Through a new trailer, Konami revealed that their next-gen entry in the popular Pro Evolution Soccer series will no longer use their proprietary FOX Engine. This engine was originally created by Konami Digital Entertainment, which previously went by the name Kojima Productions until the two parted ways at the end of 2015. The engine was first used in PES 2014, but most notably used to run Metal Gear Solid V.
Rather than utilize their own engine, which was specifically designed to shorten development time on multi-platform titles, the trailer released by Konami shows that PES 2022 will do away with the FOX Engine and instead use Unreal Engine 5 created by Epic.
Konami is confidant in their decision to switch engines, stating that Unreal gives them the ability to "dazzle you with staggering improvements to all areas of the game. Expect more realistic player models and animations, enhanced physics, photorealistic visuals, and much much more.”
PES 2022 is still early in development, however. The game is scheduled to begin its testing period in the middle of 2021, and the team's internal release schedule puts the game out in time for the holiday season of that same year.
This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the series with PES 2021, yet focus seems to be shifted on the 2022 edition more than this year's release. Konami has stated that PES 2021 will be a "season update" as opposed to a full-fledged release. As such, it will be releasing at "an affordable anniversary price," though the details on what that price is still remains a mystery.
If this means the end of support for the FOX Engine, then Konami will have only used it for a total of 6 years and 7 PES titles, along with 3 Metal Gear titles and the P.T demo. The engine began development in 2008, meaning it would be in use for just one year longer than it took to create.
PES entries have a long history of supporting previous platforms, with the series getting a release on the PS2 up until PES 2014. That makes it very likely that PES 2022 will also be a cross-gen title between current and next-gen consoles. With PES 2021 being scaled back to put more focus on the next-gen version, we will have to wait and see if this engine switch will pay off for Konami.
Source: MSPowerUser