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MLB The Show 21 is coming to Game Pass on day 1 (April 20)

FrankWza

Member
I think MLB and Sony recently renewed their publishing contract together, and I'm guessing the MLB added a clause stating that for any partnership to continue, the games would have to become available on other platforms. So it was either lose the publishing rights or give in to demands.
1000% truth
It is. But the context is /was to keep EA out of the game. Which is the worst thing to happen to baseball fans. SD needs competition. This gp move further keeps them churning out the same game year after year.. At least EA and Take2 bump up resolution with new gen. Forget about PS and Xbox. This entire situation is bad for fans of the game of baseball
 

iamvin22

Industry Verified
It is. But the context is /was to keep EA out of the game. Which is the worst thing to happen to baseball fans. SD needs competition. This gp move further keeps them churning out the same game year after year.. At least EA and Take2 bump up resolution with new gen. Forget about PS and Xbox. This entire situation is bad for fans of the game of baseball
when i was at ea i never saw any attempt to pick up the MLB license. i hear things even to this day but thats out of my pay grade haha
 

Kagey K

Banned
Sarcastic Wink GIF by Kim's Convenience's Convenience
A Kim’s Convenience gif? I didn’t think anyone else watched that show. This thread is the gift that keeps on giving. 😃
 

Kerotan

Member
It is. But the context is /was to keep EA out of the game. Which is the worst thing to happen to baseball fans. SD needs competition. This gp move further keeps them churning out the same game year after year.. At least EA and Take2 bump up resolution with new gen. Forget about PS and Xbox. This entire situation is bad for fans of the game of baseball
Man EA pump the same shit out year on year too. They keep it running on the same engine for a fucking eternity. I don't buy any sports games and I sure as hell wouldn't buy any of them annually. Ps plus has given me most of the sports sims for free including mlb and nba and I never even downloaded them.
 
Not in the slightest. PS+ already gives more good games then I can play. I'm struggling to get through my backlog of games bought super cheap on sale to the point I hope ps plus doesn't give away another game I'd like to play.

I live in Europe and most of us don't ever think of Xbox. Every game ever could be free there and we still wouldn't care.

If Xbox gamers are happy then I'm happy for them because they've had a brutal last 10 years unless they owned another console or pc as well.

Don't forget the keyword here is no extra cost because GP isn't free or won't be in a few years when the $1 deals and and the price inevitably increases.

I personally prefer my current buying habits of buying games I want to play for €5-20 on sale and owning them.
I also live in Europe and everything in your post is bullshit. There are online queues for the XSX in every European online store, including the ones in my country and when the console appears it is sold out within minutes

Have fun paying 80€ (around 100$ for our American friends ) for games that I get for, almost , free on my XSX.

Anyway I don’t care about baseball, but gamepass in general is awesome,
 
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kyoji

Member
I guess you've missed one of the "gamepass isn't sustainable" favorite arguments that everyone has a membership for a $1 till infinity and beyond.
probably i dont put much stock into services especially subscription based, they are easily replicated and templates including pricing go up or down like anything else
 

SLB1904

Banned
I guess you've missed one of the "gamepass isn't sustainable" favorite arguments that everyone has a membership for a $1 till infinity and beyond.
The show coming to gamepass is not evidence of being sustainable at all. Is phil spencer throwing money. Let's see how long they can keep throwing money around.
 

Dabaus

Banned
Whether it’s studio growth, backwards compatibility, or services Sony is asleep at the wheel instead focusing on tv shows. As if the last of us 2 didn’t kill any interest in that IP going forward. Sony needs new leadership or said leadership should explain their long term plan.
 

DaGwaphics

Member
I don't see Sony producing MLB games going forward. There might be a 2022 release, but I don't foresee The Show 2023.

If Sony releases The Show 2022, MS will also put that one on GamePass. Why would anyone buy the game on PS then? At this stage, Sony would just prefer not to make the game at all.

Just because it's on GP once, doesn't mean it will be on there again.

Xbox hasn't had a decent baseball game in forever, as a result interest is probably low overall amongst Xbox only players. MLB probably wanted to do this to grease the wheels a bit on Xbox, get users in the swing again. The publishers are always in total control, if a GP deal hurts them financially they won't be back or will be sure to negotiate differently next time.
 
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FrankWza

Member
when i was at ea i never saw any attempt to pick up the MLB license. i hear things even to this day but thats out of my pay grade haha
It was way back in 06. It was mlb license was available to Sony,Msoft and Nintendo after 2k deal expired. EA for nfl and 2k had the 3rd party MLB until around 2011. That was the turning point in video game history for sports. It shifted everything and nothing has been the same since. Just like PES losing rights and being the better game. Konami makes a superior pro baseball game that is Japanese only. It’s a better engine than SDS. Oh well.
Edit: I meant too that EA would swoop in or even take2. As soon as they were allowed
Man EA pump the same shit out year on year too. They keep it running on the same engine for a fucking eternity. I don't buy any sports games and I sure as hell wouldn't buy any of them annually. Ps plus has given me most of the sports sims for free including mlb and nba and I never even downloaded them.
But EA had the most incredible baseball engine ever. Even when they got the nfl deal, their game was inferior to 2k.
 
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This is great news for me! I was buying the game day one but now I can play it on Game Pass. If I'm still playing it by the time it leaves Game Pass I'll buy it but I'm not in any rush right now.
 

iamvin22

Industry Verified
It was way back in 06. It was mlb license was available to Sony,Msoft and Nintendo after 2k deal expired. EA for nfl and 2k had the 3rd party MLB until around 2011. That was the turning point in video game history for sports. It shifted everything and nothing has been the same since. Just like PES losing rights and being the better game. Konami makes a superior pro baseball game that is Japanese only. It’s a better engine than SDS. Oh well.

But EA had the most incredible baseball engine ever. Even when they got the nfl deal, their game was inferior to 2k.
yes, I remember this situation. all 3 major pubs wanted nothing to do with the license. I wont say its a better engine but the MLB has loved working with SD studios as it has generated a lot of sales. the problem is baseball has been boring for the past 10 years. MLB tv ratings has dropped hard. the MLB needed viewership to grow so they looked at the success of MLB the show and said "we need to get this on all platforms".
 

yurinka

Member
Nice to see that Sony not only puts it on Xbox, but also in Game Pass.

I wonder how much MS paid Sony to put this game on GamePass.

I assume that on Sony's side they simply put it on Xbox to appeal the licensor, and then MS appeared with a briefcase full of dollars, so they accepted. I think Sony were ok with the sales they had on PS4 and the record numbers they have in revenue or game sales on PS, so didn't need (or expected) to have a lot of revenue from the MS platform, so this must have been a good surprise for them.

It is pretty weird. Sony game launching on Gamepass day 1, but not on PS+/PSNow... that does put into question just what the hell are Jim and his team thinking? Is the idea here that PlayStation customers won’t know about it?

Baffling
They may be thinking that Sony currently has the best strategy any console maker ever had because they have better revenue, consoles sold, games sold and subscription sold than any other console platform holder ever did in gaming history. Sony also has more subscribers and generate more revenue with their game subscriptions than MS has with their own, so it would be hard to see big changes on Sony's side, they don't have any reason to do it.

If some day in the future the gamers stop supporting with their wallets Sony's approach and invest instead on MS' approach to a point it starts to become a threat to PlayStation's distant market leader position, they will react. Until then, it's just a few noisy compains in game forums.

Regarding this specific game, the licensor asked to do this, and they accepted. If Sony doesn't like the move, they may avoid making more future MLB games.
 
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Ex-Vd7jW8AE9L1M


We’re living in another age of “Arrogant Sony” so this won’t make them move the needle on their end whatsoever. As long as demand vastly outstrips supply of the PS5 they don’t really have any incentive anyway. Early adopters that actually have the console will typically eat shit and ask for seconds too.
Man I typically stay out of console war threads unless I just come laugh at the banter back and forth..and thats what im doing here, cause that tweet is fucking hilarious lol

(Before Sony guys attack I own 2 ps5s, a series x, and a 3090 + the wife and I both have our own Switch consoles, don't pounce!)
 

Spokker

Member
MLB tv ratings has dropped hard. the MLB needed viewership to grow so they looked at the success of MLB the show and said "we need to get this on all platforms".
I don't know how they are going to get viewership to grow when you can't even watch your team. I have YouTube TV but they took off my team's channel off the service due to a price dispute. It's not on Sling or Hulu TV either. I'm not going to go get a cable box just to watch it. I have MLB.TV through T-Mobile, but my team's games are restricted by blackouts.

I'm a diehard fan of my team and baseball in general, I play The Show every day, but I literally can't watch the games.
 
As an Xbox fan, I can almost forgive Microsoft now. About two or three console generations ago, they bought the rights to the best baseball game at the time, High Heat, and did absolutely nothing with it, leaving Sony with the only good baseball game for years. I had to buy Playstations for two generations to get a great baseball game (and, it turns out, other great exclusives as well). Now, after decades of not having a good baseball game on Xbox, I can have one on Game Pass.

I *almost* forgive Microsoft.
 

FrankWza

Member
yes, I remember this situation. all 3 major pubs wanted nothing to do with the license. I wont say its a better engine but the MLB has loved working with SD studios as it has generated a lot of sales. the problem is baseball has been boring for the past 10 years. MLB tv ratings has dropped hard. the MLB needed viewership to grow so they looked at the success of MLB the show and said "we need to get this on all platforms".
Absolutely. I meant EA or take2 would swoop in as soon as they could. MLB would have allowed 3rd party back in if Sony didn’t make the show available for x and Nintendo. They both could have made an mlb game whenever they wanted. The thing SDS never realizes is that with baseball, gameplay will always trump the graphics crap they put too much focus on. They always struggled delivering locked frame rates and a no lag online experience on top of the weird fielding issues. That’s a no-no for baseball. Now that they have all that next gen power, they’re introducing a stadium creator. At this point, 15 years in we should have 120fps batter pitcher interface and pitch recognition markers.
 
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