''MLB The Show 21'' is a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

San Diego Studio San Diego Studio is an American video game developer based in Sorrento Valley, San Diego. A first-party studio for Sony Interactive Entertainment, it is responsible for '' MLB: The Show'' games. The studio also developed the '' NBA'' series, ' ...

and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, based on

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). It was released for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, as well as the

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

and

Xbox Series X/S The Xbox Series X/S are home video game consoles developed by Microsoft. They were both released on November 10, 2020, as the fourth generation Xbox, succeeding the Xbox One. Along with Sony's PlayStation 5, also released in November 202 ...

(a first for the franchise) which included it being on Xbox Game Pass at the release for the first time, with

MLB Advanced Media MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM) is a limited partnership of the club owners of Major League Baseball (MLB) based in New York City and is the Internet and interactive branch of the league. Robert Bowman, former president and CEO of MLBAM, indicated ...

co-publishing digital versions on the latter platforms. The sixteenth entry of the '' MLB: The Show'' franchise, it was released on April 20, 2021.

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

Fernando Tatís Jr. is featured as the cover star, and at age 22 is the youngest player to do so.

Gameplay

Matt Vasgersian Matt Vasgersian ( '; born 1967) is an American sportscaster and television host. Vasgersian is a play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Angels, as well as a studio host for MLB Network and FOX Sports. In the past, he has served as an an ...

Mark DeRosa Mark Thomas DeRosa (born February 26, 1975) is an American former professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1998 to 2013. He played for the Atlanta Braves (1998–2004), Texas Rangers (2005–2006), Chicago Cub ...

and

Dan Plesac Daniel Thomas Plesac (born February 4, 1962) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher with an 18-year career from 1986 to 2003. He played for the Milwaukee Brewers, Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, Arizona Diamondbacks, and ...

return as play-by-play commentators for the last time,

Heidi Watney Heidi Watney (born May 19, 1981) is an American sportscaster who serves as a reporter for Apple TV+. A graduate of the University of San Diego, her past sportscasting experience includes roles at MLB Network, New England Sports Network in Bos ...

as sideline reporter and Alex Miniak as public address commentator. New to the series is the ballpark creator feature, which gives players the ability to change ballpark dimensions, wall height, foul territory and other scenery options. This feature also allows players to share and download ballparks that other players have created online. It was exclusive to the ninth generation versions of the game.

Release

For the first time in the series, the game was made available on

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the ...

consoles, with cross-platform compatibility between the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. It was also announced that the Xbox versions of the game would be available for

Xbox Game Pass Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass are video game subscription services from Microsoft. Both services grant users access to a rotating catalog of games from a range of publishers and other premium services, including Xbox Live Gold and EA Play, fo ...

subscribers at no additional cost at release, a decision made solely by digital co-publisher MLB Advanced Media and not Sony themselves. Baseball legend Jackie Robinson was on the cover of his namesake editions, with $1 donated to his foundation for each copy of the edition sold in the United States.

Reception

''MLB The Show 21'' received "generally favorable reviews" from critics, according to review aggregate

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

. ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' gave the game 7/10, praising the Stadium Creator and changes to pitching but criticizing the lack of additions to Road to the Show and Franchise modes, saying, "Much like its predecessors, ''MLB The Show 21'' is still one of the best sports games available once you step over the foul line." ''

GamesRadar+ ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites '' Total Film'', '' SFX'', ''Edge'' and ''Computer ...

'' gave the game 4/5 stars, calling it "a solid home-run hitter, but not the baseball revolution we were hoping for on PS5 and Xbox Series X."

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

gave it 8/10, saying: "''MLB The Show 21'' isn't the generational leap forward we might've expected following a new console launch, but it's still the best baseball sim you can play on any platform."

Sales

In the US, ''MLB The Show 21'' was the best-selling digital game across PlayStation and Xbox platforms for the month of April 2021. By July 18, 2021, the game had surpassed 2 million sales across all platforms, with the game reaching 4 million players.

Notes

References

{{San Diego Studio 2021 video games 21 Multiplayer and single-player video games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation 5 games Sony Interactive Entertainment games Sports video games with career mode Video games developed in the United States Video games with cross-platform play Xbox One games Xbox Series X and Series S games San Diego Studio games