MLB The Show seems very focused on broadening its player base this time around. With cross-play and cross-save functionality now including Nintendo Switch players, the game can now be played by more people than ever. This review is for the PS5 version, so I can’t speak on how well any of that performs on Switch, but it’s certainly a commendable goal for what it’s worth. On PS5 though, the game runs as well as it ever has. Going multi-platform last year seems to have done little to nothing in terms of affecting Sony San Diego’s ability to keep things running smoothly on their original platform. I didn’t notice anything in the way of fidelity or effects that last year’s game wasn’t capable of, but that really just speaks to how sharp 2021’s version was more than anything.

"MLB The Show 22 often feels like a thorough revamp that has resulted in new modes, meaningful additions to existing modes, and small conservative tweaks to general gameplay that make it really feel like a substantial follow up to last year’s game."

There really isn’t much of an equivalent of The Show to compare it to these days, but generally speaking in the sports game world, this is certainly one of the better-looking games in the genre. Clothing fabric twists and turns naturally with characters’ bodies, and crucial animations like batters regaining their balance after overstepping a base seem slightly improved over 2021’s game, making the simulation effect a little stronger. These things seem to shine even brighter when playing around with legend players for some reason, of which there are some notable new additions as well. I do wish facial expressions had seen a similar level of improvement though, as great hair and clothes don’t go as far as they could when players are still making the same cold, blank expressions that they always had 90% of the time. This doesn’t seem to be something that the community complains about much, so maybe I’m in the minority on that, but I still think it’s worth pointing out.

Along with the broadening of the player base also seems to be a very logical focus on accessibility for newer players. Lots of tutorials lightly pepper the experience – and usually only show up when they’re relevant, which mostly succeeds in striking that elusive balance between keeping you informed and keeping you in the game – but not always. You can easily turn them off when you’ve had enough though, which for me is almost immediately. Transitioning your March to October team to other modes ensures you can keep playing the way you want – even if it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Improvements to trade logic like valuing top players with higher premiums in trade negotiations, and valuing relief pitchers less than starting ones, along with several other deliberate tweaks like expanding the max contract terms to 15 years and making exclusive negotiations among free agents sparser, help players manage their teams the way they want and truly experience the baseball simulation fantasy a lot easier.

Some subtle touches to the general gameplay are also welcome, like the ability to lock in your spot on the strike zone with dynamic sensitivity, which gives batters more precision, and perfect throws now doable for in-fielders as well as outfielders, giving the pitching side more control over their team in tense moments where every second counts, which in turn results in much more satisfaction when you take somebody out on their way to the home plate. Online co-op is also a new addition to this year’s game, but sadly I wasn’t able to find anybody online to test it with before launch. Still, the numerous tweaks and adjustments made all over the game’s many modes are smart and well-calibrated. Along with more detailed difficulty and complexity settings, these changes should result in a smoother on-ramp for new and casual players alike while not sacrificing much if any of the depth that veterans enjoy.

Road to the Show, which most consider the centerpiece of the game, is also in good shape here. While it can still bog you down in charts, tips, and inconsequential text conversations for longer than I prefer, the banter of the podcast hosts and commentators that tie the events together outshine that, and make this the best version of this mode in my opinion. Although I still think a little more variety in what the commentators say in between events that reacts better to the specifics of what actually transpired could’ve really elevated this mode closer to its potential.

"MLB The Show 22 is arguably the most notable leap the series has taken in recent memory. Perhaps a result of the influx of new blood from going multiplatform last year, it seems like Sony San Diego is really trying to make the most out of this era of the franchise’s history where more eyes are on them than ever before."

When you find yourself wanting to explore the game’s many modes, exhibition, practice, and the improved stadium creator could easily give you hours of entertainment. The latter in particular seems to be beefed up a bit with several new stadium templates for you to start out with and customize to your liking with different props, seating customization, and other elements that make this feel like a more actualized mode than last year’s version.

Audio has never really been a weak point for this series, but it hasn’t really stood out either. This year’s game is no different in that regard. Some modern licensed music rumbles in the background effectively mimicking the atmosphere of a real ball game, but the banter between players, cracks of the bat, catches, and most other sound effects are moderately convincing at best. Granted, sound effects might not be as important to a baseball game as a football or basketball game, but underestimating the power of high-quality sound effects is a mistake no matter what, and as usual, it feels a bit glazed over more often than not in The Show 22.

MLB The Show 22 is arguably the most notable leap the series has taken in recent memory. Perhaps a result of the influx of new blood from going multiplatform last year, it seems like Sony San Diego is really trying to make the most out of this era of the franchise’s history where more eyes are on them than ever before. Outside of a few small gripes I do have with the somewhat clunky career mode, a mediocre soundtrack, and awkward character expressions that can subtract from the fantasy at times, this is yet another damn fine baseball game from Sony San Diego that isn’t quite a home run, but still manages to fly deep enough into left field to put some more points on the board.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

As revealed via the game’s Xbox Store and PlayStation Store pages, on both the Xbox Series X and PS5, MLB The Show 22 will run at a dynamic 4K and 60 FPS- which doesn’t come as a surprise, since that was what last year’s game targeted as well. Of course, MLB The Show 21 was known to run a little better on PS5 than it did on Xbox Series X, so it should be interesting to see if that’s the case with its successors as well. It should also be interesting to see what frame rates and resolutions MLB The Show 22 targets on the Nintendo Switch and its different modes.

MLB The Show 22 is out for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on April 5.

In its recent financial report for fiscal year 2020, Sony revealed that 338.9 million games had been sold on PS4 and PS5. About 58.4 million or 17 percent of the figure were first-party titles, which makes sense given that titles like Ghost of Tsushima, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and The Last of Us Part 2 released last year. However, this fiscal year, the company is aiming even higher.

As part of its outlook for the year (as revealed by VentureBeat), the company is expecting an “increase in revenue from first-party titles” compared to fiscal year 2020. Some titles like Returnal, Ratchet and Clank and MLB The Show 21 have either been discussed or released while others like Horizon Forbidden West are on track for this year. Then there’s God of War 2 which received an ambiguous 2021 window with no further details since.

It’s possible that the company has some surprises in store especially with its focus to “aggressively invest” in first party development and external studio partnerships. Outside of its first party releases, the coming fiscal year is looking stacked with titles like Stray, Kena: Bridge of Spirits and Forspoken coming up. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.

Microsoft has announced the last few titles coming to Xbox Game Pass for April. It kicks off with MLB The Show 21, available now for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and the cloud. On April 22nd, co-op title Phogs! comes to PC subscribers. Co-op dinosaur shooter Second Extinction is out on April 28th for console, PC and the cloud, albeit as part of Xbox Game Preview.

The title is still in early access so Game Pass provides a nice way to see if it’s up your alley. Next up is Destroy All Humans! on April 29th, launching for consoles, PC and the cloud. As a remake of the original, it sees Crypto-137 harvesting humans and taking down armies with all kinds of alien weapons and abilities.

Fable 3 and Fable Anniversary will be available to play via the cloud on April 30th. On the same day, several titles will be leaving Xbox Game Pass. The titles and their platforms in question are:

• Endless Legend (PC)
• For the King (Cloud, Console and PC)
• Fractured Minds (Cloud and Console)
• Levelhead (Cloud, Console and PC)
• Moving Out (Cloud, Console and PC)
• Thumper (PC)

Sony have taken a little longer than usual to announce this year’s instalment of MLB The Show, and though that announcement is not that far away, the leaks for the game have already begun flowing in, to very little surprise.

To be more specific, MLB The Show 21’s box art has leaked (via @SayIt2MyFaceBro on Twitter). Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres is this year’s cover art, it seems- and of course, as you can see below, the box art for both the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game has been leaked. If you’ve ever wondered what the PlayStation logo would look like on an Xbox box art, take a gander below.

It was announced at the end of 2019 that as part of Sony’s extended agreement for the MLB license, the series would no longer be exclusive to PlayStation, and would be coming to Xbox and Nintendo platforms as well.

MLB The Show 21’s target platforms haven’t been officially announced yet (and you’ll notice that a Nintendo Switch box art hasn’t leaked either), but the game’s going to be officially unveiled in February, so we’ll probably learn more about it soon.

YES!! Xbox pic.twitter.com/awZceUf12G

— Say it to My Face (@SayIt2MyFaceBro) January 31, 2021

"The core mechanics of actually playing the game of baseball, out on the field, are strong and fluid."

The core mechanics of actually playing the game of baseball, out on the field, are strong and fluid. The game allows you, right away, to specify your level of familiarity with sports simulations, adjusting the difficulty of things like hit timing, pitch accuracy, etc. to your specific skill level. The game then throws you into a training match, where you can experiment with all the different control schemes for batting, pitching, and fielding. They all have their merits; personally, I found Zone hitting, where you align a reticle to the incoming pitch and press a button to specify the power of your strike, to be the most intuitive. Maybe it appealed to the FPS gamer in me. Nevertheless, all of the control schemes have their merits, and I found myself frequently switching between control schemes to accommodate the situation, which you can thankfully do, even mid-match.

The on-field AI is usually solid, and the game does an excellent job of simulating the actual feel of baseball. Star players can have an off night and totally flub, and likewise bottom-barrel players can come in with a clutch moment. The crowd reactions are organic to the action on the screen, and the excellent commentary reacts perfectly to the events on the field. There is some repeated commentary on occasions, but that’s to be expected after hours of repeated gameplay, and even then, the repetition was minimal.

Of course, at this point it’s expected that the on-field simulation and gameplay will be excellent. What people really care about are the modes, the careers and franchises. Thankfully, these are all enjoyable in their own right. Personally, my favorite mode of any of them was Road to the Show, a kind of one-man career mode where you handcraft a player, and play his entire career, from his very first draft, up through the minor leagues and all the way up to star of the pros. It’s a lot of fun to play through, as you build your player up from a nobody to a star, and the game evolves very well around your progress. The more famous you become, the more you’ll build up relationships with your teammates and rivalries with opponents, and the commentators will begin to focus on and talk about you more and more. There’s something extremely satisfying about watching your player climb from nothing to become a star player in the pros.

"There’s something extremely satisfying about watching your player climb from nothing to become a star player in the pros."

The mode includes a solid player progression as well, in the form of skills and personality attributes that can be improved upon. Skills fluctuate based on performance; a great game can raise your skills, while a run of bad games can lower them. Practicing on off days allows you to raise the ceiling that your skills can max out at. Meanwhile, interactions with your teammates can build your relationships with your teammates and buff your personality traits, providing bonuses and unlockable perks that can be applied through a tier system; perks are divided into 4 tiers of increasing quality, and you can mix and match different perks from the different personalities in those tiers. Skills and personality traits can also be improved through periodic challenges on the field, which call for you to make a specific kind of play while at-bat.

Road to the Show is made even better by the remarkably deep player creation, which allows you to tailor nearly every aspect of your character, from skin tone to face shape to his hair style and height. You can then tweak all of his animations, such as home run celebrations, practice swings, and running gait, as well as customizing his walk-on music. Finally, you assign him a broad character type, which outlines his starting skills and skill ceilings, and specify his primary and secondary positions on the field. There’s a lot of room to tweak your player to look and act however you want him to, and you can unlock even more customization options through gameplay. Having that level of control over your player really helps to build your investment in his journey, and helped make Road to the Show my favorite mode in the game.

That’s not to say the other modes aren’t fun as well. March to October sees you taking control of a specific Major League team for the duration of a season. The game throws you into matches, usually mid-match and usually later in the game, where there’s some kind of clutch to pull off, with the goal of building momentum for your team to ride. Depending on the quality of the team you choose, their goals for the season can differ. Some teams only aspire to reach the post-season, while others aren’t satisfied until you lead them all the way to a World Series victory. March to October is kind-of like a bridge between the intimacy of Road to the Show and the larger, more strategic aspects of Franchise mode.

"Having that level of control over your player really helps to build your investment in his journey, and helped make Road to the Show my favorite mode in the game."

Speaking of Franchise mode, this is likely to be the heart of the game for many players. Franchise mode is exactly what it says it is; players take on the role of a team’s general manager, and lead the team for as long as they can, hopefully to a World Series victory. This is by far the most complicated mode, as the player has to manage trades and acquisitions, roster lineups, player salaries, injuries, sponsorship deals… the list goes on. Thankfully, for those of us who are a tad bit less experienced, the game allows you to set any specific aspect of the management simulation to either be manual, or be automatically handled by the computer, allowing you to focus on the aspects of management that you enjoy the most or are most comfortable with.

It’s concessions like that that impress me, as a more casual baseball fan, about this game. For those who want it, there is an intensely deep baseball simulation at work here, with seemingly infinite details and specifics that can be tweaked and controlled to provide you with as much depth and control as you want. And for those who enjoy the game more casually, there’s the option to automate a great deal of the more complex aspects of the game, allowing us to focus on the parts we’re most comfortable or interested in. It’s that willingness to compromise, and to make the game as broadly accepting as possible, that really impressed me here.

The game also includes an online mode, where you build a team, either using a preset pro team or building a custom one of your own, and build up your squad of players, stadiums, and equipment to compete against other players. These are unlocked throughout all the different gameplay modes, not just multiplayer, so everything you do in the game allows you to build and improve your online team. There’s a lot to play with here, though obviously the game was less populated than it will be after release.

"MLB The Show 20 is a strong sports game, one deep enough for pros, but welcoming enough for beginners."

All things considered, MLB The Show 20 surprised me. The depth I expected was there, and on full display. Of course, there are somethings that can’t be compromised; the game makes the (obvious) assumption that you already understand how baseball works. And the game wasn’t perfect; as previously mentioned, commentary can sometimes repeat more than I’d like, and the delivery of custom player names is almost always awkward. But overall, MLB The Show 20 is a strong sports game, one deep enough for pros, but welcoming enough for beginners. If you have any interest at all in a solid, current baseball sim, you need look no further.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Well, here’s something very interesting- a first party Sony franchise that’s (obviously) always been exclusive to PlayStation platforms will soon be going multiplatform and releasing on Xbox and Nintendo systems. It was recently announced that the MLB, MLBPA, and Sony have reached an agreement to extend Sony’s license of MLB games in a “multi-year” deal (the exact duration hasn’t been mentioned), which means SIE San Diego will continue to develop annual MLB The Show for the foreseeable future.

What’s most interesting about this news is that starting from 2021, the series will no longer be exclusive to PlayStation systems, and will also be coming to “additional console platforms beyond PlayStation platforms.” More details on this are supposed to come at a later date. The official Twitter pages of Xbox and Nintendo of America have also reacted to this news in celebration.

Of course, the recently announced MLB The Show 20 will still be exclusive to the PS4, though it will also be the last game in the series to follow that trend. It’s a bit of a surprising announcement, and it will surely be strange (in a good way) to see a Sony-developed and Sony-published franchise releasing on the Switch and the Xbox. It’s likely that going multiplatform was something Sony had to agree to in order to extend their license, because the license owners wanted more sales coming on from other systems as well- but that’s just speculation on my part.

These are certainly interesting times in the games industry, that’s for sure.

No more away games. https://t.co/47Bui1tuUj

— Xbox (@Xbox) December 10, 2019

⚾ https://t.co/i80AWPYRGA

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) December 10, 2019

Sony has confirmed which two PS4 games it will be giving away for free to PlayStatio Plus subscribers during the month of October, and it’s… not the best lineup in the world. It’s not particularly bad, but not everyone will be happy with it.

The two free PS Plus games for the month of October are The Last of Us Remastered and MLB The Show 19. The Last of Us Remastered is, of course, an absolute masterpiece, and now is a great time to replay it (or play it) before the sequel hits next year. But this is a five year old game that a whole lot of people already have.

Then there’s MLB The Show 19, which is also a very well made and accomplished baseball sim. But it’s also a game that isn’t going to generate much (if any) interest in most places outside of North America (especially Europe), so a lot of people probably won’t care that it’s free.

Either way, if you haven’t played either of these two great games before, this is a great chance to do so. As mentioned earlier, these will be free during the month of October.

The NPD Group has released sales data for video game software and hardware sales in the United States for the month of April (via GamesBeat), and the two biggest releases of the month, Mortal Kombat 11 and Days Gone, both performed very impressively, as they have been doing in other parts of the world as well.

Though Days Gone has been maintaining a steady lead over Mortal Kombat 11 in the UK for a number of weeks running, in the US, the NetherRealm fighter topped April’s charts. Mortal Kombat 11 has sold so well on its debut, in fact, that it has immediately jumped up over the likes of The Division 2, Resident Evil 2, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and others to become the second best-selling game of 2019 so far, trailing behind only Kingdom Hears 3. 

Mortal Kombat 11 was also the best-selling game in April for each of the individual platforms it debuted on- the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. This makes it only the second third party game ever to top the Switch software charts for a month, with the first being Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle in September of 2017, as pointed out by NPD group analyst Mat Piscatella.

Then there’s Days Gone, which debuted second in the charts, showing impressive sales performance in the US similar to the UK, as mentioned above, and Japan, in spite of mixed reviews. In fact, Days Gone has already become Sony Bend’s best-selling game in the United States ever, in terms of lifetime revenue accrued.

You can take a look at the full software sales charts below.

On the hardware side of things, the Nintendo Switch was once again the highest selling console for the month. Every system other than the Switch suffered a decline in sales. For April and for 2019 collectively, the Switch is the best-selling console in the US across both, unit and dollar sales.

NPD Software charts for April, 2019:

1. Mortal Kombat 11
2. Days Gone
3. MLB 19: The Show
4. Tom Clancy’s The Division 2**
5. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
6. Grand Theft Auto V
7. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice**
8. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4**
9. NBA 2K19
10. Yoshi’s Crafted World*
11. Red Dead Redemption II
12. Mario Kart 8*
13. Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
14. Minecraft***
15. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe*
16. Final Fantasy X2/X-2 HD Remaster
17. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
18. Jump Force
19. Battlefield V*
20. Borderlands

*Digital sales not included
**PC digital sales not included
***Xbox One and PlayStation 4 digital sales are included for Minecraft

In the past, the series has been a staple for graphics technology with crisp textures and detailed character models. Compared to previous entries, MLB The Show 17 features greatly improved models, better graphics and realistic looking players that look similar to their real life counterparts. Much of the improved graphical effects can be attributed to the lighting and shader models used in this year’s version. To add to the brilliant image quality and the detailed character models, each stadium is a near-perfect representation of what each one of them looks like in real life further adding to the authencity factor of the game. With a shaper and unique look and feel to each stadium, more face-scanned players than ever, and major improvements in the animation and physics system, the game benefits from that extra level of realism which was lacking in previous entries. MLB The Show 17 might possibly be the best looking sports game on the PS4 and that is saying something given the likes of NBA and FIFA set new benchmarks for visuals in the sports genre every year.

"MBL The Show 17 comes packed with a number of modes and amongst them is the new Retro Mode. Consider it as a throwback to the older days…a kind of a “pixelated” game mode that’s similar to that of the NES era, and it looks and plays great."

MBL The Show 17 comes packed with a number of modes and amongst them is the new Retro Mode. Consider it as a throwback to the older days…a kind of a “pixelated” game mode that’s similar to that of the NES era, and it looks and plays great. With the 8-bit feel mixed along with modern day physics, this mode rekindled my nostalgisa of 1990s gaming. This mode features retro text fonts, a rather simple control scheme (which relies only on a single button by the way) but most importantly it’s truly fun and a blast to play. Of course, hardcore fans will not find it to be anything special, but it does add a bit of spice to the mix, something which annual franchises like MLB The Show needs to freshen things up.

“Road to the Show” is back in MLB The Show 17 with a story mode titled “Pave Your Path” and it’s an improvement over last year’s iteration in just about every way. In previous editions, the player would take on the role of a character and play with him to improve his skills. However, in this year’s version, the game gives a look into your character and shares insights into what he’s going through with each player action. So what happens in your on and off time will determine your skill level later on. For starters, this mode is like an RPG, your decisions matter on and off the field. For example, your coach may ask you try out a different position/role and it’s upon the player to either agree or disagree via a number of narrative/conversation choices. Those who aren’t fond of wielding around their black mage and  traversing deep dungeons to thwart the dragon and save the princess don’t have to worry. It’s not that type of RPG, and it’s not severely deep, but it is interesting nonetheless. The only glaring flaw of this mode is the repeated conversation options which kind of impacts the overall experience, albeit in a small way.

"The two standout modes in “Dyanasty” are “Conquest” and “Battle Royale”. “Conquest” is a single player strategy focused experience in which you take on other MLB teams whereas “Battle Royale” requires your team to participate in an elimanation style tournament to access rewards. "

Once you are done with the story mode, it’s time to jump into the game’s fantastic “Franchise” mode. Featuring a brand new system called “Critical Situations”, players will be allowed to simulate almost every aspect of the game including no-hit bids and other game winning situations (with the exceptions being late-innings and individual milestones). Furthermore, the game allows you to play in “Player Lock” mode, which means you can play the entire season in this mode. Essentially, this mode gives you all the freedom you want by allowing you to control how you want to play. 

And finally, we have the “Dynasty Mode” which allows you to build your team of 25 best players. The roaster is pretty decent in this mode, ranging from legends such as Ken Griffey Jr. to Jackie Robinson. You can unlock top level players via a ton of different ways such as playing  a lot MLB matches and earn reward items or participate in Weekly Missions and Program Challenges. Once your team is ready, you can then participate in several sub-modes such as “Ranked Seasons”, “Events”, “Conquest” and “Battle Royale” modes. The two standout modes in “Dyanasty” are “Conquest” and “Battle Royale. “Conquest” is a single player strategy focused experience in which you take on other MLB teams whereas “Battle Royale” requires your team to participate in an elimanation style tournament to access rewards. 

"After everything about The Show 17 is said and done (and if you are able to ignore the repetitive commentary and conversations), what is left is a game that’s full of enjoyment match after match."

Despite the addition of so many modes, the developers have ensured that The Show 17 offers a great perspective of baseball in the field while on your couch. It’s afterall a baseball game and it doesn’t compromise or shy away from delivering an exceptional on field experience. Each action is lightning fast and is perpetually better. The on field actions are fluid and the player character potrays them in an almost realistic fashion. The AI may be a a little stiff at times but they aren’t bad enough to express any sort of frustration towards them. Each session with this game made me realized how close MLB The Show 17 is close to the real life experience. Each ball pitch and strike felt well crafted. The controls were tight and felt perfectly suited and possibly even better than the previous games. There are only a few sports games out there that are so immersive that they make you feel like you are the part of the experience…actions that you perform on screen feel like you have performed them in real life…this “connect” between the two worlds is something that MLB The Show 17 excels in.

After everything about The Show 17 is said and done (and if you are able to ignore the repetitive commentary and conversations), what is left is a game that’s full of enjoyment match after match. With the added modes in the form of the Road To Show giving us some more interesting moments than in previous years and turning the entire experience into an RPG, it’s very nice to see what the developers are still trying to pull off so many games later. Throwing in the Retro Mode was a nice nostalgia twist that I didn’t see coming. And though it wasn’t a huge game changer, it definitely added some charm that keeps the game from feeling stiff. And finally, adding in Ken Griffey Jr. was surely another aspect that this game threw in for another throwback, and it was such a amazing flashback to the baseball games of the 1990’s that I can’t wait to go back and play more.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.