Both the FIFA series from Electronic Arts and PES from Konami have been around for a long time and have consistently given their respective audiences the greatest sports gaming experience. Both were influenced by football leagues that international football teams have participated in throughout the years. The creation of the world’s top football video games has been a point of contention between the two during this time.
Despite their rivalry, FIFA’s and PES’s creators share a lot more in common with one another than you might imagine. Both of them make various efforts to appease their fan bases. This article contrasts two of the most well-known football games in order to show some of their distinctions and commonalities. After that, let’s compare FIFA and PES to see which one is superior.
About FIFA
Video game developer EA Canada created the FIFA series, which is distributed by Electronic Arts (EA). Each year, new FIFA games are launched, the most recent being FIFA 23. Their games are available in more than 51 countries throughout the world and often have more than 17 distinct languages. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the recognized regulatory body for international football, issued its first license to the FIFA series, which debuted in 1993. The game franchise is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most popular video game franchise ever in the sports sector.
It’s obvious that FIFA was always a step ahead of PES even at the start. This may be the reason FIFA received more licenses than its competitors. Permits for stadiums, players, and their respective clubs are among the licenses acquired. Since consumers like playing with actual characters, they’re accustomed to and can relate to, this helps to ensure the construction of realistic football games. FIFA is a fantastic series for this reason and a number of other reasons. FIFA outsells PES in terms of total sales, despite the fact that PES has traditionally been thought of as the superior game. Yet, it might still be a while before it has the same commercial impact as FIFA.
About PES (eFootball)
The video game series Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) is created by PES Productions and released by Konami, for the first time in 1995. Every year, a new PES game is produced; the most recent being eFootball 2023 (eFootball is rebranded from the original Pro Evolution Soccer in 2019 and is also published by Konami). But we’ll stick to the traditional moniker – PES. Players participate in competitions with the top team of their preference in these games. One of the most popular sports video game franchises globally is PES. With more than 400 million mobile downloads and more than 100 million copies sold worldwide, it is also among the best-selling sports video game franchises currently.
PES tries to portray real-life football as accurately as possible, much like FIFA does. As a result, the action in its series is exactly like association soccer, in which users manage either an individual player or an entire team. The game’s concepts line up with the football association’s rules and guidelines as well. Customers of PES can enjoy a variety of gaming experiences on console and mobile devices, including Offline, Online, and Kick-Off. Players also have a variety of modifying tools that help the games become more relatable. The series would be even more successful than it’s now if it weren’t for insufficient licensing.
FIFA vs. PES: Main Differences
The time disparity between the first launches of PES and FIFA is the most obvious distinction between the two gaming brands. This provided FIFA the opportunity to fully grow a fan base while also improving its goods over time.
PES proved able to compete, nevertheless, since their gameplay models were significantly more varied than those used by FIFA. Similarly to this, most players believe PES to be more realistic when it comes to gameplay, whereas FIFA is thought to be more elegant in terms of presentation and design.
Graphics
One of the most obvious distinctions between FIFA and PES is this. For several years now, FIFA’s visuals have regularly outperformed PES’s. FIFA games more faithfully replicate stadiums and feature more realistic player models. Although PES’s graphics have improved recently, they still fall short of FIFA’s.
Gameplay
PES definitely shines during gaming. The controls and players in PES games always have felt tighter and more responsive than in FIFA games.
Modes of the Game
PES games have never had as many features as FIFA games. The career modes, which include FIFA’s Champions League and Europa League, offer free-to-use gameplay that’s as realistic as possible.
Bravo, Manager Mode, Career Mode, and Ultimate Team are among the additional modes offered in FIFA video games. In contrast, PES makes the most of its numerous but constrained modes, such as Master League and myClub, which is comparable to FIFA’s Ultimate Team option.
Teams
FIFA has had a monopoly over genuine players, teams, and stadiums for a very long time. This has significantly improved the game’s authenticity in a manner that PES is still attempting to match. They can recreate the most genuine games conceivable because they have unrestricted access to players, team names, and logos.
Owing to Juventus and several other teams who aim to provide them with an exclusive license, PES should be capable to do the same. FIFA nonetheless continues to rule this segment.
Players
The player rosters for PES aren’t as full as players would like them to be; these limitations apply to both players and teams. To date, PES has succeeded in obtaining important players like Messi, so players won’t have as much trouble playing in major leagues with foreign teams. FIFA’s benefit is clear because all the distinctions between players and their teams are taken into account.
(Is There) Final Verdict?
It can be challenging to choose between FIFA and PES, the age-old debate among football game lovers, which recently turned into a debate among eSports aficionados as both video games entered the competitiveness between professional gamers and squads too on an international level, and it even triggered the interest of sports bettors. Furthermore, there are online sportsbooks, many of which are on this site, that have both FIFA and eFootball tournaments on their eSport games offers. This is because each has advantages and disadvantages of its own. FIFA is more well-known because it has existed for a longer period of time. Because it holds more licenses, there are more authentic teams and players in it. Moreover, FIFA has superior visuals to PES. FIFA has some issues, and some of the new features don’t always operate as planned.
In contrast, PES is frequently thought of as the more difficult game. Although it doesn’t have this many licenses as FIFA, the gameplay more than makes up for it. However, because PES has a more devoted fan base, a robust modder community that produces new players and teams has developed.
Between FIFA and PES, which football video game brand do you believe is the best? Please share your choice with us in the comments section below or on our social media pages.
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