2001 video game
Pro Evolution Soccer, often abbreviated as PES and also known as World Soccer: Winning Eleven 5 in Japan,[1] is a football sports simulation video game released in 2001. It is the first installment of Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer series.
World Soccer: Winning Eleven 5 Final Evolution was also released in Japan after the release of Pro Evolution Soccer in Europe.[2] PES was succeeded by Pro Evolution Soccer 2, which was released in 2002.
In-game content
In the English version of the game, Chris James and Terry Butcher provide commentary on the matches,[3][4] while in the Japanese version the commentators are Jon Kabira and Katsuyoshi Shinto.[5]
Reception
Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating in the 0–100 range, calculated an average score of 93 out of 100 ("Universal acclaim/Must-Play") for the PlayStation 2 version.[6] Japanese gaming magazine Famicom Tsūshin scored both the original and J.League versions a score of 34 out of 40 (85 out of 100 for online version),[11][12] while the Final Evolution version received a lower score (33 out of 40 printed, 83 out of 100 online), all on the same console version.[13]
According to Famicom Tsūshin, Winning Eleven 5 for the PlayStation 2 sold a total of 505,694 copies, the Final Evolution version sold 315,732 copies, while the J.League versions sold 77,225 copies by the end of 2001.[17][18][19] In Europe, the game grossed €21 million or $19,000,000 (equivalent to $33,000,000 in 2023) in 2001.[20] In the United Kingdom, the PlayStation 2 version of Pro Evolution Soccer received a "Gold" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[21] indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[22] Pro Evolution Soccer was the 26th best-selling game of 2001 in the United Kingdom.[23]
