FIFA 17 and Pro Evolution Soccer 2017. Developed by EA Sports and Konami, respectively, their games have traditionally competed with one another during autumn as current-gen football titles for console owners. Traditionally, FIFA has outsold PES quite well, even though some fans have speculated that FIFA would be outpaced in popularity by PES one day. But that doesn’t seem to be the case any time soon. According to industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, FIFA 17 outsold PES 2017 by over 40x more units in the United Kingdom.
According to Ahmad, the gap between FIFA 17 and PES 2017 is quite drastic. “FIFA 17 sold over 1.1 million units in its first week in the UK,” Ahmad wrote in a series of tweets. “Meanwhile PES 2017 can’t hit 50k.”
Ahmad also noted that FIFA 17 has officially reached record-breaking levels in its launch, comparing it to the previous series champion: FIFA 13. “”h and FIFA17 had a record launch, beating the prior record set by FIFA13 which went on to sell well over 15m worldwide,” he said. “PES sales down [year over year].”
Yes. That is more than 40x more.
FIFA 17 sold over 1.1 million units in its first week in the UK.
Meanwhile PES 2017 can't hit 50k.
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) October 3, 2016
Oh and FIFA17 had a record launch, beating the prior record set by FIFA13 which went on to sell well over 15m worldwide
PES sales down YoY
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) October 3, 2016
It’s hard to say that the news comes as a major surprise. Traditionally, EA’s FIFA series has been the hallmark football title for fans around the world. It’s the standard that many players compare other football games to, and it’s also the home base for online multiplayer football competition. But the fact that PES 2017 can’t hit 50k units in the UK comes as a particular shock. Why? It suggests that FIFA 17‘s hold on the market is getting stronger, and soon enough competition will be extremely difficult for any prospective football game developer.
That’s not necessarily a good thing, either. Competition is the life blood of the gaming industry. While this-or-that hype can be annoying, having a competitor on the market can lead to better features for players. That’s always been the case with the Call of Duty and Battlefield franchises, with Activision and EA’s developers constantly pushing themselves to introduce new settings and gameplay elements every launch. But when there’s no one to compete with, it’s easy for quality and ideas to stagnate.
Granted, time will tell how Pro Evolution Soccer 2017‘s sales play out for the year. But if the UK is any guide, its numbers certainly don’t look promising.