Japanese video game developer Konami launched Winning Eleven in 1995. The next decade saw it transform into the gaming phenomenon that was Pro Evolution Soccer. Thirty years later, its new avatar eFootball is back on the charts, this time in mobile gaming!
The game studio recently announced that eFootball took home the “Best Ongoing” category in Google Play Best of 2025 in Japan. In India, it is not far behind, slowly crossing 100 million downloads with an aggregate 4.4 out of 5 ratings on the Google Play Store.
The first two decades of this millennium saw Konami and EA Sports battle it out to make the best football video game, leading to major advancements in eSports.
PES made FIFA games better
Konami’s eSports wing has come a long way from the days of Pro Evolution Soccer (PES), which singlehandedly and consistently outclassed the EA Sports FIFA titles in gameplay realism, depth, and offline modes when it came out in the early 2000s.
Of course, FIFA games had their purist audience. But the EA Sports focus on licenses and arcade-style play drew more criticism by the day. During that time, gaming was still a rebel activity among youngsters. We grew up at a time when we had to hoard months of pocket money or those wonderful notes our grandparents used to slip us during Diwali, Vishu, and similar festivals. And FIFA titles were costly; they needed constant hardware upgrades. For some of us, it made no sense.
In the years to come, PES 3, 4, 5, and 6 became legendary for their nuanced NPC intelligence (AI) and physics, making them favourites for serious fans and competitive gamers, especially in Asian markets like India.
Eventually, EA Sports had to double down. They had to put in the work and surpass Konami. Soon, FIFA games started getting better, more fluid, more realistic. Healthy competition made both game lines better. Gamers won. It was a golden period in eSports.
PES finally lost the battle to EA’s renewed FC titles in the past decade, and graciously bowed out. We know many gamers who mourned this. We thought we lost a legend.
Konami’s resurgence in football games was not just timely; it was pure cinema. The pandemic shot up co-op and online gaming. eSports became huge globally. In 2021, PES came out of its long hibernation, renewed, reborn. It was now eFootball. It hit consoles, PC, and mobile game stores with its shift to “game as a service” model: new features, events, real-life football updates, and fixes arrive regularly, all without a yearly purchase.
From competitors to peers
Now, eFootball is packed with features. FC games and eFootball games are two different entities, not competitors. Many enjoy both. The Dream Team mode lets you build a squad mixing your favourite current superstars and legendary icons; then you take your lineup online to test it against footballing brains from around the globe. That doesn’t tickle your fancy? How does a Co-op 3v3 sound, where friends can hop into a digital football gaming event in itself?
According to Konami, eFootball has already smashed the 900 million download mark, as it celebrates 30 years.
“It is a great honour for us,” the eFootball development said in a statement, “We sincerely thank all users worldwide for enjoying and supporting eFootball. Also, the biggest festival in football will be coming next year. Our entire development team will continue striving to deliver passionate and enjoyable football experiences.”
At thirty, eFootball is older than many gamers. Many Gen Z players of the game may not know the history and how it shaped the eSports era. But eFootball or PES always kept EA Sports on their toes with some intense competitions, which gave us some of the best titles from both gaming studios.