Konami becomes official partner of Arsenal

Konami has announced it has become an official partner of Arsenal Football Club. The new agreement will extend Konami’s previous access to the club, where it appeared as a licensed club in PES 2017 complete with its official insignia, and allow the company to perfectly recreate the team in this year’s instalment, PES 2018. 

Konami will use its 3D scanning systems to capture both facial and physical data from the complete Arsenal squad, while the game’s advanced Player and Team ID mechanics will be used to make sure that each player’s characteristics are as life-like as possible. This includes running, passing and general movement. 

In addition, the publisher will also have full access to Arsenal’s home at the Emirates Stadium, allowing them to fully re-create the grounds for use within the game. 

“Our working relationship with Konami to date has been extremely successful from a licensing perspective and we are delighted to extend this and welcome them as an official partner,” said Vinai Venkatesham, chief commercial officer at Arsenal.  

“We look forward to getting started in the next phase of our relationship with Konami and creating some fun and exciting content that both Arsenal and wider football fans will enjoy.”

Jonas Lygaard, senior director of brand and business development for Konami added: “We are determined to work with the very best clubs football has to offer and are delighted to partner with Arsenal. The relationship we formed last year has gone from strength to strength, most notably when Emirates Stadium played host to the PES League World Final. As such, we were keen to work even closer with such a highly regarded club and the new agreement will allow us to perfectly recreate and feature Emirates Stadium, and the club’s many stars, within PES 2018.” 

PES 2018 is available now for PS4, Xbox One, PS3 and Xbox 360, as well as digitally via Steam. The game entered the UK charts at No.3 last month, narrowly missing out on No.2 thanks to NBA 2K18. While its sales have paled in comparison to FIFA 18 in the UK, the game has still been enjoying success in Japan, where it went straight in at No.1 during its opening week and remained the third best-selling game in the region for the month of September.