PES 2019 Is Now Free-To-Play (Sort Of)

Konami has released a free-to-play version of PES 2019 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Named PES 2019 Lite, the downloadable title includes a limited selection of the full game's modes.

Exhibition matches and skill training are the offline offerings, with PES League--including 1v1 and co-op matches--and My Club available for those who wish to play online. Master League and Random Selection Mode are therefore the main exceptions from the full version.

We enjoyed Konami's sports sim here at GameSpot; critic Richard Wakeling awarded the game a 9/10 in our PES 2019 review. "For as long as EA continues to develop FIFA and hold a monopoly over official licences, PES will be the scrappy underdog just hoping for a surprise upset, even when it's fielding the likes of London Blue and PV White Red," he wrote. "The lack of licences for top-tier leagues remains a disheartening sticking point, but PES continues to make brilliant strides on the pitch, building on what was already an incredibly satisfying game of football to produce one of the greatest playing football games of all time. It might be lacking off the pitch, but put it on the field against the competition and a famous giant killing wouldn't be all that surprising."

Konami continues to update the game with squad updates and new player faces, though it still lacks some big team licenses. For more on that topic, check out our feature on how EA and FIFA beat Konami and PES to football's biggest licenses.

PES's mobile version has been updated, meanwhile. What used to be PES 2018 Mobile is now PES 2019 Mobile, which includes local 1v1 matches as well as a mobile edition of My Club. PES 2019 Mobile is out now for iOS and Android.