14 DAY TRIAL // Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 is going back to the basics of the franchise and aims to emulate the popularity of classic titles like PES 5 or 6, according to Konami's European Brand Manager, Adam Bhatti.
The PES series has been around for quite some time, and the franchise from Konami has had a few years in which it managed to overtake Electronic Arts' FIFA series in terms of sales and popularity. However, in recent times, things haven't been so good for the Japanese developer, with the series losing fans in Europe and other parts of the world.
With PES 2015, Konami hopes to implement a turnaround, especially since it's focusing on creating a great feeling game instead of a great looking one.
According to European Brand Manager Adam Bhatti, with PES 2014, the studio focused on the visuals depicted by the Fox Engine and lost sight of the actual gameplay quality, which garnered it a lot of attention in previous years.
"With PES 14, we had a new engine – Fox Engine – that we were trying to incorporate and many of the gameplay feelings of PES were just lost really, because we were trying to make a game that looked beautiful," Bhatti told Videogamer. "But really, PES has been known for playing the beautiful game but not really caring about... how we moved, having the most accurate animation."
"[Earlier PES titles] definitely captured certain things, like a player run, for example, but it was super responsive and that allowed you to be very instinctive when you played. [In] PES 14, you had to think two seconds before you were going to do something because the animation would play out, and that's not PES."
As such, with the new Pro Evolution Soccer game of this year, Konami wants to go back to the golden days of the series and emulate the sharp behavior seen in PES 5 or 6.
"So for us, [PES 2015 is] about going back to the basics, going back to why you played PES in the first place. PES 5 and PES 6 have been earmarked by us, mainly because it's that era where the fans still say to us, 'That's when you guys were good, that's when you guys were the best.'"
However, this doesn't mean that Konami is just repackaging those old experiences and fitting them into the new Fox engine. Instead, Bhatti promises that the same feeling will be present in the new game, which is set to debut on PS4 and Xbox One this fall.