Where’s PES 19 gone. One day we were getting a football game and Horizon Chase Turbo as the July games for PlayStation Plus. The next it was a couple of single player decision based experiences and Horizon Chase Turbo.
The announcement came via the PlayStation Blog as an update to their already published July PS plus announcement post. The update at the top of the post read
Update: We are making a swap to the PS Plus games lineup for July. This month, we are adding Detroit: Become Human Digital Deluxe Edition, which also includes Heavy Rain, to the July games lineup instead of Pro Evolution Soccer 2019. We apologize for any inconvenience.
It gives no explanation as to why this change was made. No word from either Sony nor Konami on the reason; we’ll probably never know. What is interesting is that the original post has all references to Pro Evolution Soccer crossed through and the name Detroit Become Human included when referencing both the available games with an explanation of the game included. It feels hasty, really hasty and seems like this was a very last minute decision.
When the initial PS plus games were announced I saw some backlash on various social media platforms and gaming groups I’m part of. I wasn’t sure why, past the “I’ve already got this game” PES was receiving so much hate. My first thought on its inclusion was the opposite and with the Women’s World Cup currently underway thought it was a clever choice (it should have been June’s game really). I’d also guess it’s a good choice for the US audience who I wouldn’t think have the same attachment rate on football (soccer) games as the UK and Europe, South America and other parts of the world do. Most of the discourse however was about the poor quality of the games available since the change to PS Plus.
Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 is part of the Free Games for July PS Plus Members on @PlayStation! Download the beautiful game today and test your skills against the world! https://t.co/5m9CLKVL4V pic.twitter.com/k0Y3LNb7xc
— Konami (@Konami) July 1, 2019
I was looking forward to PES. I rarely buy football games when they release, often picking one up 6 or so months later. They’re games I like to play with friends and the spring/summer usually finds me with enough visitors to get a few games in every couple of weeks. This would have given me the opportunity under a subscription I pay for to do that; no purchase necessary. Now instead I’ll be playing through the android uprising in a game that received a generally good reception but clearly has some issues. Fellow Tanked Up host Lucy thought it fumbled the story and its comparisons to the civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s.
It’s definitely an interesting change from a 3rd party to a 1st party published game. Perhaps it has something to do with Quantic Dream’s games coming to PC through the Epic store. Maybe we’ll get PES in August, a month before the release of the new instalment in that franchise. Interesting and odd. I’ve spoken previously about what I’d like to see from PS Plus after the change to the service was announced, found here, but perhaps its time for a big overhaul. Let me know what you think of PS plus and this change in the line up for July.
