This week, Sony announced a release date for MLB The Show 21, and confirmed that, for the first time, the series is releasing on Xbox, or more specifically, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. The surprises didn’t end there though. Sony San Diego and PlayStation Studios also surprised fans of the series with word of two huge new features.
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More specifically, the pair confirmed that when MLB The Show 21 releases, it will support not just cross-play, but cross-progression. The former will allow players to play with and against other players regardless of their platform. Meanwhile, cross-progression ensures that all progression you earn and all the content you unlock will carry over no matter what platform or generation you switch from. So, if you’re on PS4 and want to carry over your progress to Xbox Series X, you can.
While we more or less knew this year’s installment was going mutli-platform, we didn’t know if Sony would support this change with features like cross-play, let alone cross-progression. While cross-play is becoming more and more common, cross-play across non-PlayStation platforms is new territory for Sony. Meanwhile, it hasn’t been great about championing cross-progression either.
Gameplay-wise, these two features don’t change a thing, but again, it’s good to see Sony is embracing the series going multi-platform.
“We’re excited to share that, with our announced extension with the MLB and MLB Players, MLB The Show 21 will be available for players on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S,” said Sony in a statement that accompanied everything above. “This is a very exciting moment for all of us as the storied franchise will be accessible to more gamers than before. We would like to thank everyone at PlayStation, Xbox, Major League Baseball, Major League Baseball Players Association, and the San Diego Studio for working diligently to bring MLB The Show to more users.”
MLB The Show 21 will be out worldwide on April 20 and be available via the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S when it releases. At the moment of publishing, there’s been no word of the game coming to PC, Nintendo Switch, Google Stadia, or any other platforms.
