The

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

license has been used by four different companies. Debuted in 1996, the series has only had five games published so far, and after being in the hands of

Krisalis Software Krisalis Software Limited was a British video game developer and publisher founded by Tony Kavanagh, Peter Harrap, and Shaun Hollingworth in 1987 under the name Teque Software Development Limited as a subsidiary label (beginning in 1988) unti ...

, Silicon Dreams Studio and

Konami , is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has casino ...

, the license now lies in the hands of EA.

Krisalis (1996–1998)

had a strong history of football video games in the past, and inclusively released '' European Club Soccer'', a game that simulated the old knockout format in 1992. With the official branding, Krisalis worked on a 3D engine, fitted with the ''Tacti-grid'' and gameplay in the line of their older games. It had all 16 teams present in the 1996/1997 Champions League with the actual groups, plus national teams. Only one title was produced, distributed by

Philips Media Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered ...

Silicon Dreams (1998–2002)

With Silicon Dreams Studio, who also developed the ''World League Soccer'' series, ''Champions League'' had four titles, ''98–99'', ''Season 1999–2000'', ''Season 2000–2001'' and ''2001–2002'' released, aimed mostly at the PlayStation, but PC releases existed for the games. It replaced the national teams with finalists of all competitions since 1960, also including scenarios (in 98–99, with fake settings, in 1999–2000, based on the previous finals, including the 1999 final last minutes). The first two games were published by Eidos Interactive, whilst the last two were published by

Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal ...

EA Sports (2004–2007, 2018–present)

In November 2004,

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...

announced a brand-new licensing deal and further development of the game, which was published before the second round of the 2004–05 competition started. It used the same FIFA engine, and was now the fourth licensed football title EA has in its catalogue. ''UEFA Champions League 2004–2005'' was released in early 2005 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube and Windows and had licenses to many leagues in Europe, stadiums including Stamford Bridge and Anfield and also licenses to the players for the clubs. Clive Tyldesley and Andy Gray did the commentary for the game and the graphics and gameplay were taken from ''

FIFA Football 2005 ''FIFA Football 2005'', also known as ''FIFA Soccer 2005'' in North America or simply ''FIFA 2005'', is a football simulation video game released in 2004. It was developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for the Pl ...

'', released in 2004. A career mode was made into the game where a player had to win the Champions League with various scenarios. EA Sports Talk Radio - a feature previously featured in games such as ''

Madden NFL 2005 ''Madden NFL 2005'' is an American football simulation video game based on the NFL that was developed by EA Tiburon, along with Exient Entertainment and Budcat Creations, and published by EA Sports. The 16th installment of the '' Madden NFL seri ...

'' - was incorporated into the career mode, and was presented by Patrick Kinghorn and ex-footballer

Tony Cascarino Anthony Guy Cascarino (born 1 September 1962) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker for various British and French clubs and internationally for the Republic of Ireland national team, with whom he competed in UEFA Euro 19 ...

. It was also the only UEFA-based video game to be released for the GameCube. '' UEFA Champions League 2006–2007'' was released by EA Sports on 23 March 2007. There are four versions of the game, one for the PS2, one for the PSP, one for the PC and one for the Xbox 360. The game modes differ among PS2, PSP and 360. The PSP, PS2 and PC versions were developed by

HB Studios HB Studios Multimedia Limited is a Canadian video game developer based in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. It is best known for its rugby and cricket games. History HB Studios was founded in early July 2000 by Jeremy Wellard in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia ...

while the Xbox 360 version was developed by

EA Canada EA Vancouver (formerly known as EA Burnaby, then EA Canada) is a Canadian video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia. The development studio opened as Distinctive Software in January 1983, and is also Electronic Arts's largest and ...

. The UEFA Champions League returned to EA Sports in ''

FIFA 19 ''FIFA 19'' is a football simulation video game developed by EA Vancouver and released by Electronic Arts on 28 September 2018 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows. It is the 26th installm ...

'', as EA secured the license after the deal between Konami and UEFA expired. The tournament is available as a standalone tournament mode, in The Journey, Career Mode and in FIFA Ultimate Team related content, with

Derek Rae Derek Rae (born 1967) is a Scottish association football commentator and presenter who currently works for ESPN and ABC in the United States for the English-language coverages of Bundesliga, DFB Pokal, and La Liga and Deutsche Fußball Liga for ...

and

Lee Dixon Lee Michael Dixon (born 17 March 1964) is an English retired professional footballer and pundit who played as a right-back for Arsenal. Dixon was also capped 22 times for England. A childhood Manchester City fan, Dixon began his footballing ...

as commentators for the tournament.

Konami (2008–2018)

On 11 September 2008,

officially released the news that they had secured a four-year deal for the rights of the Champions League beginning with ''

Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 ''Pro Evolution Soccer 2009'' (''PES 2009'', known as ''World Soccer: Winning Eleven 2009'' in Korea and Japan) is a football video game in the ''Pro Evolution Soccer'' series, which was made by Konami. It is also the exclusive licensed game of t ...

'' and ending with ''

Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 ''Pro Evolution Soccer 2012'' (''PES 2012'', known as ''World Soccer: Winning Eleven 2012'' in Asia) is a video game which is the eleventh edition in the ''Pro Evolution Soccer'' series developed and published by Konami with production assistance f ...

''. The deal allowed Konami to use the details of the

in a separate game mode within the game, In 2012, Konami has had extended the deal for 1 more year to feature the UEFA Champions League again within ''

Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 ''Pro Evolution Soccer 2013'' (''PES 2013'', known as ''World Soccer: Winning Eleven 2013'' in Japan and South Korea) is an association football video game, developed and published by Konami. The game was announced by Konami on April 18, 2012. For ...

''. In August 2013, Konami confirmed that ''

Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 ''Pro Evolution Soccer 2015'' (abbreviated as ''PES 2015'' and known as ''World Soccer: Winning Eleven 2015'' in Japan) is a football simulation game developed by PES Productions and published by Konami for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Pla ...

'' would feature UEFA Champions League. In June 2015, Konami reached a deal with UEFA to hold the license until 2018. On 18 April 2018, UEFA announced an end to their 10-year partnership with Konami following the final in Kyiv.

References

{{International Superstar Soccer/Pro Evolution Soccer Association football video games Electronic Arts franchises Konami franchises

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...

Video game franchises introduced in 1996

Krisalis (1996–1998)

Silicon Dreams (1998–2002)

EA Sports (2004–2007, 2018–present)

Konami (2008–2018)

See also

References