In three years the positions were reversed

Konami, Japanese, and Electronic Arts, the American, now whistling the kick-off of a battle in nearly a billion dollars. At stake: the conquest of the world market of football on console. A technological and commercial battle that reached a peak because, for the first time, Fifa (the Electronic Arts game) and Pro Evolution Soccer (that of Konami) out on the same day around the world.

If the purists have long thought the Japanese title as the most advanced, Fifa was able to stay in contact with official licenses dearly acquired from federations. A "more product" to play games with real players, real teams, real swimsuit... But the arrival of the new consoles to 2006 (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii) completely redistributed the cards. Electronic Arts has filled its technological backwardness and exceeded its competitor in all the tests in the specialised press. A phenomenon which has been commercially by a take-off of the sales. Last year, more than 10 million copies of Fifa 10 have passed around the world. In France, it is more than a million of sales that have been completed, all media confused, but on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 essentially. Electronic Arts would now have a market share of between 55 and 60, clearly before Konami in France. In three years, the positions were reversed. And EA is not stop in so good way: the goal for this year is to win five points of market share.

To get this far, Electronic Arts departed zero three years ago. Considerable work in the video game industry. And it is associated with this technology a redesign formidable machine marketing. "Four lines of development are our success in France: our partnerships with the big four clubs, OM, OL, PSG and Bordeaux, which allow us to carry out joint actions and be visible on 80 of television broadcasting, our collaboration with local as Lloris and Mandanda Hoarau talents, the Organization of a competition between professional players, which gives us a legitimacy in the community and whose images have been widely".", and direct actions to the public", advance Hugues Ouvrard, Director of marketing for Electronic Arts France.

Konami counterattack

This year, Fifa pre-orders were higher than in the year past and indicator for the market, Sony will now offer PlayStation 3 Fifa packs while he included with his console as Pro Evolution Soccer until last year.

Before this trend, Konami decided to retaliate. The Japanese editor who KEP can represent up to half the annual income (the video games industry has realized a turnover of approximately $ 240 million this year), has completely revised its title. "We were struggling to adapt to the consoles"next gen", but from our first returns, we have taken a course this year," Announces Stéphanie Hattenberger, Konami France marketing director. Objective: finally switch on the bearing supports, PS3 and Xbox 360, which represent for the time that 58 of the sales on Pro Evolution, to find the 2006 sales levels, where PES became the first property cultural in France, with 1.5 million copies sold. The communication strategy of Konami takes the opposite of Electronic Arts with global ambassadors such as Lionel Messi or Didier Drogba more than national celebrities. Finally, Pro Evolution Soccer relies on its new online game, the Master League Online, to retain his players.

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