One of Sony’s biggest exclusive franchises will be expanding to other consoles at the start of the next generation. Today, Sony and MLB renewed their contract to continue developing and publishing MLB The Show.
The series is widely renowned for delivering a fun, authentic baseball simulator experience in the vein of games like Madden, NBA 2k, and FIFA. MLB The Show has received critical acclaim for years but for nearly a decade, anyone lacking a PlayStation was missing out on any kind of quality baseball video game.
With the new contract, MLB and Sony have negotiated a deal that will put MLB The Show on other consoles beyond PlayStation. In 2021 (likely with MLB The Show 21’s spring release), the series will break away from its exclusivity.
“In addition, the historic expansion of the long-standing partnerships will bring MLB The Show, for the first time ever, to additional console platforms beyond PlayStation platforms as early as 2021. Complete details will be announced at a later date,” reads the MLB press release.
While the press release isn’t calling out specific consoles and notes full details are coming later, both Xbox and Nintendo addressed the news via Twitter.
This marks a bold new shift for PlayStation following a recent change of leadership. Minecraft now has full cross-play functionality on PS4 with Xbox Live features, Death Stranding was recently announced for PC, and we’ll likely continue to see more big moves in the coming months.
Sony San Diego will continue to develop the baseball series for PlayStation and other consoles. MLB The Show 20 will release exclusively on PlayStation 4 this spring with Chicago Cubs’ Javier Baez as the cover athlete.
