In an unprecedented announcement, Konami today announced that they have severed ties with German Bundesliga team, Borussia Dortmund, a move which was initiated by the German giants. An official statement posted on the company’s official site read:

“KONAMI and Borussia Dortmund had a license agreement with respect to the use of Borussia Dortmund’s logos, players, stadium and other features in KONAMI products until June 2020. However this agreement was prematurely terminated by Borussia Dortmund. KONAMI will not include Borussia Dortmund’s logos, players, stadium and other features in “PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2019”.

“Please be assured that the PES series will continue to provide new ways to enjoy soccer through new partnerships with various clubs and leagues.”

No reason for the breakup was revealed but it was indeed suspect considering Dortmund has been one of the few big clubs which has established an official licensing agreement with the Konami game, alongside Liverpool, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. A few weeks back, Konami revealed that seven new leagues will be officially licensed in its 2019 game including Danish Superliga, Portugal’s Liga NOS, Belgium Pro League, Swiss Super League and Scotland’s Ladbrokes Premiership.

After losing the Uefa Champions League license for PES2019, losing a club of Dortmund’s stature will definitely affect Konami’s push to challenge EA Sports’ FIFA on the licensing department. However, we still feel they have an edge when it comes to pure gameplay experience as PES2018 is the superior game to FIFA18. You can read more about our thoughts on these two games here.