Lionel Messi has had enough, with the Argentine reportedly wanting to leave Barcelona after another year of humiliation in the Champions League, this time at the hands of Bayern Munich.
The footballing icon’s desire to leave Barcelona has sparked loads of speculation about which club he could join, with clubs like Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan all mentioned as possible destinations. Messi’s potential exit from Barcelona could have a huge impact on the footballing landscape, but it could also have a huge impact on the gaming landscape too, with FIFA 21 and PES 2021 (season update) likely to be impacted.
Click here to subscribe to Level up! The Esports and Gaming Show on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spreaker.
EA’s hugely popular FIFA gaming franchise had Lionel Messi as their main cover star for four straight years, from FIFA 13 to FIFA 16 (2012-2015), with the now 33-year-old enjoying huge success during that particular period, winning two Ballon d’Ors, two La Liga titles, a Champions League trophy and scored an astonishing 91 goals in a calendar year for the club in all competitions.
But Messi’s FIFA cover star dominance ended in July 2016, with Barcelona announcing that Konami, makers of the Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) gaming franchise, had become an official premium partner of the club in what was an initial three-year deal. This deal saw Messi and his teammates dominate future PES covers, from PES 2017 to PES 2021. In June 2019, Barcelona announced a further four-year deal with Konami until 2023.
(Image: EA/Konami)
FIFA turned to Borussia Dortmund’s Marco Rues as the cover star for FIFA 17, with Messi’s long-term rival Cristiano Ronaldo featuring on the covers of FIFA 18 and FIFA 19, with Virgil Van Dijk and Eden Hazard taking over for FIFA 20. Recently, Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe was confirmed as the FIFA 21 cover star, which is due for release later this year.
So if Messi does leave Barcelona this summer, Konami have a massive problem. Their latest release, PES 2021 (season update) isn’t actually a completely new game, as it’s essentially PES 2020 with updated transfers, kits etc, as they’re focusing on a big next-gen release in 2021.
The thing is, Messi is a huge part of the current and future success of the PES gaming franchise, with the Argentine featuring as a cover star and the face of the FC Barcelona Club Edition of the 2021 game, which includes an Iconic Moment Series version of Messi from 2007. More importantly, it’s pretty certain that Messi will be the cover star for their big next-gen release next year. So, if he was to leave, it would be a huge blow for Konami.
Konami’s deal with Barcelona allows advertising to appear both inside and outside of the Camp Nou, and the company have access to the players, benefit from visibility on match days and is granted exclusive rights to recreate Camp Nou in its eFootball PES 2020 titles. Konami as also Barcelona’s Official eSports Football Video Gaming Partner, which includes possible collaborations in the organisation of future esports events.
Worst still, if Messi was to complete a transfer to Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain this summer, both City and PSG are premium partners with EA, which would theoretically leave the door open for Messi to appear on the cover of FIFA 21, or any future FIFA releases and future promotion materials.
According to Gamestat.com, as of August 23, 2020, FIFA 20 currently has 34.6m total player count on PS4 only, with PES 2020 only having a mere 4.7m total player count on the same platform. Even allowing for some variation in the numbers, it’s clear that FIFA is currently by far and away the more popular gaming title, and Messi’s departure from Barcelona could make the gap between FIFA and PES even bigger.
Whether Messi will leave Barcelona this summer remains to be seen, but if he does leave Camp Nou, the impact would be gigantic both on the real-life pitch and the virtual one.
No comments:
Post a Comment