Konami has managed to make an exclusivity deal with Italian football club Inter Milan for eFootball.
This information came via a press release that stated that the club would only be appearing in eFootball from July 2024 and “no other video game.” Additionally, a post on the Inter Milan website notes that starting with the 2022/2023 sports season, the eFootball logo “will appear on the back of the men’s, women’s and youth teams first team training kit, as well as on the pre-match kit”.
This means that key competitor FIFA (which will be changing its branding to EA Sports FC following the release of this year’s title) will need to come up with a fake name for the club. This isn’t the first time EA has had to make this pivot, renaming Juventus to Piemonte Calcio following Konami’s exclusivity claim on that club.
Konami itself has needed to use fake names for certain clubs in previous Pro Evolution Soccer games and eFootball, with Manchester City being dubbed Manchester B in their current football game amongst others.
Inter Milan will be making its debut in eFootball with the release of the 2.0.0 update for the game.
The free-to-play Pro Evolution Soccer successor was originally released on September 30 last year and was met with immediate backlash. The criticisms were strong enough to prompt Konami to make a public apology on Twitter, promising everyone that “we will take all concerns seriously and strive to improve the current situation.” The game has since received a string of updates to amend issues and continues to be supported by Konami.
In other news, a subscription service that allows players to get their Nintendo Switch up to six times a year has been launched in Japan, and costs 2,000 yen annually (£12).
