‘Pro Evolution Soccer 2014’ May Lead Anti-Next-Gen Revolution

Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 is not coming to the Xbox One or PS4 after all, and may be the first of many games to drop off the next-gen agenda.

Konami is reversing an earlier announcement that Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 would be released on next-gen consoles. The company that created Contra and the massively popular card game Yu-Gi-Oh! is noticing the lukewarm reaction the public is having toward the Xbox One and PS4 and fears the consoles may not be profitable enough to make games for.

This is where Nintendo likely did a double take, as publishers Ubisoft and EA decided against making any more Wii U games for the same reason, as previously reported by The Inquisitr.

Both of the next-gen consoles, despite having sold out pre-orders on such online venues as GameStop and Amazon, have shown a lackluster level of fan support due to announcements made on both sides. Chances are, Microsoft fans have been canceling pre-orders of the Xbox One after a recent petition on Change.org convinced the company to bring back the original policies, also previously reported by The Inquisitr. Of course, the lack of compatibility with the Xbox 360 games and peripherals has been a thorn in Xbox One’s side for some time.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 is still planned for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, though, as both current generation consoles are shown to be still profitable. Konami knows they can use the time to judge the reaction to the next-gen consoles and perfect the game enough to warrant a PES 2015 release.

Konami game representative Jon Murphy states about the decision:

“We’re kind of damned if we do and damned if we don’t. I think we’re in a slightly different position [to FIFA], because we’ve been criticized in the past about producing a ‘next gen’ version when we weren’t ready. We can’t get away with producing a version that isn’t absolutely s**t-hot on next generation. I think we want to be confident when we do bring something out and not in a position where people are criticizing us for producing a sloppy, second rate port. We’re going to produce something that puts us back to where we should be in terms of quality.”

Do you think Konami is doing the right thing by not putting Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 on the next-gen consoles? Should more developers think twice as well before taking a chancy next-gen plunge?