Neymar no more as Konami scrubs PSG star from PES 2018's Barcelona-themed menus
Wenger out.
Konami has scrubbed Neymar from the menus and splash screen of PES 2018 on the quiet.
Today's patch mentions "a variety of minor adjustments have been made to each mode to improve the overall gaming experience". It turns out one of these minor adjustments was replacing the Brazilian wonderkid in the menus.
When Neymar ditched Barcelona for PSG in an eye-watering £200m summer transfer, he left Konami in a bit of a pickle. The Japanese company had signed Barcelona up to promote PES, and as part of that promotion, Neymar was placed front and centre in the game - wearing a Barcelona kit.
Neymar's transfer to PSG occurred too late in the day for Konami to prevent the game coming out plastered with his Barca-flavoured face. Now, though, it's taken action.
Here are some screenshots I took of PES 2018 at launch, compared with the game today. As you can see, the players have switched positions and there's been a substitution. Neymar has been replaced by Barca midfield maestro Andrés Iniesta, who shuffles along from left to right. Defender Gerard Piqué fills in the gap and doesn't everyone look happy?
Neymar still appears in a Barca shirt in PES 2018's low-res opening movie, though. I guess Konami didn't fancy remaking that.
Today also brings PES 2018's first data pack, which adds 100 new and updated player faces. Data pack two is due out mid-November.