Longtime PlayStation-exclusive series MLB The Show 21 is expected to be revealed in February 2021, but a new leak seems to suggest the game will come to Xbox consoles for the first time. If accurate, MLB The Show 21 marks the first year the PlayStation exclusive will be on a non-PlayStation platform in its 15 year history.
MLB first announced this multiplatform move at the end of 2019, saying that the 2021 title would bring the beloved baseball series to Xbox and potentially Nintendo Switch, as well. The series has always been developed in-house by Sony San Diego and published by PlayStation, ruling out any opportunities to bring it to other platforms for over a decade. Sony's production and ownership of the title remain the same for 2021, but a deal was clearly stuck behind the scenes to ensure that Microsoft and Nintendo could also get their hands on Sony San Diego's well-liked baseball simulator.
A new leak shared by anerdydad on Instagram showcases fans' first look at the cover of MLB The Show 21. The cover features Fernando Tatis Jr., shortstop for the San Diego Padres as its cover athlete. The Xbox cover art also has the recently formed PlayStation Studios logo plastered quite prominently across it, a first for an Xbox game. It's also worth noting that while there is a PlayStation 5 cover, the Xbox cover art only mentions Xbox One. Since the Xbox Series X/S's launch, Microsoft usually combines both generation's release into one box thanks to Smart Delivery, but it's unclear if that will be the case this time. Another leak that surfaced on Reddit thanks to Blackout797 corroborates the Xbox release with Jackie Robinson edition covers, as well as an April release date.
Another potential MLB The Show leak (Jackie Robinson Edition, release date potentially April 20 based on the 4 day Early Access marker for the Deluxe Editions) from xboxone
Xbox has been severely lacking a AAA quality baseball game ever since MLB 2K13 on Xbox 360. There have been a few arcade baseball games over the years, but baseball fans on Xbox haven't been thrown so much as a curveball in a long time. There hasn't been a multi-platform baseball sim to rival things like NBA, Madden, or FIFA in ages, but it seems the tides are turning as the console market fully enters a new generation.
It's fairly unprecedented for console-exclusive games to make the jump to other platforms but this isn't the first time it's happened. Microsoft has continued to support the Minecraft IP on both PlayStation and Nintendo after acquiring Mojang. Ori and the Blind Forest also made the jump over to Nintendo Switch in 2019, and its sequel also released on the platform on in 2020. Finally, in a much stranger move, Master Chief and God of War's Kratos appeared in Fortnite at the end of 2020, allowing PlayStation players to play as the Halo icon and Xbox players to play as God of War's in a bizarre crossover.
Sources: anerdydad, Blackout797