Originally Posted by IGN
Konami to Microsoft: "BALLS!!!"
by Tal Blevins
August 26, 2006 - Seems like there's a little confusion floating around the world about at least one of the announcements Microsoft made at the German Games Convention this week.
In their GC press conference in Leipzig that we attended, Microsoft specifically announced that the next iterations of Pro Evolution Soccer and FIFA would only be available on the Xbox 360 for the next 12 months. Given that their press conference was held on August 23, 2006, you would assume that means you would mean Xbox 360 had Pro Evo and FIFA exclusively through August 23, 2007.
However, shortly after the press conference, Konami denied that there was a 12-month exclusivity deal in place for the Pro Evolution series.
We interviewed Pro Evolution Soccer producer Shingo "Seabass" Takatsuka today and he told us that next-gen version of Pro Evolution Soccer 6 would be exclusive to the Xbox 360 through the end of the year, but not for 12 months. He also confirmed that a PlayStation 3 version of the game was already being worked on, and would most likely be released in spring or summer of next year, although no specific release date had been confirmed as of yet.
Seabass also made it clear that the current-gen versions -- PC, PS2, DS, PSP -- will all still be coming out at the same time as the Xbox 360 version.
Konami Japan went so far as to release this statement (translated) to explain the situation:
"There are some articles (or some statements which could lead to the misunderstanding) at some websites and other sources stating that Konami's soccer game Pro Evolution Soccer 6 will be released as an exclusive Xbox 360 title. However, this is not true. Pro Evolution Soccer 6 is being developed for multiple platforms so that many consumers will be able to enjoy it."
According to what we've heard from EA representatives at the show, the FIFA deal seems to be similar, and there could be a much shorter window of exclusivity than what Microsoft originally announced.
