Jul 9, 2021

Credit: Metalhead Software The MVP Baseball series is one of the most beloved sports gaming franchises of all time. Chances are, it’s not coming back–at least not anytime soon–but thanks to EA’s purchase of Metalhead Software and the publishing rights for the Super Mega Baseball series, EA is returning to the virtual diamond. SMB doesn’t have real teams and players, though, so what about the Major League teams? According to multiple people I’ve spoken with in the sports video game industry, EA has been exploring a re-entry to baseball for several years. However, the publisher was running into some impediments from MLB, which licenses Sony San Diego Studio’s popular The Show series. I’m told by someone with knowledge of the situation, EA approached SDS about a buyout, but that was turned down. MLB “didn’t want another simulation baseball game competing with The Show for sales,” but has been open to licensing arcade titles. According to the source, MLB wanted a simulation baseball game with real teams and players on both consoles (PlayStation and Xbox), which is what drove Sony to take The Show to the Xbox One X/S and Xbox Series X/S. MORE FOR YOU