You may have missed it, but a little game known as MLB The Show 21 hit Xbox this week. But that's not all - it's also a Sony published game which just happens to have hit Xbox Game Pass. To mark its arrival, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has congratulated Sony on the unprecedented launch.
After years of Xbox fans asking for a baseball sim on Xbox, those prayers have finally been heard. Spencer took to Twitter for the game's launch, congratulating Sony San Diego Studio on the launch of the game, adding that it's "really great to have the game out for everyone."
We've been very impressed with the game at launch, praising its quality of gameplay and performance on Xbox Series X. It's still very weird to see the PlayStation logo upon booting up the game, but if this is the start of more titles from PlayStation Studios making their way to Xbox, we're all for it.
Have you been playing MLB The Show 21? Let us know in the comments below.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 15
Haha.. oh Phil, stirring the pot eh? I'm actually surprised he said that as he usually doesn't do these things. Sony in no way wanted Xbox to have this game and it only happened cause MLB made it so.
@Arcnail Phil Spencer is known for praising Sony Developers for their Games and playing them on his Playstation. He is a Gamer too and if he can praise games like Uncharted, Horizon: ZD etc etc then I really don't see why he wouldn't praise the devs for MLB too.
Too often in the past, Phil has been 'attacked' for congratulating Sony, Sony's Developers and Sony Exclusive games so I really am NOT surprised by this at all. Its a shame that when Phil does speak about Sonys Games, devs etc, the first thought is that he must be 'trolling' or trying to 'stir' something...
@BAMozzy Oh I agree.. accept this time is different. Praising Sony for games on their own system is all good, praising them for a game they didn't want on Xbox is another thing.
@Arcnail This is far from the first time Phil Spencer has congratulated Sony/PlayStation on something. He isn't stirring anything. Even Sony themselves have congratulated Xbox on stuff like the launch of the new Xbox consoles as Phil did with them on the PS5 launch
Hell there are Sony developers like Cory Barlog (God of War director) who also own competing consoles. This whole idea that these companies genuinely antagonize each other this much or hold an animosity for whenever games they didn't want on other consoles end up going to them is super exaggerated
If SIE had their way, this game probably wouldn't have come to Xbox at all but it's probably done very little damage to them now that it has in reality. They have plenty of other exclusive games that are coming out within this year and the next for them to really care about losing one in actuality.
@TheFrenchiestFry 'If SIE had their way, this game probably wouldn't have come to Xbox at all but it's probably done very little damage to them now that it has in reality.'
Of course they probably would of preferred to keep the game 'Exclusive' to the Playstation - but they still had the choice to keep the official MLB licence but make it multi-platform OR give up the Licence. They could still of made an 'unlicenced' Baseball game and keep it exclusive.
Sony themselves are branching out from just the Console too - Horizon and Days Gone coming to PC and no doubt more will follow. They are still getting money from sales on Xbox and the global recognition for making this game.
I doubt they are that concerned - unless it 'flops'. Even the Game Pass thing can help them long term - get many more people interested and playing Baseball, then next year, when MLB2022 releases, it has a fanbase on Xbox to sell to - if they don't go the Game Pass route again if that proves to be successful for them...
The game is being review bombed on PlayStation for obvious reasons yet on Xbox its getting a higher rating.
@BAMozzy Sony are definitely branching out but I'm never expecting them to get to the point where they start expanding PlayStation beyond just their dedicated hardware outside PC and PS Now. They're basically the middle ground between Nintendo's super traditional views on gaming hardware, and Microsoft's more broad approach on selling Xbox as multiple devices instead of just a console
Their games are coming to PC more often now but I'm expecting them to drip feed for as long as they can, especially given it's clear right now that their priorities are with getting more people to buy PS5s. PC is just them basically selling their franchises to a new audience, but they aren't the focus like what Microsoft is doing with their initiatives.
I'm just saying that if they literally had it just completely their way, like without MLB pressuring them to either give up the license or bring the game to more platforms, SIE would definitely be way less agnostic towards bringing a first party developed game to Xbox, although it definitely benefits from more exposure. This doesn't really mean you can expect stuff like Horizon or God of War or Ratchet on Xbox like at all in the future or anything since they have way more control over those.
With them advertising the game with the Xbox logo beside it and now sponsoring the Blue Jays I'd say a lot of people are going to assume that this is actually an Xbox game... which is hilarious!!! Great going xbox marketing
Phil is so classy..
@TheFrenchiestFry I'm not expecting Sony to release more of their first party games on Xbox and I know that releasing a few on PC at a later date makes the most 'economic' sense for Sony and their Franchises.
MLB was never 'their' franchise and they could of dropped out of developing this game IF they wanted. They could of made an 'unlicensed' Baseball game with the exact same game-play and systems in place - just without the official names - a bit like PES - specifically for the Playstation nation.
Its like RARE took Goldeneye and made 'Perfect Dark' as they didn't have the Licence to make a sequel. Of course it helps, like it helps Fifa, to have the official license but they could still have made an exclusive Baseball game and let another developer take over the MLB license or even make a completely new IP instead of developing games that sell on other systems - they still had a Choice!!
I don't know the average sales of MLB but looking at Wiki - which has sales of each entry from 2003 to 2018, it looks like 1-1.5m people tend to buy the game. It doesn't seem worth 'fighting' to keep the official Licence for 1% of your user base to purchase. Paying to use that license also cuts down on the 'profit' margin too.
Whilst I am certain Sony would of preferred to keep MLB 'exclusive' for the PR, Financially I bet they are not unhappy at all. MLB 21 is likely to be their biggest selling game in the franchise and bring Sony 'more' money despite any 'negativity' because of the Game Pass deal. Its enabled Sony to reach not just the 'Xbox Console' gamers but also the Mobile market too.
Big release for you americans, us Europeans still waiting on fifa.... Hurry up EA
@Chaudy The Sony children demonstrating their superior maturity level once again, lol. 😜🤣
@Carck You can make an educated guess though!
With their contract running out to use official licensed MLB teams etc, Sony had a choice to make. It was clear that MLB would not give them the license to keep making an officially licensed game 'Exclusively' anymore so Sony had a Choice.
They had the choice to keep making a Licensed Baseball game on more platforms, making the definitive 'Baseball' game to cater to all Baseball fans regardless of platform. They had the choice to drop the MLB license and keep making an Exclusive Baseball game (a bit like PES is to Fifa) and perhaps face some competition from a 3rd Party studio who is willing and able to make a Licensed Baseball game OR let their Studio make something else (not Baseball) and keep that exclusive.
It obviously made sense for Sony to make the Definitive and Licensed Baseball game on multiple platforms and to make that as successful as possible, would need to grow the Baseball fanbase on other platforms. It was obviously Financially better to make a game that has a much larger potential audience than either make an 'exclusive' - either Baseball or something else.
MLB sells about 1-1.5m each year on Playstation and part of that includes paying MLB for the License. However, this game has MTX's too so putting it on Game Pass, reaching many many more people day 1, establishing a community on a platform where none existed and potentially selling in game MTX's is going to much more Lucrative so whilst they may not be too happy at losing another game as an Exclusive, they are likely to be more than happy to take the money from sales/rentals on Xbox and have the 'recognition' for making the official MLB game.
Like I said, they had the choice - they could easily have opted to make 'exclusives' or agree to making a multi-platform release and they chose to go multi-platform as its likely to be financially a bigger pay off. Its not like they don't have exclusives coming that will be console sellers.
2017's MLB sold 1.16m and 2018's sold 1.06m copies. Even when it was on PS2, PS3 and PSP, the game was selling between 1 to 1.5m and Game Pass on Mobile is another option for Sony to reach those 'gamers' who perhaps enjoyed the PSP/Vita versions in the past.
Like I said, they are not necessarily 'happy' at losing the 'exclusivity' BUT if they weren't happy to make the game multi-platform or at the very least didn't think it would be financially beneficial, they could of left the license for someone else to try. RARE went on to make Perfect Dark after they lost the License to use James Bond.
I really hope the game does well on Xbox too.
Classy as ever Phil. 👍
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