Konami Shares That PES 2019’s Removal From PlayStation Plus July Lineup Was Sony’s Call

Initially, Sony revealed the PlayStation Plus lineup for July 2019 with Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 and Aquiris Game Studio’s Horizon Chase Turbo as the two free titles that will be up for grabs during the entirety of the month. But just two days into July, Sony suddenly pulled out PES 2019 and replaced the sports title with the Detroit Become Human Deluxe Edition and did not even share the reason for the abrupt change of plans.

But now according to GameSpot who made contact with publisher Konami, the Japanese company told the outlet that the decision was made by Sony which even took Konami by surprise. “This decision was made by Sony and so please make an inquiry to Sony.”

When speaking to Pro Evolution Soccer European Brand Manager Lennart Bobzien, he shared that the decision was one that neither him nor the publisher would have predicted on the day of the lineup change.

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.

And still, there is no clear reason for why Sony decided to just cut the title from the PlayStation Plus selection when it already went live as GameSpot shared when the company declined to respond to the question. Leaving an empty gap in the whole scenario as this does not typically happen with game free title lineups offered from the Sony or even competitor Microsoft with their Games with Gold service.

The possibility of the game’s licensing would have been one option to expect the choice as titles do eventually time out with the music used for the game’s soundtrack, but with the title not even a year old, that can’t be the case. Leaving to guess that Sony wanted to get more air time for last year’s story adventure title? That seems to make sense to me at least.

What are your thoughts on what Sony did to abruptly cut the game from this month’s PlayStation Plus?

Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 is out now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Android, iOS, and PC.

Source: GameSpot