Xbox executive Sara Bond has told Axios that Microsoft spent a number of years trying to get MLB The Show onto Xbox consoles. And when it finally succeeded in breaking off PlayStation’s long-held exclusivity, the company had to “trust” Sony with pre-release Xbox Series X/S consoles.
Bond revealed that MLB The Show “always came up” in conversations between Microsoft and the Major League Baseball organization. “We always said, ‘We love this game. It would be a huge opportunity to bring it to Xbox.'” she recalled. However, when Microsoft’s efforts materialized, it put the company in an awkward situation where it had to send in pre-release consoles to a rival company.
“It was a real, real sign of industry trust,” Bond added.
Microsoft then went ahead and struck a deal with the MLB to put The Show 21 on Game Pass – a decision that Sony said it had nothing to do with.
“As part of the goal for this year’s game, MLB decided to bring the franchise to more players and baseball fans,” a Sony representative told Inverse back in April. “This decision provides a unique opportunity to further establish MLB The Show as the premier brand for baseball video games.”
In 2019, MLB announced that the organization had entered into a multi-year deal with Sony Interactive Entertainment to continue developing and distributing MLB the Show video games. However, part of the deal requires San Diego studio to develop for multiple platforms.
MLB The Show 21 went on to top sales charts upon release.
[Source: Axios]
