Backyard Sports Franchise Announces Revival
Playground Productions is finally bringing back Backyard Sports.
For sports fans who grew up in the 90s and early 2000s, the Backyard Sports franchise from developer Humongous Entertainment was a staple. The long-running series turned playground sports into a family-friendly gaming juggernaut, eventually adding in kid versions of real-life pro players from the MLB, NFL, NBA, and MLS. However, the franchise slowed its momentum when the original Humongous studio closed in 2005. It's had a few disappointing releases in the years since as the franchise passed from one publisher to the next. Still, today developer Playground Productions revealed that it's working on a franchise revival, bringing Backyard Sports back "in the coming months."
Playground Productions has big plans from the Backyard Sports franchise, though it isn't talking in specifics much yet. The team says, "With this nostalgic re-release, Playground Productions is bringing the beloved games back to reach new and existing fans, and making them bigger and better than ever while staying true to what made the franchise so special."
It's not clear which Backyard Sports games will be re-released, but you'd have to assume the team is starting with the original Backyard Baseball and Backyard Soccer. Playground Productions might be able to release other games in the series, but it would have to get specific licenses for the players and leagues, making those games a bit more difficult to bring back. However, it's worth noting that Playground's plans aren't limited to re-releases. The teaser trailer shared with the announcement prominently features baseball, which could be a hint that the team is targeting that sport first, though that's pure speculation at this point.
The team says, "This marks the beginning of Playground Productions' broader vision to revive Backyard Sports across multiple platforms, including video games, merchandise, film, television, and more." This is not the first time we've heard about a potential film in the Backyard Sports franchise. In 2016, it was reported that Cross Creek Pictures and Crystal City Entertainment were working on a film project. It's not clear if this is the same project, but Playground certainly has ambitious plans for the future of Backyard Sports.
Fortunately, it sounds like we don't have to wait too much longer to see what Playground Productions is cooking up. Here's hoping when the team gets around to the football side of the series, they're able to get former NFL star Jason Kelce involved. Earlier this year, he mentioned on his New Heights podcast that he'd be interested in purchasing the rights to bring Backyard Sports back, so the developers would be smart to partner with him for this project.
