We're still recovering from the shock of MLB The Show 21 not only launching on Xbox for the first time, but also joining Xbox Game Pass, although admittedly it looks like (as expected) the PlayStation 5 version performs the best.

This is according to an analysis by the experts over at Digital Foundry, who have found that the frame rate outside of gameplay is the biggest difference between the two, dropping slightly on Xbox Series X:

"Actual in-game action runs nigh-on locked at 60fps on PlayStation 5, and it's much the same on Series X - just a little less stable. However, it's in the games cutscenes (or 'presentations' rather) that San Diego Studio pushes graphics much harder. Frame-rate buckles on all machines and it's here that we see that Series X occasionally matches PS5, but more often drops harder - by a factor of around 9-11fps."

As for the visuals though, it's "basically identical". Both the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 render the game at a native 2160p and look pretty much the same, while the Xbox Series S version renders at 1080p and runs around 2-3fps slower than the Xbox Series X version for the most part.

And notably, the Xbox One X version is better than the PlayStation 4 Pro version. Again, the visuals are largely the same at 1440p, but the frame rate in both gameplay and cutscenes is worse on PS4 Pro.

"Again, the differential can shift according to content but in the most challenging 'presentations', Xbox One X runs around 5-7fps faster than PS4 Pro. The difference compared to the new consoles is that the gameplay segments render consistently lower than 60fps. Mid 50s plays late 40s with a clear Xbox One X advantage."

"A leveller is available though: the options do allow you to drop resolution to 1080p, giving a result that looks very similar indeed to Xbox Series S..."

Some interesting results, then. It's not surprising that the PlayStation 5 version comes out on top, with the development team at Sony San Diego being new to the Xbox platform. That said, visuals and gameplay remain near-perfect on Xbox Series X, and the Series S and Xbox One X versions also perform comparatively well. Good news all around!

What are your thoughts on this MLB The Show 21 analysis? Let us know down in the comments below.

[source eurogamer.net]