Microsoft have revealed the lineup of games being added to the Xbox Game Pass catalog this month to kick off 2021, and there’s plenty of solid titles to check out across Game Pass on console, PC, and cloud. On Xbox Game Pass for console and cloud, Microsoft are adding the recently released action RPG, Torchlight 3; last year’s season update to Konami’s football sim, eFootball PES 2021; and acclaim indie adventure title, The Little Acre. Meanwhile, NetherRealm Studios’ superhero fighter Injustice 2 is coming to Xbox Game Pass across all platforms- console, PC, and cloud.

Where Xbox Game Pass for PC’s exclusive January lineup is concerned, there’s action roguelite title Neoverse, one of the best narrative aventure games out there in What Remains in Edith Finch, and the indie JRPG YIIK: A Postmodern RPG. 

PES 2021, Injustice 2, and The Little Acre will be coming to the service on January 7, while Neoverse, What Remains of Edith Finch, Torchlight 3, and YIIK will be added on January 14.

After lots of speculation and murmuring, it was confirmed the other day that there would not be a traditional release of Konami’s popular footballer series, eFootball PES. Instead, the 2021 edition will be a seasonal based update as the series transitions over to the Unreal engine. Now, we know both what it will be, as well as when we can get it.

Konami released a new trailer highlighting the update and confirming that it will drop across all platforms in September, which is what previous leaks indicated. Based on the trailer, it seems it will be largely a roster change to reflect the most current make up of their respective teams. Remember, this is an update, meaning you will need to have the currently available eFootball PES 2020 to play this, and you can see our take on that game through here.

eFootball PES 2021 Season Update will launch on September 15th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

https://youtu.be/sbYv94pAOoI

Konami had been largely silent on their plans for the next installment in their ongoing footballer series, eFootball PES 2021. Murmurs began to circulate that many this year’s entry would be canceled, but then it was leaked that it would instead be a roster update to last year’s eFootball PES 2020. Well, now we have confirmation of that, as well as big changes coming for the franchise starting next year.

Via the eFootball PES Twitter announced, Konami attached a statement confirming the new status of the 2021 rendition as an update instead of a full retail release. The big surprise is that they say one of the reasons for this is that they are in the process of building the next entry with a new engine, Unreal. This could mean that 2020/2021 could very well mark the final time Konami’s internal Fox Engine will be used.

No date is given for when to expect the update, but the earlier leak pointed to sometime in September. eFootball PES 2020 is available now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, so we’ll keep you updated for when more official information comes out.

[Information regarding the eFootball PES series]

Taking PES to a Whole New Level https://t.co/v5OX0AA4qe pic.twitter.com/sOLoOcak6B

— eFootball (@play_eFootball) July 15, 2020

While EA’s FIFA still largely rules the roost, so to speak, when it comes to football/soccer titles, there is still the ongoing successful alternative of Konami’s PES, now renamed eFootball PES. We have yet to hear anything official about the latest game in the annual franchise, but it seems that signs are now pointing to it being a non-traditional release.

Via the Microsoft store, it was leaked that PES 2021 would be a roster update for the last game in the series, eFootball PES 2020. While that listing is no longer active, you can see some information taken directly from it via Twitter user Roberto Serrano below. It identifies 2021 as an updated version of 2020 releasing September 15th.

As it stands now, nothing official has been announced from publisher Konami about this so we’ll take it as rumor for now, but all signs seem to be pointing that way. Like a lot of developers, they have been no doubt been hit with issues relating to COVID-19 that possibly made shitting a full retail release impossible. We’ll keep you updated as more information comes in.

https://twitter.com/geronimo_73/status/1281890652519903232?s=20