Konami's rebranded soccer game eFootball 2022 has had a challenging launch, to say the least. The free-to-play game launched stripped of many major features and game modes, barebones but arriving ahead of the release of FIFA 22. As a result, eFootball 2022 became Steam's worst-reviewed game ever as it was review bombed by angry gamers. Unfortunately, the disappointing news for eFootball 2022 doesn't end there. Konami has now announced that the game's next major update has been delayed.

In a message posted on Twitter, the official eFootball account confirmed that version 0.9.1 of eFootball 2022 had been delayed. Konami's update was originally scheduled to be delivered on October 28, but is now scheduled for November with a more specific date to be confirmed in the weeks to come. Version 0.9.1 of eFootball 2022 is planned to focus on pervasive issues with the soccer game that players have reported since launch.

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No specific details were provided by Konami regarding the reason for the eFootball 2022 update's delay. All that was said is that eFootball 2022's developers will utilize the additional time to improve the experience of the game for all players. As such, it can be assumed that the developers simply needed more time to deliver the fixes that they have planned. Unfortunately, the list of fixes that they're addressing has yet to be revealed, too.

To Konami's credit, it did include an apology as part of its statement on the update's delay. Konami says that members of the development team for eFootball 2022 "sincerely apologise for the delay and the inconvenience caused," adding that Konami is thankful to those who have played eFootball 2022 and thankful again for fans' patience as the update's development is wrapped up. To that degree, Konami is sympathetic with the frustration that fans of Pro Evolution Soccer must be feeling as they way wait for eFootbal 2022 to be improved.

Specific issues that Konami has recognized based on eFootball 2022 player feedback up to this point include pass speed and defense operation issues in gameplay. Additionally, there are visual problems with cut-scenes, facial expressions, player movements, and the behavior of the soccer ball. Some, if not all of these issues were going to be addressed in the now-delayed patch.

No word has come through regarding the rollout of eFootball 2022's announced features, shared as part of its pre-launch roadmap. Planned upcoming features include Online Leagues, a Match Pass system, Team Building Mode, and cross-platform matches between PC and console. These features have likely been delayed alongside the 0.9.1 update until later this year.

eFootball 2022 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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