As odd as it is, MLB The Show 21 is on Xbox consoles and available on Xbox Game Pass. And with multi-platform releases, especially those for former exclusives, the question always becomes: which version is better? Well, the experts at Digital Foundry have the answer, and the winner in MLB The Show‘s case is the PS5 – but just barely.

Both the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 render the game at 2160p, and barring an odd bug that affects water on the Series X version, they’re basically identical. Both version are basically locked at 60 FPS during gameplay, though the Xbox Series X version is slightly less stable. The real difference is during the game’s cutscenes, or “presentations.” Both systems struggle here, but the Series X version drops around 9-11 more frames in intense sequences. The Xbox Series S runs the game at 1080p, and runs about 2-3 frames slower than the Series X.

On last generation machines, the Xbox One X runs about 5-7 frames faster than PS4 Pro at 1440p. Dropping the resolution to 1080p makes both machines run more closely to the Xbox Series S. The current gen machines do not feature resolution options. The only other major difference is that the PS5 supports the DualSense and loads about 4 seconds faster.

In all, Digital Foundry found the ports to be pretty impressive and both versions worth playing, noting that the difference here was likely due to the engine being developed on PlayStation systems, San Diego Studio’s general inexperience with Xbox hardware, and the difference in developer tools available at this point in the generation.

Many will no doubt use the PS5’s slight advantages here to fuel the never-ending console wars, but the main takeaway here is that MLB The Show 21 runs well on every platform. And that’s good for everyone, because it’s a good game. You can watch a more detailed version of Digital Foundry’s findings below.

The story of MLB The Show for this year has been a wild one, to say the least. Despite being a Sony developed title, as well as a longtime staple IP for the company, the 2021 edition of the game was announced to be coming to Xbox systems for the first time. It also was then revealed to be coming to Xbox Game Pass day and date, which is quite something. Now, you can preload on those systems as well.

People have reported that the preload option is now available on both generations of Xbox consoles the baseball sim will land on. The Xbox Series X/S version is said to both be roughly 72 GB, while the Xbox One version clocks in at about 45 GB. These sizes could change closer to release, however, if there are any day 1 updates or patches, so keep that in mind.

In addition to those platforms, MLB The Show 21 will release on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, which also have preloads live now.

This year’s MLB The Show will be the same franchise baseball fans have come to know and love, but there are some big differences outside the game itself. At one point, the biggest one was that the game would be coming to current and next gen Xbox systems, but another bombshell was that it would also come to Xbox Game Pass day and date on launch. It was a surprising thing, for sure, even more so than the license coming to Xbox. It also seems, perhaps unsurprisingly, it was a call from the licensee.

As reported by Inverse, a PlayStation representative confirmed that the decision to put the game on Xbox Game Pass came down from the MLB. According to them, the organization felt with Game Pass, it would widen the audience and potential appeal of the game. It probably isn’t a shocker, but there it is.

“As part of the goal for this year’s game, MLB decided to bring the franchise to more players and baseball fans. This decision provides a unique opportunity to further establish MLB The Show as the premier brand for baseball video games.”

MLB The Show 21 will release on April 20th for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. It will also release on Xbox Game Pass on that date on Xbox systems.

MLB The Show is once again stepping up to the plate, this year for the first time outside the PlayStation ecosystem with Xbox versions also coming. It’s sure to be the great baseball simulation experience we’ve all come to know and love, and like most sports titles it wouldn’t be complete without a nice batch of legends to mix and match with.

A new trailer has been released that highlights the various legends. There are a lot here from various eras, going all the way back to the iconic Babe Ruth to the more recent retired stars still with us like Prince Fielder. As always, it should be fun to mix and match with the various older players with the new teams. You can check out the full trailer below.

MLB The Show 21 will release on April 20th for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. You can also read up details on various aspects of the game such as its progression, casual mode and much more through here.

Multiplatform game development isn’t entirely new for Sony as a company. Long before the PlayStation, Sony ImageSoft used to publish games for Genesis, SNES, and Sega CD. Even after Sony bought out Pygnosis (later renamed to Studio Liverpool), N64 and Sega Saturn versions of Wipeout were released. Some years ago, Sony Online Entertainment used to publish games on PC (eventually, they would break away and become independent, now called Daybreak). More recently, Sony formed Unties, a publishing label for indie games, which has published games on the Switch. But the PlayStation banner has never once been associated with any platform other than the PlayStation. Even when Sony first party games such as Detroit: Become Human or Death Stranding have been announced for PC, Sony has squarely shied away from the PlayStation association, even letting other publishers pick up the slack on PC for them. Even the Unties label is technically headed by Sony Music, not SIE, meaning it is not PlayStation.

So the big news here is that Sony, as SIE, is bringing a PlayStation first party game to other platforms. Not just PC, where the argument can be made that the PC market is separate and distinct enough from the console market for it to not matter, but to actual competing consoles. This is the kind of thing we have seen Microsoft do more and more of in the last few years, but it is a pivot that made sense for that company, given its emphasis on services, and the relative failure that Xbox One sales have been. Why would Sony, which has built an empire of consoles that dominate their market, bring exclusives to the competition? What sense does it make for them?

The answer is, even though Sony hasn’t pivoted to being an entirely services-oriented company like Microsoft has, they stand to gain much of the same benefits from this move that Microsoft does. To better contextualize this, let us go back to Shawn Layden’s admission from a few months ago which portended this development to anyone who was paying attention. At the time, Layden had said that in the future, certain PlayStation titles, especially multiplayer and online oriented ones, may expand the platforms they come to, because that makes the most sense for them.

Basically, Sony’s reasoning, implicit in that statement and this decision, is that you are buying PlayStation for exclusive, premier, high end experiences such as Horizon: Zero Dawn and God of War. Those are the ones that are most valuable as system movers, and putting those on other competing platforms would dilute the intrinsic value and appeal of PlayStation. Those are the ones you should expect to stay PlayStation exclusive – don’t be holding your breath for Horizon 2 on Xbox Series X, basically.

But conversely, they develop and publish games that aren’t necessarily system movers, and, in fact, stand to gain from having a larger audience to sell to. Which bring us to MLB The Show. These games are based on a popular American sport, and will presumably sell to people no matter what platform they are on. They have a microtransactions-filled FIFA Ultimate Team style mode – which obviously benefits from having more players who can spend money. Additionally, Sony can also do what Microsoft did with Minecraft, and associate this game with a PSN ID and login – meaning, in turn, they can use MLB The Show to propagate their ecosystem and get more monthly average users for PSN via it (with increasing services engagement for PSN having been a stated goal by Sony over the last few years).

It’s a win-win situation for them all around. Bringing a game like MLB to other consoles makes too much sense for them to not do it. It is also a presumed concession Sony made to MLB in return for them having exclusive rights to make MLB games (prior to this, they have not had exclusive rights; other publishers have just generally not developed MLB games). This way, Sony is guaranteed they don’t have to compete with other potential baseball games on the market, while maximizing the revenues they get from theirs; all this without losing much in the way of system sellers, because it is unlikely there exist many people who buy PlayStation only for MLB and nothing else.

In general, we can probably expect to see a multiplatform strategy from Sony at least for multiplayer and services focused games. As another example, the Predator game, which, again, SIE is publishing, will be hitting PS4 and PC, making this the first time that PlayStation themselves have published a game for a non-PlayStation platform. Then there is a game like Dreams, which looks spectacular, but is coming to PS4 at the end of PS4’s life—does anyone honestly think this game wouldn’t benefit from going at least to PC (in addition to PS5, of course) to keep the community active and engaged? Dreams could potentially become akin to Sony’s Minecraft, if they play it smart, and put it on other platforms.

Again, none of this is to say that Uncharted or The Last of Us are coming to Xbox, Switch, or even PC. They’re not (unless you count 720p PS Now streaming for PC, anyway, in which case—congrats! You’ve had them for a while now). Those are the big system selling games that Sony uses to move hardware, and those are going to stay exclusive to their platforms. If you want to be playing those, you should absolutely look at getting a PlayStation.

But multiplayer and community focused PlayStation first party games can and will come to other platforms, including, yes, competing consoles. We have already started to see this happen. And it’s an amazing thing we should really all be welcoming (really, the only people who would take issue to something like this happening are people so married to the plastic box of their choice, they’ve lost sight of why they got into this hobby to begin with).

The walls are starting to come down.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

While the Switch was the bestselling console of last month, it wasn’t a Switch game that conquered the software charts. No, to no one’s surprise, the bestselling game of last month was The Division 2, by Ubisoft. It was followed by Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice in second place, MLB 19: The Show, Devil May Cry 5, and, perplexingly enough, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate rounding out the top five.

New release Yoshi’s Crafted World was in ninth place; it did have a later release in the month, coming right at the end of March, but losing to Smash, which is a four month old game by now, suggests that maybe demand for it hasn’t been as strong as you may expect. Elsewhere, Red Dead Redemption 2 continues to do fantastically well (it’s in sixth place), as does the now six years old Grand Theft Auto 5, which is in eighth place.

It’s also worth noting how well Kingdom Hearts 3 has done, as it is still the bestselling game of the year, in spite of The Division 2’s launch. Square Enix have a winner on their hands with this one for sure.

You can see the full charts below.

Software Rankings

Top 20 best selling titles (March 2019) – Includes Physical and Digital sales

1. Tom Clancy’s The Division 2^
2. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice^
3. MLB 19: The Show
4. Devil May Cry 5
5. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
6. Red Dead Redemption II
7. NBA 2K19
8. Grand Theft Auto V
9. Yoshi’s Crafted World*
10. Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII^
11. Anthem^
12. Mario Kart 8*
13. Jump Force
14. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe*
15. Far Cry New Dawn
16. Minecraft#
17. Battlefield V^
18. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
19. Borderlands
20. Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey

* Digital sales not included
^ PC digital sales not included
# Minecraft digital sales on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One included

"The Show has always been exceptionally pretty even on older hardware, but this year really knocks it out of the park."

This year we’re treated to some mild but noticeable visual upgrades. Some characters look a bit more like their real life counterparts than previous years, and although not every player is a perfect recreation, the vast majority could be easily identified even without their jersey. The fields look as beautiful as ever, players have received a noteworthy increase in animations, and the lighting has seen a moderate upgrade to help the graphics feel a bit crisper. The Show has always been exceptionally pretty even on older hardware, but this year really knocks it out of the park.

While the fundamentals of The Show remain relatively unchanged, we get some much needed quality of life improvements in 2019. The core gameplay offers some substantial upgrades to fielding – an issue that has plagued The Show for years. Players now have colors assigned to them to indicate their level of skill. The lowest level of gray indicates errors are more likely with that player, and the highest level of gold lends a sense of relief in knowing that the player is highly-skilled and likely to pull things off without a hitch. Having an idea of which players are going to be culpable for poor plays and which ones you can count on can be a boon to how you play the game. This excellent change also dictates how easy it is to position the players for things like pop flys as skill variation plays a role in how clear of a path you receive to field the ball. Lower-ranked players will create a lot more tension in these moments and force you to make split-second decisions based on gut instinct. As always, difficulty can be augmented further with a suite of sliders for every element of play.

The game’s premiere mode remains the RPG-lite Road to the Show. It’s a mode of mixed bags every year, and I often feel bogged down by the busywork and really just want to get back to playing baseball. Spending half of my time with this year’s new additions of doing things like playing weight-lifting mini-games or messing around on a virtual phone doesn’t add anything of value to my experience in a baseball game.

"The game’s premiere mode remains the RPG-lite Road to the Show. It’s a mode of mixed bags every year, and I often feel bogged down by the busywork and really just want to get back to playing baseball. "

But what Road to the Show does right is its actual RPG elements. Having the ability to choose between different classes for your player is a real treat, and choosing a specific path for him to follow opens up various perk opportunities. Having a list of perks along a skill tree may feel more RPG than baseball for some, but I love the ability to make decisions about my character and how he’ll assist his team moving forward. Shaping my player’s personality and improving his class-specific abilities stand out as some of the best moments in the mode, and it makes suffering through the more tedious moments of the mode far more tolerable and worth it.

In addition to these class-specific leveling options, Road to the Show sticks to the normal case of specific actions begetting specific rewards or consequences. If you do well at something during a game, you’ll find that your skill increases in that area. If you do poorly, you’ll lose some of that momentum, creating a feeling of genuine concern. I like this because it makes me try harder than I would in a normal exhibition game, and I know that many times my failures can be attributed to poor calls on my behalf and truly cost my player stat improvements.

I’m extremely disappointed to see Season Mode still absent and replaced by the lackluster March to October. Rather than giving players full control over a season, March to October simulates the majority of its season and only grants players control over key moments throughout the year. I like that the outcome of your time with the games plays a big part in how the remainder of your season plays out, but this knock-off version of a true Season Mode is a depressingly simple affair. Giving me control at the end of the 7^th inning and tasking me with pulling off some kind of miracle to propel us towards a winning streak isn’t nearly as engaging as giving me full control of the games to grant me a feeling of security in my team and players.

"Franchise Mode, meanwhile, is consistently underwhelming each year. 2019’s iteration of The Show does nothing of value to improve this despite some minor additions that the more hardcore number junkies among baseball fans may find intriguing."

The other new mode titled simply “Moments” is a fairly straightforward affair that puts you in the shoes of some of baseball’s iconic players and asks you to relive their most impressive moments in short bursts of gameplay. I’ll admit I had a smile on my face playing as Willie Mays as he scored his 600^th career homer in black and white, and I adored the real-life, old-timey footage shown to set the stage that teaches you about the player’s background. For instance, I learned Babe Ruth started his career as a pitcher – something I’d have probably never learned otherwise – and I was granted an opportunity to play with him doing just that. There’s a promise of more moments being added throughout the year, but although I enjoyed the mode tremendously, I’m not sure the limited gameplay and simplistic nature really offers anything beyond a quick distraction.

Your reward for completing much of these two modes is merely Diamond Dynasty rewards. I’ve had a long-running distaste for Diamond Dynasty based on its mix of grinding and microtransactions-based design, but for those into fantasy baseball, there’s a lot to love. There are a few dozen new legends, fairly fun objectives to unlock packs, an improved overall layout, and a well-implemented guide to help newcomers explore the systems behind the mode.

Franchise Mode, meanwhile, is consistently underwhelming each year. 2019’s iteration of The Show does nothing of value to improve this despite some minor additions that the more hardcore number junkies among baseball fans may find intriguing. The lack of an online franchise ability is also still sorely missed in a generation where many sports game have a fully fleshed out option for online play.

"While The Show hasn’t ever been a game without flaws, there’s so much it does better than any other baseball game in the history of video games, and 2019’s iteration proves it yet again."

Otherwise, normal online play didn’t give me any major performance problems aside from the occasional jitters I’ve come to expect from the servers in The Show. The addition of an online rating system for matchmaking is a welcomed improvement, but it does increase queue times noticeably since it uses multiple criteria to find a perfect head-to-head matchup. I found my matches felt more fair and balanced as promised.

Rounding out the game is passable commentary, a great thumping soundtrack in the menus, and the usual enhancements to the UI and navigation that make things feel efficient. While The Show hasn’t ever been a game without flaws, there’s so much it does better than any other baseball game in the history of video games, and 2019’s iteration proves it yet again.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

While Bryce Harper was revealed as the cover athlete for MLB The Show 19 – the newest instalment in Sony San Diego’s consistently great yearly baseball series – some time ago, we didn’t know what the final cover art of the game would be, since it was unclear what team Harper would be part of. This is because the former Washington Nationals player was shopping around.

Now that he has signed up with Philadelphia Phillies (in what is the single largest deal in the history of not just the MLB, but North American professional sports in general), Sony has begun to update the marketing material for MLB The Show 19 all around. The first of these? The new cover art for the game, which was shared on Twitter today, and which you can see for yourself below. It’s not a moment too soon either, because the game is out in less than a month, which means Sony was going to be in a very tough spot if they didn’t have a finalized cover very soon.

MLB The Show 19 launches exclusively on the PS4 on March 26.

Breaking News: Harper, Phillies reach agreement:https://t.co/fCHLTdfb4J pic.twitter.com/PCYVTx5j2u

— MLB The Show (@MLBTheShow) February 28, 2019

Sony San Diego have to be among the most consistent developers ever, putting out a new MLB The Show game every year, which is almost always great, and mostly without restoring to the kind of egregious monetization abuse that so many other sports games resort to. If you’re a fan of the MLB The Show games, there’s good news for you, because Sony has just announced next year’s entry.

MLB The Show 19 will launch in March 2019, which is traditionally the release window the series has held for years now. The cover athlete for the game will be Bryce Harper, which anyone familiar with baseball would tell you is a sensible pick, given his current status as the Home Run Derby champion.

There will also be multiple editions available—a standard edition; a Gone Yard Edition which will include a hat and some other memorabilia for $100 (and be exclusive to GameStop); the Digital Deluxe Edition, which will also be $100, and come with in-game goodies to get you started with your Diamond Dynasty squad; and the MVP Edition, which will come with a steel book, and be $70.

You can check out the first trailer for the game below. If you’re curious about how the series has been doing of late, make sure to check out our review of MLB The Show 18.

One of the most consistently good franchises as far as sports games go is Sony San Diego’s MLB The Show. The games are almost always good, and they don’t have much of the microtransaction plagued modes that so many other popular sports games generally have.

This year’s entry, MLB The Show 18, launches in March; ahead of that release, Sony have dropped the very first trailer for the game, which you can see for yourself below. The trailer actually doesn’t show us much of the game at all- minimal gameplay footage, and not much in the way of what to expect from the new game, instead focusing on cuts of players’ best hits and stops, and of cover athlete Aaron Judge. Hopefully, there will be a new trailer that shows off more gameplay footage soon (though I have to imagine the game isn’t too different from last year’s).

MLB The Show 18 is due out on March 27 exclusively for PS4.