Konami and UEFA have announced that they will be parting ways following the completion of the 2018 UEFA Champions League final in Kyiv, putting an end to a lucrative 10-year partnership.
The UEFA Champions League has been a major selling point of Konami’s multi-million selling Pro Evolution Soccer franchise, which regularly goes head-to-head with Electronic Arts’ FIFA series as the nation’s footie favourite. Whether or not this means EA will be swooping in to claim the feature for its own franchise remains to be seen.
Despite the news, Konami’s Senior Director of Brand & Business Development, Jonas Lygaard, revealed that the publishing giant is looking at other ways both companies can ‘continue to work together,’ assuring that the relationship between Konami and UEFA ‘remains strong.’
‘Konami has been a strong licensing partner for the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, with our competition brand being heavily featured within the video game and as part of the popular Konami-organised UEFA Champions League e-sports tournaments,’ added UEFA Events SA’s Marketing Manager, Guy-Laurent Epstein.
‘It has been a very cooperative and mutually beneficial partnership. UEFA would like to thank Konami for its tremendous commitment and support to UEFA club competitions for the last decade and we look forward to continuing to work with Konami in the sphere of UEFA national team football.’
Konami is expected to release a new Pro Evolution Soccer game later this year, although details on the title have yet to be confirmed.
