PES 2020 Has No "Plans To Integrate Women," Konami Says

Women's football is more popular than ever before, with the ongoing 2019 World Cup enthralling audiences across the globe. While EA added women's teams in a limited capacity back in FIFA 16, PES has so far eschewed the women's game entirely. Publisher Konami has now confirmed that stance will continue in PES 2020.

"I personally support the women's game and have been following the World Cup closely," the series' European brand manager, Lennart Bobzien, told GameSpot in a statement. "However we currently don't have any plans to integrate women into eFootball PES 2020."

EA's series holds the licensing rights to feature the FIFA World Cup competitions--for both men and women's teams--so it's unsurprising the tournament hasn't been featured in PES in an official capacity.

However, it's disappointing to see the women's game not represented at all in PES given the sport is now more popular than it has ever been. For example, the England v USA World Cup semi-final on Tuesday had the highest peak audience of any TV show this year in the UK, with 11.7 million people tuning in to BBC One concurrently--a 50.8% audience share. Women's football is arguably of a higher standard and has enjoyed increased media coverage than ever before.

Manchester United, PES 2020's newly-unveiled partner club, themselves launched a women's team in 2018. The upcoming season will see them compete in the top division of English women's football, the Women's Super League, after being promoted last term.

PES 2020 launches for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on September 10. A demo version, which includes online and offline match types as well as the game's edit mode, will launch on July 30. Stay tuned to GameSpot for a full PES 2020 gameplay preview.