Arsenal Football Club of England and Konami have extended their partnership for a further three years. This means the Technological industry giants will be one of Arsenal’s sponsors until June 2024.
Thus, it is good news for Arsenal fans who have benefited in a great way from the partnership in the last two years. Just like Electronic Art Sport (EA SPORT), Konami creates and designs wonderful digital gaming products that everyone loves hence most Arsenal fans will be happy with the extension of the deal.
Konami is a Japanese entertainment, Publisher Company, and video game developer. Konami’s video game franchises include Metal Gear, Silent Hill, Castlevania, Contra, Frogger, Gradius, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Suikoden, and Pro Evolution Soccer.
But the Pro Evolution Soccer had been their most populous and by far the most consumed commodity globally. The tech company’s Pro Evolution Soccer is also known as Winning Eleven in Asia and it has been in the global market since 1995.
More also, the battle of virtuoso supremacy between the Japanese Konami’s Pro Evolution (PES) and American Electronic Art Sport’s (EA Sport) FIFA, had been going on for some years now. But, the odds are staggering in favor of the American company.
The American tech company holds the bragging right when it comes to the license with the top gun across the world. But the Konami can also boast of license associate with the like of Spanish giant club “Football Club Barcelona”, Italian giant “Juventus FC”, Germany greatest football club “Football Club Bayern Munich” and the most successful club in England also is on their list “Manchester United Football Club”.
Thus the extension of the Arsenal agreement will boost the pedigree and popularity of the virtual game.
Recently, Arsenal won the Emirate FA Cup for the fourteenth time in their rich history as they hold the record of winning the trophy on most occasion, and Manchester United, the other English giant club on the list of Konami’s licentiate is right behind the Gunners with a record of twelve times.
Despite hugely going to the semifinal game as the underdog against Manchester city, the Gunners came out victorious as the Gunners advanced to the finale against Chelsea and eventually won the competition at the famous Wembley Stadium on August 1, courtesy of their captain brilliancy in each match.
Sportingbet confirms Pierre Emerick Aubameyang to be among the FA Cup top goal scorers in the competition as his four goals in the semifinal and finale of the competition was enough to secure the cup for the Gunners on a record of the fourteenth triumph.
The Gunners captain four was among the best poacher in the competition as he was only bested by Jimmy Ball who recorded a prolific goal-scoring feat a goal every 31 minutes he’s on the field but was match by Adam Idah of Norwich city with a record of a goal every 45 minutes of play.
Beyond the success of the Emirate FA Cup, The Gunners’ boast a large trophy cabinet and an even larger fan base. Pro Evo gamers have been in for a treat when they load up PES 2024. However, with the PES 2024 set to be released in September, this year, the PAS gamer’s will surely be in a treat next season and can play with an even more authentic Arsenal side than previous years game.
Speaking about the deal, Peter Silverstone, the Arsenal commercial director; “Now in our third year, our relationship continues to go from strength to strength. We are excited to work with KONAMI to further engage our huge global fan base and give them the opportunity to experience the players, Legends, and Emirates Stadium so accurately within eFootball PES 2024”.
The deal looks lucrative but here are what we learn from the deal.
1. The alternative way of Arsenal to increase their fan base
Recently, the Arsenal football club of North London is finding it more difficult to win the trophy, the Gunners fan base across the globe is gradually reducing as the winning team will synonymously increase their fan base.
Liverpool fan base in recent times had enormously increased by 400% compared to the barren time. The lack of major trophy won by the Gunners had eventually reduced their fan.
But with the Konami’s deal, the Gunners publicity through the gamers activity will improve the Emirate Stadium Club fans out there can enjoy their favorite club in full capacity on the next PES in which they promise to revolutionize the football scene. Unfortunately for those who are not, the subsequent edition will cater for such development.
Thus the development could be the source of audio fan generation which could spell more publicity for the North London club.
2. More commercial revenue in store for the Gunners
The Japanese entertainment and gaming conglomerate joined the North London club as a Football Video Game Partner in 2017. The partnership saw the integration of a detailed recreation of Emirates Stadium into eFootball PES 2024 and beyond, as well as the 3D scan of all players on the book of Arsenal which enables them to capture the visual likeness and imitate their moves, styles of play, technical prowess and many more.
The new commercial deal enables Arsenal to generate some commercial revenue which has been the Gunners Achilles hill as their last released end of year report shows. And with the Coronavirus pandemic effect on the global economy.
The Konami’s deal is certainly going to cushion some financial hole in Arsenal capacity. The deal gives Konami increased access to all first-team players, reserve team players, the ladies as well as the club’s legends such as Pires, Wright, Parlour, Bould, and the likes who are signed up as ambassadors of the club.
3. Konami is prying for the competitive edge
A very few sports have transformed so beautifully as the beautiful game itself. Worldwide hit series such as FIFA and PES inspire heated rivalries both on and off the virtual pitch.
Football was not so big on home computers during the 1970s and 1980s because the game was too complex to render on poorly configured machines with slow processing power and small chips. It wasn’t until the early 1990s – when the more powerful gaming machines like the Sega Megadrive and Super Nintendo were introduced – that the computer wizards started to develop more advanced football games.
When it comes to football, the two biggest selling football games of all time are EA Sports’ FIFA and Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer (PES). The two Konami and Electronic Arts share a bittersweet rivalry, as they go toe to toe every year to produce the best football game and take the battle to new extremes.
While both are excellent games with huge fanbases, most of the crazy fans of the game have the money and time to spare for only one game. So, at the end of the day, it comes down to just one question; whether it’s going to be FIFA or PES.
Electronic Arts Sport’s FIFA is dominating the virtual football world and Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer is scarcely competing. With the license acquisition of the Gunners, Konami has added the statement acquisition with the likes of Manchester United, Juventus, Bayern Munich, etc are already on the licentiate of the Konami. The PES will be using the Arsenal deal as the broker to partner with the more top club across Europe and h rest of the world.
Lastly, Arsenal will later this year host the PES league 2019 world finals at the Emirates stadium. Konami has similar sponsorship deals with the likes of Barcelona, Inter Milan, Celtic, FC Schalke 04, Rangers, Sao Paulo, and many other big European and South American clubs.
