Konami Explains Unexpected PlayStation Plus Change, Says It Was Sony’s Decision

Konami Explains Unexpected PlayStation Plus Change, Says It Was Sony’s Decision
Credit: Sony via YouTube

When Sony originally announced its PlayStation Plus free games lineup for July 2019, it included Horizon Chase Turbo and Pro Evolution Soccer 2019, but at the last minute, PES 2019 was replaced with Detroit: Become Human.

There are times when fans are extremely disappointed with the PlayStation Plus free games lineup, and July’s original lineup was certainly thought to be a bit lackluster, which could be why Sony decided to make the last-minute swap.

In a very short statement, a spokesperson for Konami, the developers of Pro Evolution Soccer 2019, explained that the change was 100-percent Sony’s decision, and he also added that the publisher declined to elaborate on why they replaced it with Detroit: Become Human.

“This decision was made by Sony and so please make an inquiry to Sony,” said a Konami spokesperson when asked about Sony’s decision by GameSpot.

Lennart Bobzien, who is the European brand manager for Pro Evolution Soccer, told GameSpot that the change came as a complete surprise to everyone at Konami, adding that the developer wasn’t notified of the decision until it went public.

“I cannot really tell you what happened because I just found out today, in the morning when I opened my laptop. I can’t really explain.”

The next installment of Pro Evolution Soccer, which will be called eFootball: PES 2020, is set to be released later this year. So, it’s likely that Konami wanted to make the full game completely free for PS Plus subscribers in order to build hype for their next game.

Of course, there is a free version of Pro Evolution Soccer 2019, but, it’s described as a lite version. So, in order to get the full experience, players are going to have to be willing to part ways with roughly $30.

For now, though, PlayStation Plus subscribers can download both Horizon Chase Turbo, which is an 80s inspired, 16-bit racing game and the previously mentioned Detroit: Become Human, which also features the 2010 game Heavy Rain.

The hard drive space required for Horizon Chase Turbo is around 1GB, so it shouldn’t take too long to install. As for Detroit: Become Human, well, that’s a substantially larger game, as its file size is a little over 40GB.

As of this writing, it’s unclear if Sony has any plans to make Pro Evolution Soccer completely free to play for PlayStation Plus subscribers next month. In fact, it’s probably way too early to even try to guess which games will be made free for the month of August.

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