"PES 2017", the upcoming football simulation video game from Konami, has bagged an exclusive deal with FC Barcelona, even though its rival football video game, "FIFA 17" had revealed that it had an exclusive partnership with La Liga.
"FIFA 17" fans were hoping this year that there would be a better and complete Spanish League competition but "PES 2017" has snatched away the prized club.
It was rumoured that Lionel Messi would be gracing the "FIFA 17" covers, but that went in favour of Borussia Dortmund's Marco Reus. This, according to some, tipped the balance in favour of Konami and Barcelona partnered with them instead of EA.
Tomotada Tashiro, President of Konami Digital Entertainment B.V. has claimed in the statement released to the media that the "stature" of FC Barcelona would help "PES" franchise to reach a bigger fan base.
Arroyo, vice-president of Marketing and Communications, FC Barcelona too took a similar line as Tashiro. He said: "Konami is a strategic partner that will allow us to bring FC Barcelona to millions of users of its game. We hope to see the club, the players and Camp Nou, perfectly recreated in the next and future versions of the PES series."
The deal that was signed between FC Barcelona and Konami is called a Premium Partner agreement, which will let Konami gain "extensive" access to the club's stars like Lionel Messi, Neymar, Luis Suarez, Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta and others.
Konami advertisements will grace in and around Camp Nou stadium and "PES" will have exclusive rights to recreate the legendary Camp Nou stadium.
"PES 2017" will be available on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One on Sept. 13, 2016.
Meanwhile, Juventus too had a similar deal with EA and it would allow special access to players and the club's stadium. Juventus became the first Italian football club to partner with EA.
