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The debate over which is the better game, PES or FIFA, has gone on for more than a decade now, with most considering the former as better across consoles. However, over the past few years, the debate has become more balanced. PES has time and again managed to beat global giant EA’s offering with respect to sales and attention to detail, especially in the mobile market.
In this article, we analyse this year’s PC and console versions of both games, find the reasons why gamers prefer Konami’s E-football PES20 to the more popular FIFA20.
Why PES is more popular than FIFA?
1. Licenses: Even before gamers begin choosing which product, it is the games’ licenses that catch their eye, first and foremost. Konami’s lack of licenses in recent years has been one of the biggest reasons for its stagnant sales, and to make up, this year’s PES20 was given the EURO20 license, which allows all national team players and badges to be played with under its banner. Further, various teams on PES had bizarre names due to the lack of licenses, such as Juventus being called Piemonte Calcio, while the Merseyside teams were called Merseyside Red and Blue, respectively, as per their home jerseys. This year, PES has succeeded in buying individual stadium and team rights of various sides like AC Milan, Inter, Juventus, Manchester United and Barcelona, among others.
The fact is that FIFA still has the higher — and better — licenses, especially for coveted events like the UEFA Champions and Europa Leagues. PES, however, has been catching up fast, and it is the next categories that show why serious gamers prefer it to FIFA.
2. Gameplay and Graphics: Moving on to nitty-gritties of the games, gameplay in PES has been more realistic for almost half a decade. The ball physics are better, and attention to detail with respect to individual players' behavior and movements is downright genius! Be it controlling Johan Cruyff and Diego Maradona, or just bending the ball like David Beckham, players behave, run, receive and shoot just like you have watched them do.
As far as graphics are concerned, PES is miles better, offering more-rounded individual stadiums and attention to detail for seats and atmosphere, along with realistic player faces. It would not be a stretch to say that it is only those gamers who like the video game-type arcade feel of FIFA which helps it garner more sale.
3. Legends: This debate can go on and on. While FIFA has legends like Pele and Zinedine Zidane, PES has Beckham and Maradona, while most other mainstream legends are shared across platforms. Further, to make PES more attractive, Konami has recently acquired a host of licenses, such as the lost Liverpool ones for Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen and Xabi Alonso. They also have Cristian Chivu, Frank Lampard, Kaka and Shunsuke Nakamura, along with other legends like Franco Baresi and Frank Rijkaard.
In conclusion, while FIFA is sure to garner more sales this year as well, it wouldn’t be accurate to say that it is the better game, and it is only a matter of time before more and more gamers recognise this fact!
