Konami just quietly launched eFootball Kick-Off, a Switch 2 exclusive spin-off of their free-to-play football juggernaut eFootball, and it's coming in at a very cheeky $20 / £16 price tag. According to Video Games Chronicle, the game is available right now and targets players who just want to boot up some football without needing a live service breathing down their neck.
Yes, you read that right - an offline football game in 2025. No battle passes. No season tokens. No "limited time" kits that expire before you remember to log in. Just football. On a Nintendo console. For twenty bucks. Someone at Konami remembered how games used to work and we should probably send them a thank you card.
So what are we actually working with here?
VGC has footage of the game running on Switch 2 hardware, and it looks like a competent, if modest, football experience. This isn't Konami swinging for a AAA production - it's more of a stripped-back, pick-up-and-play entry point, which makes the budget price point feel pretty fair for what's on offer.
The Switch 2 is shaping up to be an interesting platform for sports games that want to ditch the always-online grind, and Kick-Off could carve out a decent little niche for couch co-op football sessions. Think of it as the spiritual successor to the days when you could just... play a football game. Wild concept, we know.
The PES faithful are watching
Let's be honest - a chunk of the people interested in this are former Pro Evolution Soccer loyalists who have been in a long, complicated grieving process since eFootball replaced PES. An offline, budget Switch 2 title with the eFootball engine might not be the full PES resurrection they've been praying for, but it's at least a sign that Konami knows not everyone wants to grind microtransactions to unlock a decent striker.
At $20, eFootball Kick-Off is basically an impulse buy for Switch 2 owners who want a football fix without the live service baggage. Whether it has enough content to justify even that modest asking price remains to be seen - but for offline couch gaming, the premise alone earns it a look.
