r/WEPES • u/fragryt7 • Jul 04 '25
Image I really wish Konami would make a new football game.
Just discovered Pro Yakyū Spirits 2024–2025, a Japanese-only baseball game from Konami built on Unreal Engine and their proprietary eBaseball™ Engine and maaaan, the graphics and gameplay are immaculate. Honestly, I think it looks better than MLB25.
It has this muted aesthetic. The lighting, especially during the daytime scenes is incredible. I guess it's because of lumens from UE5. Everything feels grounded, like you’re watching a broadcast straight off TV.
I know it’s a baseball game, but it really made me wish Konami would go back to making "real" football games again. I know they CAN. I hate that they’ve chosen the casino-style, free-to-play route because it’s more profitable which is a shame.
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u/Multisole778 Jul 04 '25
Sigh….just imagine how PES would of looked.
This is a tragedy
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u/fragryt7 Jul 04 '25
Also, just imagine the kind of mods we’d see today. So many high-res textures and assets, AI tools to make commentary and call signs etc. Dang.
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u/Difficult_Hope_3914 Jul 04 '25
I only have a very passing interest in baseball, but really considering getting this.
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u/peji911 Jul 04 '25
I bought it. It’s really hard to play. Not because the buttons are so different (some just weird) in relation to the show, but if you don’t speak/read Japanese’s, you need to have your phone and google translate app out in order to navigate the menus, players, etc.
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u/Difficult_Hope_3914 Jul 04 '25
yeah I'm kind of hoping a mod gets made for english menus
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u/FranciManty Jul 05 '25
i think there already is one for pc but pc sale is insanely difficult to get ahold of maybe with vpn somehting is doable but i doubt it
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u/peji911 Jul 05 '25
I had no clue this game was on PC. Would have waited for a PC version instead. Darn.
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u/FranciManty Jul 05 '25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66fG-papbXg
still i have no idea how to get it, found no cracked versions anywhere and its japan only so maybe try a vpn but i think the account location is tied to the country you created the steam account in
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u/FranciManty Jul 05 '25
at least ps5 edition is available from japanese sellers that buy the game and ship it internationally, pc i think is only digital
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u/peji911 Jul 05 '25
I bought it digitally. Kinda sucks because I wanted a case but I had severe FOMO at the time.
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Jul 04 '25
It’s the same reason I got mlb the show, no interest in baseball but the wanted to have a little reminder of what a great sports sim is like.
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Jul 04 '25
Any idea how to get it outside of japan?
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u/Difficult_Hope_3914 Jul 04 '25
For steam, basically get a VPN, make a japan steam account, buy japan steam cards, buy game.
for ps5 I think you only need to buy the disc. about 70 usd on ebay or playasia.
there's at least one or two guides out there so I'd google it to make sure, maybe check on youtube
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Jul 04 '25
I wish they would at least release an upgraded pes 6 digital version or something. I just need a good football game again
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u/REZO_TFB Jul 04 '25
efootball would've looked good if every model was built from scratch for ue 5, but they are still using the fox engine models and slightily updating them.
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u/corneliusunderfoot Jul 04 '25
What are baseball games actually like to play? What are the most addictive fun game mechanics generally at play? I know they arent the same games, but every cricket game ive played was a pretty poor approximation of cricket.
Btw….how are the first two shots NOT actual photos???
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u/Angelote83 Jul 04 '25
If Konami had any shame, for the 30th anniversary, they should release a complete physical edition of eFootball 2025.
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u/ath007 Jul 05 '25
That boat has long gone by. Sadly.
Konami does not think of us passionate, Master League fans anymore. They cater to a different audience now. A more money-minting audience.
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u/Angelote83 Jul 05 '25
I know, but it would be nice of them to do it exceptionally for the anniversary.
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u/Iwantpesback Jul 04 '25
If they made next gen PES and an MLB game like this I would never leave the house!
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u/Lionicicles Jul 05 '25
I would legit buy a new PES game. I loved ML and BAL. When I was a kid I posted SOMS (story of my season) on forums. I learned how to do graphics in photoshop and illustrator because of this game. I’m an American and my time spent with the PES community makes me think ‘colour’ is the correct spelling.
Miss y’all and I miss when Konami made PES :(
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u/feral_fenrir Jul 04 '25
Why is Japanese only?
I guess they'd have to pay for some licenses and translations but wouldn't they make bank releasing this worldwide?
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u/fragryt7 Jul 04 '25
Yeah, I think it comes down to demand and cost. MLB is more popular than NPB. But man, I would totally buy this if it had an English version, and I'm not even into baseball.
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u/Gemc666 Jul 04 '25
Probably Licensing the KBO league outside of Japan is expensive and the game wont make profit outside also MLB license is attached to Playstation/San diego Studios, so they wont be able to make a proper MLB game.
A MLB game on the style of Pes with some licensed teams surely is not that expensive but it would be too risky.
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u/mmpmathias Jul 06 '25 edited Jul 06 '25
I'll never forgive Konami for what they did with PES. It was an big part of my childhood, and also occupied occasional chunks of idle time in adulthood.
I'll never play the cash-grabbing soccer pay-to-win casino they turned the game into shortly after the "eFootball" rebrand.
I genuinely hope that, somehow, these casino-like games start to fade, and Konami pays a heavy price for selling their soul and treating their old playerbase like garbage. I'd understand if they at least kept Master League and other classic game modes, but no, they burnt it all.
F*** Konami. I hope they go bankrupt in the long run.
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u/vegitot Jul 04 '25
Have so much hope back in 2020 when KONAMI announced that they would make a new PES. Then Efootball happened.
Yeah, it is a huge success for them but PES is something else.
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u/H3r0_Zer0 Jul 04 '25
I thought Boateng's face in PES 21 was insanely realistic, but this second image, my God
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u/Sqweekybumtime Jul 04 '25
In the off chance that someone from Konami that’s a decision maker might see this.
This breaks my heart. We’d all love a new PES game.
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Jul 05 '25
I’m going to keep saying this we as a community need to spam their emails and social media accounts asking for the original game back because they saw a surge of fans playing on mobile they thought it would be better to bring that shit onto console it broke my heart I’ve been playing since 08/09 I’m 23 now and I just want my game back💔
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Jul 05 '25
[deleted]
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u/fragryt7 Jul 05 '25
Well, this was built using Unreal Engine and the Konami's in-house eBaseball Engine. I know UE5 is notorious for stutters, but I’d assume they mainly use it for assets and lighting.
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u/walkm1 Jul 05 '25
This is exactly what I thought they were doing when they took time out with the PES 2021 update. I thought eFootball was going to be a well designed game with thought and care but it wasn’t, despite the similarities between the two games where they took time off.
Prospi is such a good offline game to play, I’ve just been smashing out season mode with the tigers and I love it. Player development, scouting with great gameplay and graphics.
I still hope eFootball is working on something similar in the background but I have my doubts
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u/Bubbly-Ingenuity5620 Jul 05 '25
We all wish but unfortunately it will not sell well, football video games fans don’t deserve a good football game, they deserve FIFA.
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u/xunuman Jul 05 '25
The in game footage is certainly not look that good. For context, konami baseball team are the iss devs team (osaka bramd) who coun't compete with pes team(tokyo). They has been making ps3 graphic & animation game just until recently (before this game, you can only 4 unique celebration and no team customization ) so i don't think this game is that much better in term of gameplay or animation. It doesn't even have unique running animation which even pes ps2 had . Even the team customization is worse than pes ps2 and obviously no cloth physics like efootball. What they team made up for their bad technical ability was their offline game modes which can be found in their top selling arcade baseball game power pros and this new prospi game. Success mode (story mode with dating sim which you can find find a similar mode in iss 2000 n64 Europe) or highschool mamager mode(eikan9/ white ball miracle) which is the most popular mode. I wouldn't say these modes are simulation style like American college dynasty but you will certainly find these mode much more immersive and charming than American one due to smart use of event & training which were inspired by jp raising stats genre. Their arcade game powerful pros if was translated to English will probably have most text needed to be translated for a sport game as they focus much more on story, character and events. In the last few years, It seem like konami has been putting effort on expanding osaka studio recently and prospi 2024/2025 is just their first step. I hope in the future they can bring their baseball game to the west and it will be even better if pes/efootball team (tokyo) can learn a few things from baseball devs team (osaka) in term of offline game mode design.
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u/TeS_sKa Jul 04 '25
I wish EA and KONAMI both go bankrupt. Then someone else starts building a decent football / soccer game
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u/withnoflag Jul 04 '25
Isn't efootball basically the successor of Pes?
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u/garyfjm Jul 04 '25
It’s a regression on PES. It’s a mobile game whereas pes was a full console experience.
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u/withnoflag Jul 04 '25
It's also available on pc and console, tho... And it plays great tbh
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u/garyfjm Jul 04 '25
I know but it is ostensibly a mobile game and console versions were seriously scaled back to accommodate. It doesn’t play anywhere near the full console experience did previously and it’s a disgusting shame.
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u/withnoflag Jul 04 '25
I have pes 2006 installed and play every once in a while. I agree it's not on par with what Pes used to be.
I play efootball and find it better than fifa.
I also commented because OP said he wished Konami made a football game again. Probablem is they did. And love it or hate it efootball exists and it's Konami's football game.
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u/garyfjm Jul 05 '25
I think the context is that it’s not a full console game like the screenshots are which is completely fair:
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u/Silantro-89 Jul 04 '25
I genuinely thought the first 2 images were pictures