send them back to FIFA.
The hype about eFootball disappeared on the first day. The download record was only possible because of the F2P model. Of course, the game can still appear in the ranking in October. However, the numbers do not speak for the success of the game. Konami has already apologized to its community and announced major patches. Let's see if eFootball can escape its black hole. You can find our review of the eFail right here!
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