well this was unexpected

https://www.theverge.com/platform/am...usivity-ending

That's cool that they are expanding it to other platforms.

Unfortunately I really don't have time to play MLB video games anymore. They take way too much time. I simply can't dedicate 3 hours per night and play a 162 game season. I like and prefer sports games, but MLB games are a major time sink if you're not a big fan.

But back to topic, MLB probably realized they were limiting their sales by making this PS exclusive.

You can play abbreviated seasons on The Show.

That huge news for Xbox owners who have been begging for a baseball game for years now. Besides money of course, I wonder what the deciding factor was for The Show to move to other consoles? I thought Sony had a lock on this title.

I would guess declining sales is the primary factor.

This is great news!

I mean the article states it allowed Sony to get a multi year extension on the MLB and MLBPA licenses. It is very possible that was the only way to continue to have those semi-exclusive licenses (There are other arcade style baseball games, but no real competitors to The Show).

The Show has had solid growth for years now.

I would think the impetus was from the MLB as a requirement for a new agreement. No third party stepped up to develop an MLB baseball game, nor did Microsoft or Nintendo. That's millions of young gamers over several years that had zero chance of exposure to the sport through the game medium, which is why MLB had to restart RBI Baseball on its own.

How do you know? I see no sales #s for any of the past games on VG Chartz

It's been the same story for several years running... it's quite high in its debut month of NPD numbers (higher than every previous year), and people on forums are somehow still surprised each time. It's like its been a stealth killer exclusive.

Just clicking on the first google result for MLB 19's initial result brought up this blurb after its debut at #3...

"Perhaps even more impressive given the handwringing over baseball ratings, MLB The Show 19 set a new genre record, marking another year of extraordinary growth for the sports simulation."

Last time I played the game was 2 years ago and got frustrated by the stupid glitches in MyCareer part of the game. I was developing a pitcher and got picked by the Blue Jays and after moving up to the majors, the game fucked up by the team having no catchers and no 2Bs on the team. The default was the computer putting in players not fit to play those positions and basically got my player demoted after 10 games. All players assigned to catch my games could catch for shit and ended up having over 30 passed balls per game. Hopefully this has been fixed.