Juventus have signed an exclusive deal with Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) and its makers, Konami, this year which means that Cristiano Ronaldo and his team-mates will be absent from rival game FIFA20.
The Turin team, who have just signed teenage superstar Matthijs de Ligt from Ajax for £67 million, will be absent from EA Sports’ FIFA franchise and will be replaced by a made-up team called Piemonte Calcio.
PES has paid an unspecified amount to be able to get exclusive access to Ronaldo, de Ligt and their team-mates, whose ultra life-like faces will feature in the game this season.
The news has met with a funny response on social media with many Twitter users joking about Piemonte Calcio’s chances of winning any trophies this season.
Jonas Lygaard, Senior Director Brand and Business Development at Konami Digital Entertainment, said: “Our comprehensive partnership with Juventus FC, one of the greatest teams in the world, is a clear statement of intent for eFootball PES 2020 – the only console game where you can play as the Italian giants. With eFootball PES, playing is believing and we’re proud to have Juventus FC believe in us and our exciting future together.”
On its website, Juventus said: “The new and exciting partnership with Konami will see the eFootball PES series have exclusive use of Juventus intellectual property within console football video games, including the team name, the crest, and official kits. In addition, the development team has been granted in-depth access to the players themselves, via full-body 3D scan, in order to recreate their likeliness in the game as accurately as possible.”
PES has also signed similar deals with Barcelona, Arsenal, Boca Juniors, Manchester United and Bayern Munich and will release a demo of the game on 30 July for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows, with the full release due in September.
But on Wednesday, 17 July, it was announced that Liverpool had signed a deal with EA Sports, meaning they would be missing from the PES roster.
Despite winning their eighth successive Serie A title Juventus sacked their manager, Massimiliano Allegri at the end of the season and replaced him with Chelsea’s Maurizio Sarri, who spent only one year in the Premier League.