PES 2020

The yearly battle between PES and FIFA was one of the biggest video game rivalries in history. For more than 20 years, football fans would argue about which title was the best. But everything changed in 2021. Konami said that the Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) series would no longer be the same. PES 2021 was the last real entry, and it was just a “season update.” The next big thing, which we all called “PES 2022,” would be a “live service” game that was free to play and made with a new engine.

The name of it was eFootball 2022. And it was, to say the least, a disaster.

Not only was this game a letdown, it also killed the franchise and left millions of fans in the dark. The launch of eFootball 2022 was so bad that it was buggy, had horrible graphics, and had no content. It was so bad that it did something no one expected: it made a whole new community that was dedicated to escaping it.

This is the story of how the worst football game ever made became the best ad for Winlator, making the Android emulator a must-have for a whole generation of “football refugees.”

The Day the Fox Engine Died

You need to know what was lost in order to understand the disaster. The “PES” series, which ran from 2015 to 2021, was made with the amazing Fox Engine. This engine gave the game a certain “feel”—heavy, realistic, simulation-based gameplay that focused on tactical build-up and realistic physics. It was the game’s heart and soul.

Konami threw it all away. eFootball 2022 was made with the Unreal Engine, not because it was better for a sports simulation (it wasn’t), but because it was easier to put on all platforms, even mobile.

The launch result was a public execution.

The Pictures: The players’ faces were scary, with bugged-out eyes. The well-known “zombie” runs and crowds that looked dead right away became memes.
The Physics: The ball felt like a beach ball, players ran into each other in funny ways, and the “realism” that the series was known for was gone overnight.
The Content: This was the worst part of all. There were only 9 teams in the game when it came out, and there was no career mode (Master League), no edit mode, and no offline leagues. It was a demo that looked like a finished product. The PC version was the most rude. It was a direct port of the mobile version, but it didn’t have the graphics and features that PC players expected. There was no “PES” game to buy for the first time in 20 years. The dynasty was done.

The Rise of the “PES Refugee”

People in the community were shocked. What was a die-hard PES fan to do? They couldn’t play the new game because it was just an empty shell. This made a new type of gamer called the “PES Refugee.”

This huge group of fans who didn’t have homes went back to the last great game, PES 2021. The modding community on PC worked hard to make “season patches” that brought rosters, kits, and leagues up to date for the 2022, 2023, and even 2024 seasons. This kept the game going, but there was one big problem: you had to stay at your desk.

The goal was to be able to play the full, offline, modded version of PES 2021, or even the older games like PES 2017, on the go. The official eFootball mobile app was the problem they were trying to get away from.

Winlator: The Unlikely Savior

Welcome to Winlator. This strong Android app isn’t a game; it’s a Windows emulator that makes a virtual desktop on your phone. It lets you install and run real x86 PC programs and games with Wine and Box86/Box64.

All of a sudden, the “PES Refugees” had a new place to live. The link is as clear as it is smart:

The PES-on-Winlator scene exists because eFootball 2022 didn’t work out.

Winlator turned into a “PES Time Machine.” It let players turn down Konami’s new, failed vision and instead take the franchise’s “golden era” with them wherever they went.
Running the Antidote: People weren’t trying to run the new, broken eFootball 2022 on Winlator. They were using Winlator to install older versions that were much better.
The Holy Grail: The main goal was PES 2021. With some changes, a powerful Android device could run the whole PC version of PES 2021, including Master League and Edit Mode.
Getting to the Classics: Players also started adding other Fox Engine classics, like PES 2017, which has long been a fan favorite, or even older games like PES 2013.
Full Mod Support: Since Winlator runs the PC version, it can also run the mods. Players could put the newest patches for the 2024/2025 season, new faces, and custom graphics on their Android phone.

The Ultimate Irony

The irony is so good. In order to make eFootball a single, unified “mobile-first” experience, Konami killed off its popular PC/console franchise. This terrible failure directly caused a group of tech-savvy fans to use a mobile (Android) device to play the old PC version that Konami had stopped supporting.

Konami tried to make PC gamers play a bad mobile game, and in response, gamers made a good PC game work on their mobile devices.

eFootball 2022 (now just eFootball) has been patched into a “playable” state over time, with a lot of pain and money spent. But it has never gotten back the soul it lost, and it never will. It’s a “live service” first and a game second.

“PES 2022” doesn’t start a new chapter; it tells a cautionary tale. People will remember it as the game that ended a 20-year legacy, but it also unintentionally started a new, lively, and rebellious community of mobile emulators. Not only did Winlator let fans play old games, but it also let them keep the very soul of Pro Evolution Soccer that Konami tried to destroy.