As of Monday, July 24th, the International Championship Cup has partnered with Konami and Pro Evolution Soccer to (hopefully) bring us the world’s biggest soccer video game.
Pro Evolution Soccer And International Championship Cup
On August 2nd, 2014, The University of Michigan hosted a friendly bout between Manchester United and Real Madrid. Say what you will about Soccer’s popularity in the States, but the attendance was respectable.
More than 100,000 people saw the match, setting an all-time attendance record for US Soccer matches. The organization hosts an annual soccer tournament featuring the world’s best teams.
Safe to say, if there’s one thing we know about the ICC, it’s that it knows a thing or two about promotion.
Promotion & Brand Activations
Konami and the ICC said this regarding the partnership:
“Konami will integrate agents linked to players and teams competing in the ICC in myClub for PES 2018, as well as stand as a global sponsor for ICC events held in the U.S., China and Singapore. The partnership will further allow Konami unique marketing rights, including the creation and distribution of custom content, on-site activations at select ICC venues, and other promotional activities.”
(Activations are ways to connect consumers to certain brands during promotional events. For example, playing PES 18 at ICC sponsored events.)
While appearing primarily as a promotional deal (with more in-game elements to come in the future) you will certainly feel ICC’s presence in Pro Evolution Soccer 18. There will be ICC specific myClub agents, and more activations on both console and mobile.
With a bevy of new features and refinements coming to PES 18, this partnership could close the gap between PES 18 and its big name competitors like FIFA. An announcement like this could be a step in toppling the king of digital European Football. If ICC can bring in the kind of numbers to PES as it did to Michigan, its competitors will have to find an answer for the growing popularity.
We’ll all get to activate our copy of PES 18 (along with the ICC Integration) on September 12th in America, and September 14th for the rest of the world.
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