PES 2016: Konami hasn't decided what to do with Euro 2016 license

Konami hasn't decided yet how to best utilise the official license for the 2016 European Championships which it announced it had acquired at Gamescom 2015 in Germany. It has revealed that it won't form part of upcoming football title Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) 2016, at least at launch.

Behind closed doors PES's Adam Bhatti European Product Manager told IBTimes UK that the newly-penned deal is still fresh and the developers don't yet know how it will be used by the publisher. Konami acquired the exclusive license which used to reside with EA and their Fifa series.

The two likeliest scenarios are that Konami releases an entirely new game around the time of the tournament next summer, or they release it as an add-on for upcoming game PES 2016. EA has done both with such licenses – last year's World Cup was its own game, while Euro 2012 was a download only title requiring Fifa 12.

Bhatti also revealed that Konami's acquisition of the license came about due to their close relationship with Uefa – which previously handed its Champions League, Europa League and European Super Cup licenses to the developer.

The deal gives PES the full use of all the tournaments' 24 international sides, to be determined in fully when qualification finishes in November.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 will be released on PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC on 17 September. A demo will be released on 13 August.

For all the latest video game news follow us on Twitter @IBTGamesUK.