MLB The Show 21 has finally been revealed and yes, it's coming to Xbox. The acclaimed baseball series has been a long-running PlayStation franchise, developed in-house by Sony San Diego. In 2019, MLB announced that this exclusivity was coming to an end and the franchise would finally expand to other consoles.
Both Xbox and Nintendo reiterated this news when it broke but ever since then, they've remained mum. This new reveal doesn't come as much of a surprise as MLB The Show 21 and its cover art leaked over the weekend. Many of the details, including its release date, a potential early access period, and special edition were spoiled, but those last two are being saved for a Wednesday reveal. There were a few tidbits that didn't slip out ahead of time, though.
MLB The Show 21 will release on April 20th, 2021 on both PlayStation and Xbox platforms, with cross-play, as revealed on the PlayStation blog. This is a huge deal as it's not only the first time the PlayStation exclusive has jumped to another platform, but it also unifies the two versions. The game will also allow for cross-generation saves (PS4 to PS5, Xbox One to Xbox Series X/S) but it will only stay within the console families.
There's no details on whether or not the next-gen versions of the game will have any exclusive features besides the given things like frame-rate and resolution. It also looks like MLB The Show 21 won't support Xbox's Smart Delivery system which allows Xbox One owners to upgrade their game to the Series X/S version free of charge. The decision is left to the developer, so it's likely Sony wasn't interested in supporting this feature.
MLB The Show 21 sees San Diego Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis, Jr. as its cover star, but according to a leak, a special edition may allegedly feature Jackie Robinson. The special edition will also reportedly include 4-days of early access to the game but nothing has been officially confirmed quite yet. The most notable absence from the reveal, however, is the lack of any Nintendo news. The platform holder commented on the news back in 2019 but as of right now, there's no word on this entry coming to Nintendo Switch. It seems unlikely Sony would go out of its way to make a special Nintendo Switch version but perhaps it will speak more on such a thing at a later date.
Source: PlayStation
MLB The Show 21 will release on April 20th, 2021 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. The next-gen versions of the game will cost $69.99 as opposed to the last-gen's $59.99 price tag.