As a free-to-play game, eFootball has incentive to faff with its formula in order to attract the attention of potential new players.
And one solution it’s found is to go full Captain Tsubasa with a new Naruto crossover that’s attracting a strong reaction from fans.
The event introduces a bunch of stadium decals and accoutrements, which you can use to decorate your home field with all sorts of anime characters and references.
But in addition, it also adds collaboration player cards featuring real-life footballers like Neymar Jr and Takefusa Kubo.
Not only do these include ridiculous celebration animations when you score, but you’ll also be able to trigger ‘Stunning Shots’, which add lightning effects and other paraphernalia to your long-range screamers.
Unsurprisingly, purists are not particularly enamoured with the change.
“Very cool, Konami,” one wrote on social media. “You ruined my favourite game.”
Others have pointed to the decision to prioritise crossover content like this over oft-requested single player modes such as Master League, which returned recently in a time-limited stripped-back format.
But others have leapt to Konami’s defence here, noting that fan favourites like Pro Evolution Soccer 6 had plenty of zany unlockables, like penguin and ostrich suits for example.
Despite its strong sim gameplay over the years, PES has always been a little sillier than EA Sports’ efforts, largely due to its lack of licenses.
This Naruto event is available now and will run through 14th May. It’s worth noting that the shot animations will only appear in your game, so your opponent won’t see them. Everyone will get the celebrations, though.
Personally, we’re not opposed to stuff like this.
While we can certainly appreciate there are probably better things Konami could be doing with its resources, content like this does get attention – you’re reading this article, after all – and eFootball does have the freedom to be a little more loose with its format than the more buttoned-up EA Sports FC.
