A reality check on the UK market…
We all raised an eyebrow when we heard the release date of PES was just a week away from FIFA here in the UK. Confidence in their product is one thing, but the prospect of going against the more popular FIFA series on these shores would have been a daunting one.
The reality of the situation revealed itself bluntly this morning, when reports came through that not only did PES 2011 fail to budge FIFA 11 from the top spot (despite a massive 63% drop off in sales), it was soundly beaten into second place by its rival.
Reports from Europe are much more promising, with PES 2011 performing excellently against EA’s juggernaut, released the same day in mainland Europe. The figures do show however just how huge the UK market is, and how winning back the faithful here will be a difficult task.
I hope the difference this year is that goodwill and word of mouth pushes PES 2011 sales beyond PES 2010 comfortably, as despite perceived failings compared to it’s rival, its an excellent football game in it’s own right. We’ll be keeping our eye on the performance of the game in the coming months, hoping to bring you all some good news in the process.
In the mean time Konami are gearing up launches in the Americas and Asia, to finally round-up it’s worldwide launches. Once they do, we’ll give you an update on how the game is performing. Fingers crossed it’s more more postive outcome than what we experieced in the UK.
