Baseball Simulator Added MLB The Show 21 from Sony to the subscription service directory Xbox Game Pass literally put the American segment of the gaming Internet on its ears and caused multi-page discussions on forums and social networks. Fans Playstation urge Sony to explain itself.
MLB The Show is a series of baseball simulators that has been developed and published by Sony for 20 years under license from the American organization “Major League of Baseball” exclusively on PlayStation consoles. On the territory of Russia, the games of this line are not very well known, but in the USA stably enter in the ratings of the most successful Sony releases.
At the end of 2019, it was announced that MLB The Show 2023 would be the last PlayStation exclusive., and Sony will continue to work with the series, but not only on its consoles.
Official announcement of MLB The Show 21 for Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox one and Xbox Series X | S took place in early 2023, and On April 2, it became known that the game will immediately be available to owners of both Microsoft systems on a subscription to Xbox Game Pass… This came as a complete surprise to the PlayStation audience and longtime fans of MLB The Show. The latter write that they felt betrayed, as they are being asked the full price for the new game, while Game Pass subscribers are offered to play it virtually for free. The decision has been called “yet another Sony PR disaster” and “more bad news this week” (after reports of the closing of the PS Store on PS3, PSP and PS Vita, which was criticized by Western journalists who praised Microsoft for keeping its gaming legacy on the Xbox). Gamers also recall the words of the head of the PlayStation Jim Ryan that Sony was forced to raise the prices of PS5 games as development became more expensive, or that the Xbox Game Pass model does not fit it economically. “How does this fit in with today’s announcement? This is a slap in our face,” wrote one of the users.
It was later revealed that MLB The Show 21 on Xbox appears to be published not by Sony Interactive Entertainment, but by Major League Baseball itself. Anyway, as a publisher in the Microsoft Store listed it is she. There are no details of the Xbox Game Pass deal, but some believe Microsoft paid directly to MLB, not Sony. At the same time, both MLB and Sony appear in the copyright holders, and Sony San Diego (Sony Interactive Entertainment America) in the developers. Perhaps the parties have divided the money.
However, even if we imagine that Sony could not have influenced the decision on Xbox Game Pass at all (this is not a fact, although the details of the new agreement between Sony and MLB under the MLB The Show license were never disclosed), she could not have known about it, and her own proposal for her PlayStation audience, old fans of the series – MLB The Show 21 for $ 60 on PS4 and $ 70 on PS5 – is still perceived by many as much less advantageous than getting a subscription game on Xbox Game Pass.
Not to mention the fact that few people will delve into the situation with publishers and rights – users just had to see the PlayStation Studios logo in the game trailer on the Xbox channel and read about the Xbox Game Pass to start a heated discussion on the network.
Moreover, it turned out that Sony will not offer the PlayStation audience the option of a free upgrade from the PS4 version of MLB The Show 21 to the PS5 version.… The only way to get both versions is buy the game in the Jackie Robinson Edition for $ 84.99 or the Digital Deluxe Edition for $ 99.99… Prices in Russia are 5,849 rubles and 6,899 rubles, respectively. Separately, for the PS4 version they ask for 4,299 rubles ($ 59.99), and for the PS5 – 4,999 rubles ($ 69.99).
What’s even crazier is, in order to get both the PS4 and PS5 version, you have to buy the Jackie Robinson Edition for $ 84.99. Otherwise they’re separate at $ 59.99 PS4, $ 69.99 PS5. Big oof. https://t.co/YThT63qVLZ
– Ryan Biniecki (@MysticRyan) April 2, 2023
Many disappointed fans are urging Sony to give away MLB The Show 2023 to PS Plus subscribers for free, while berating the company for other unpopular decisions along the way. Here are just a few comments from various sites and social networks, including specializing in PlayStation:
“Do nice and give MLB The Show to 21 PS Plus subscribers – your loyal customers who have helped you stay on top year after year.”
“I don’t get it, you want your PlayStation audience to move to Xbox and sign up for Xbox Game Pass? You make one controversial decision after another. For example, you raise the price tag to $ 70 when your competitors are literally giving away games for free. Do something!”
“Make the game free for PS Plus subscribers! It’s a slap in the face for die-hard PlayStation fans.”
“I bought MLB The Show on PlayStation for years, and now a new game in the series is coming to Xbox for the first time and is giving away for free right now ???? How’s that ??”
“PlayStation Exclusives are coming to PC, MLB The Show 21 is handed out on Xbox Game Pass prior to PS Plus, there are no improvements for many PS4 games on PS5 (where’s my 60 FPS patch for Horizon Zero Dawn?), PS Store closure on PSP, PS3 and PS Vita, censorship of Japanese games … Jim Ryan must go … I have been supporting the PlayStation for 20 years, but my patience is running out. “
“This colossal Sony failure once again confirms that Jim Ryan and Herman Hulst cannot be put on a par with their predecessors. They are out of touch with reality and all this time just drifted with the flow on the success of the PlayStation 4.”
“Absolutely insane. I’m sure Phil Spencer is laughing somewhere. Sony preferred to ignore other controversial issues, like the PlayStation Store situation, but the buzz around it [MLB] will be deafening. “
“It feels like we’re going back to the PS3 days. One bad decision after another.”
“This is so ridiculous … And not because the game is being added to Xbox Game Pass – it’s even a good step to increase MLB brand awareness on Xbox – but because PlayStation fans (who have kept the series afloat for decades) are being forced to pay. $ 70 instead of a PlayStation Plus giveaway, and this is a game from Sony’s internal studio … Sony executives urgently need to roll out a big fan discount or announce the addition of the game to PS Plus immediately. The whole situation makes Sony look very bad. “
“When I saw this news, I immediately double-checked the date on the calendar … The real bomb. With Game Pass, Microsoft is doing more for gamers than all other publishers in the industry combined.”
“In the last month alone, Xbox Game Pass subscribers got Outriders right at launch (+ access to a bunch of other games, including Octopath Traveler, which was a Nintendo Switch console exclusive) and MLB on day one, and we pay Sony $ 140 for two games . This is madness”.
“We need to demand more from Sony. Microsoft kicked off a generation with a killer. It offered a great service that allows gamers to save money and help preserve gaming legacy, did a great job on backward compatibility. And Sony closes stores, closes backward compatibility, and pretends that PS Now doesn’t exist. What the hell is going on there? “
Some already call Jim Ryan the most unfortunate leader in the industry since Don Mattrick, which was remembered for a failed presentation Xbox one in 2013 and quit Microsoft shortly thereafter.
At the same time, it cannot be said that absolutely everyone criticizes Sony. Some PlayStation fans saw the pluses in the situation. For example, they believe that a platform holder can spend the money it received from Microsoft for adding MLB The Show 21 to Xbox Game Pass (if they really rely on it in whole or in part) to create new quality PlayStation console exclusives. Sony’s advocates are also asking not to call the addition of games to Xbox Game Pass “giveaways.”
“That’s a lie. Xbox Game Pass is a third-party game rental service that can take them out of there at any time,” a PlayStation fan pointed out to ResetEra.
Users also remind that Jim Ryan is a PlayStation veteran with many years of experience, in which even Playstation 3 dominated Europe over Xbox 360while losing in the United States, where there was another manager.
“The man is not the first day in the industry. I am sure he knows what he is doing. We do not know a lot. Perhaps this deal will help the new Bethesda games appear on the PlayStation 5,” wrote another fan.
MLB The Show 21 is out on April 20, 2023.
Read also: SIE Japan Studio is no more – the oldest Japanese studio PlayStation has ceased to exist…
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