PES team wasn't "prepared" for this gen

By Johnny Minkley Published 1 June, 2010

Seabass promises "change" for 2011.

Shingo "Seabass" Takatsuka, PES producer, has spoken frankly of the problems the football series has faced this generation, revealing his team "were not prepared enough" for the transition to the current generation of consoles.

Speaking to Eurogamer earlier this month at the unveiling of PES 2011 in Tokyo, Seabass said: "As the leader of the team, I really wanted to create PES 2011 at the start of the current generation of consoles, but from the PS2 to PS3 that timing was very difficult for us. Looking back our team spirit needed a change as well at that time."

The producer's openness coincided with the first time Konami Tokyo had opened its doors to Western journalists, in a bid to reconnect with fans and demonstrate its promise of major "change" for this year was genuine.

"We've been developing PES for over 10 years since PlayStation 1," Seabass said. "Every time we release a new version we've found that the freedom of the game has gradually disappeared. We maybe made it too complicated.

"In order to make the game feel like PES, this perhaps became an excuse for not making enough changes," he added. "We were running in many different directions; today I think we're pretty much stable on which direction we should go.

"We're not shy of saying we made our mistakes in the past, but we want to use that to give back double, even triple the expectations of our users today. I think we can do that with PES 2011."

Key features of PES 2011 include a significant reworking of passing, defence and tactical systems, overhauled animation, and the long-awaited inclusion of Master League Online. You can read Eurogamer's extensive preview of this season's update on the site today.

Picture of Johnny.

About Johnny Minkley

Johnny Minkley is a veteran games writer and broadcaster, former editor of Eurogamer TV, VP of gaming charity SpecialEffect, and hopeless social media addict.

Read more articles from Johnny by visiting the Johnny Minkley archive page.

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Comments (16) Latest comment 12 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • killyourtv #1 2 years ago

    Trad Bricks

  • Santino #2 2 years ago

    sounds familiar

  • nuanimal #3 2 years ago

    What PatAU said.

    The PES games were always solid footie sims on the PS2 and were great, but most of the games this gen have been stagnant (except the Wii version which felt like a really strange real time strategy game - which was a good thing).



    Edited by nuanimal at 01/06/10 @ 09:32

  • jonbwfc #4 2 years ago

    "PES has not gotten any worse and is still the same excellent core game it has been since ISS Pro."
    well that's rather the point isn't it? In the best part of ten years the best you can say about PES is 'it hasn't got any worse'? How about, you know, getting better if you're going to ask people for 40 sodding quid every year for it? Not so much resting on your laurels as making a four poster bed from them and putting a 'do not disturb' sign on the door.

  • RodHull #5 2 years ago

    It's taken most non first party devs a little while to get to grips with this gen, but five years? Must try harder Mr Seabream.

  • freedumb #6 2 years ago

    PES 2010 is the best football game ever made. I've explained why in the PES 2011 thread in the forums. You need to get under its skin with extended play to see why, once 2011 comes out many people will see what Konami were trying to achieve, and realize it was a better football game than they gave it credit for.

  • spekkeh #7 2 years ago

    Then maybe you should stop shitting out games at such speed and actually spend time and effort on a release.

  • Fab4 #8 2 years ago

    Yesh, they should release PES: Worldwide Player Strike, and take a year out to develop it properly. ;)

  • LiamK #9 2 years ago

    "PES 2010 is the best football game ever made. I've explained why in the PES 2011 thread in the forums."

    No you haven't. You said that it plays a "more rewarding game" and that FIFA is a deeply flawed game that "doesn't play anything like real football". Those are both opinions. Opinions that a lot don't agree with.

    I'd love for there to be more competition, but I agree with almost everyone else. The new PES will be different. They've learnt from their mistakes. Isn't this the exact same thing we've been told every year now since 2008?

  • Dewis789 #10 2 years ago

    Loved 05 and 03 then it kinda died qfter that for me

  • oreillymj #11 2 years ago

    So they knew the game was shit, but still released it for the annual cash injection.

    I've steered away from PES since PES6 on PS2 and I'm happy to have saved the money.
    Only a decline in sales will force Konami to fix the game. Maybe take a 1 year break to get their tech up to FIFA standard, and sack whoever came up with that stupid KonamiID.

  • freedumb #12 2 years ago

    Those are both opinions. Opinions that a lot don't agree with.

    They may well be opinions but you've conveniently ignored the reasons why I've stated those points. The specific reasons regarding AI and tactics, player individuality, ball physics and ball control, points which I still haven't seen bettered in FIFA.

    Each to their own of course but as mentioned I have explained exactly why to back up my opinion, on page 2 if you missed it :)
    Edited by freedumb at 01/06/10 @ 12:26

  • SpaceMonkey77 #13 2 years ago

    At least they are honest PES has problems, but Konami have so much catching up to do in many areas.

    All I want both Fifa and PES to sort out is a better tackling system, one where you can actually consistently tackle, without fouling most of the time.

    I play and own some Fifa games, and this still gets me annoyed, that I rarely use tackling to win the ball, just passing and moving. So, when I'm due to tackle, give me some means of onscreen hint/cued timing etc, when its safe to do so or not.

  • The-Bodybuilder #14 2 years ago

    >"as mentioned I have explained exactly why to back up my opinion."

    Yeah, and all your explanations are still just subjective opinion, opinions that the majority don't agree with.

    And spacemonkey77, whilst you're there, would you like an indicator that tells you when to pass? or when to shoot? Or better yet, and indicator that tells you where to dive in a penatly to save a shot?

    Indicators......the in-game mechanics of the future. Or not.

  • freedumb #15 2 years ago

    No one is disputing that they are opinions, the accusation was that I hadn't given reasons.

    I've explained why...

    No you haven't.

    I may be in the minority, but that's nothing new. PESfans have always been in the minority,even during all the years when PES was considered to be at the top of its game, FIFA has always outsold PES :/

    I switched over to FIFA 09 after being dissatisfied with PES 2008 and 2009 (which itself was actually an improvement and a step in the right direction over 2008), but became fed up with FIFA 09, 10 being no improvement. As soon as I got to grips with the PES 2010 demo, there was no turning back.
    Edited by freedumb at 01/06/10 @ 14:29

  • helentaylor #16 12 months ago

    It's interesting that he said they had been developing PES for over 10 years since PlayStation 1. Because safety and comfort are so important it can also take many years to develop the best baby car seats. It is often the case the every time a new version is released that you see that the freedom of the game has gradually disappeared.