Konami has announced that following this year’s Champions League final next month in capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, its partnership with UEFA is coming to an end.
The news comes on the back of a 10-year-long partnership that saw Konami and its soccer sim PES hold exclusive Champions League rights.
Konami had previously announced back in June 2015 that it reached and agreement with UEFA about a renewal of the license that would see PES hold the rights until 2019. That said, apparently that deal has been cut short or re-negotiated, because otherwise the agreement would still be active for another year and not ending soon.
Neither Konami nor UEFA offered up an explanation as for why the deal is being terminated. Presumably, either the cost-efficiency for Konami wasn’t good enough, or UEFA had its eyes on another partner: the cash-heavy and bigger Electronic Arts, who makes PES‘ only competitor, FIFA. The latter is already more prominent and successful than the former, and if EA can partner with UEFA in a similar fashion PES has since its 2009 installment, it could pull even further ahead.
While Konami didn’t provide an explanation for the decision, it did provide an official statement via Jonas Lygaard, senior director of brand and business development for the Japan-based company:
“The UEFA Champions League licence has given us a platform to create unique experiences and provide football fans from all over the world with an opportunity to enjoy this competition first-hand,” said Lygaard. “This year, however, we will shift our focus into other areas. We will continue to explore alternative ways UEFA and Konami can continue to work together, as our relationship remains strong.”
As a result of the announcement, Bloomberg reports that Konami’s shares dropped the most in almost a month, falling 5.1 percent. However, the decline comes after its shares more than doubled since the start of 2016, which is about when it started dumping more resources into developing mobile titles and implementing mcirotransactions into its games.
Konami is currently in the early stages of bringing the mobile version of PES to China, the world’s largest mobile gaming market. At the moment, the next installment in the series – presumably PES 2019 – hasn’t been announced.
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