Sony's MLB The Show 22 Up to $70 on PS5, PS4, No Extra Cost with Xbox Game Pass

Good old Playstation eh

Gonna go with gamepass and buy the switch version as well!! Looking forward to seeing the improvements this year.

So long as it retails for the same price on xbox and switch its no problem.

Seems like microsoft has negotiated a long term deal for game pass though. Pretty cheeky really but cant blame them 🤷‍♂️

If it was a game I liked I might buy a £500 console and spend £100 plus a year on a subscription service for it…or I might not.

It’s so weird firing up mlb 2021 on my Xbox with the PlayStation Studios logo playing at the beginning, especially since I only paid $15 a month to play it and tons of other games.

Gonna have to skip the Show for now on. Cant justify paying $70 when its on Gamepass day 1, regardless if Xbox payed an absurd amount to put it there

@get2sammyb
Im sure it will sell at the same amount on Xbox.
Maybe you should be congratulating MS instead on finding a way to hemorrhage money in order to suck up subscribers for longer term gain. Criticising normal companies for not having the money to do that is somewhat missing the point.

Think Sony long term will need a game pass equivalent at some point.
I think for now just charging £70 is a hard swallow when other big AAA titles on the PS5 from others like Elden Ring is £50.

Sony should just drop the license, it doesn't matter whatever other developer gets the MLB franchise as its got to be multi platform so it still comes to playstation, then playstation can concentrate on the San Diego Studio making an actual exclusive, win win scenario

This is still the biggest slap in the face with Gamepass for Sony. It's certainly not stopped it from being in the top ten selling games of the year, but for my money and passing interest in baseball, another year of Gamepass it will be for me.

Sony is making it much easier this generation.

I’m going full 3rd party on Xbox and just exclusives on Switch/PlayStation.

Xbox are respecting my money more, giving me the best bang for my buck and ensuring my old games will be playable in the future.

This is just another example.

@thefourfoldroot u can get a series s for cheaper and even a series X for £450 and if you paying £100 for a yearly sub when u can get 3 years for approx £65 to £75 is just mad ....there you go money saved

Best Place to play this First Party Playstation Game is on...Xbox (Switch for Handheld enjoyer) Pretty Pathetic

Sony truly let themself get f'ed with this Deal. MLB gets the Gamepass and MTX Cash of the Xbox and Switch Version (since they are the Publisher) while Sony has to give Sony San Diego more Resources than ever to get the Game on 5 Consoles.

Updated roster for $70, please.

@get2sammyb if you didn't wanna get into it for a second year in a row then I probably wouldn't continue to harp on it. It obviously hits a nerve for you and many others and is a sore subject.

@get2sammyb MLB is the Publisher tho and they have basically 100% control over sales, deals and more. And even then, Sales Numbers must have dropped a lot on Playstation Consoles. And with how many resources Sony San Diego needs to get the Game to 5 Consoles...pretty sure Sony regrets this Deal lol

Ha, this is ridiculous.

@Rob_230 Pricing is confirmed to be $60 for PS4/XB1/Switch and $70 for PS5/Series X|S so if you want to outright buy the game the Series X|S version is same price as PS5 version.

The optics of Game Pass day 1 vs. $70 aren't good for PS though.

@get2sammyb Not getting into it, but your comment assumes their business model (relating to day-one big releases only) is sustainable. I assume they take a major loss on these deals, and it would not be sustainable long-term or for a less cash rich company (i.e., Sony).

Thanks for the good write-up.

Silly of course but I’ll be getting it on PS5 anyway. Still probably the best sports game out there.

True, it’s releasing at 70, but it’ll be 30 in 3 months.

That isn’t even a joke any more. Here in the UK pretty much every PS5 game price drops like a stone. Even first party games can drop by a tenner after the first fortnight.

I get there aren’t many PS5’s in the wild, but this price point seems to be making Sony less than when games released at fifty-ish quid.

Future of Playstation Games: Get the better and cheaper Versions on other Platforms

Anyone that buys this game on PS5 is a fool. Don't buy it, boycott it, maybe eventually Sony will either release it Day One on Plus or GP equivalent OR tear up this contract with MLB and get San Diego working on a console exclusive at the very least.

@Col_McCafferty No. I have a PS5, not an Xbox. I want to play this game. Therefore I’ll buy it on PS5. Get a grip.

1) I don't get baseball, 2) I don't get sports games - for that reason I'm out!

Thank goodness it's for a niche sport.

Is the Show really worth continuing if PS owners continually get the short end of the stick? I can't imagine the series is that big of a seller outside North America. Wouldn't it be more productive for Sony San Diego to produce an original property with global appeal like every other first party studio produces?

@get2sammyb I wonder If it woundnt be better to just let the Licence Go and dedicate Sony San Diego to other things. With how much more expensive the development has to be now for 5 (!) Platforms, less sales on Playstation, not many Full Price sales on Xbox bc Gamepass I doubt this is profitable

@Grumblevolcano I'm fairly sure that you can get a discount for a full purchase on Game Pass. I know that I've bought new releases at a discounted price after trying them on Game Pass first.

I could be wrong though.

@__jamiie yes you can usually 10% some titles more

So it’s $70 to own the game, or pay for game pass and pretend to own the game? Ok.

@__jamiie Yeah every Game on Gamepass has a flat 20% Discount

OH A SWITCH VERSION. Should be interesting

@riceNpea exactly. It's not like it's rounders, now there's a proper game😂👍

@Martsmall
Is it £450? Fair enough (wouldn’t buy a digital only console)

@IonMagi switch for 540p lower than the lowest settings 25fps handheld enjoyer for full price

So Sony is more than willing to allow what is likely to be their most profitable franchise go to Xbox and Switch, yet it's too much to ask that Microsoft brings Starfield to PlayStation consoles?

@Bdbrady

Lots of folks get tied up on the word "sustainable." There is no way in heck Game Pass is profitable, but when your company makes billions in profit a month, you can sustain the insane Game Pass losses indefinitely. Double Speakin' Phil said as much when he mentioned Game Pass was "sustainable." He carefully chooses his words because he has a fiduciary duty to shareholders.

@get2sammyb
It is unsustainable unless you have money to burn for longer term gains.
And are you talking about that “optics” rubbish? Because not being willing to look at context is not a good argument. But Ok 🤷‍♂️

@BeerIsAwesome Kinda true, but remember that MLB isn't really Sony's property. They pay for the license, and MLB demands the game to be cross-play. If it wasn't for them, it bet you it would've been a PS exclusive still.

@thefourfoldroot Microsoft just spent more on a single acquisition than they've made in revenue with their Xbox division throughout the last 20 years. They don't care about money lol. Buy up everything and spoil your customers until there's no competition left.

@__jamiie Good point, forgot about that (I'm not a subscriber). For the digital version, Game Pass subscribers will get 10% off between May 6th and July 4th then it increases to 20% off from July 5th onwards.

@thefourfoldroot yeh £450 , and if you buy turkey 12 month gold from cdkeys and add to Ur account via VPN it can work out approx £65 to 75 for 3 years GPU ( depending on price on cdkeys when purchased ) , if you go to hotukdeals search turkey gold there is plenty of Info on there

@Octane
Exactly. Not in the short term anyway. They want dominance. Because that brings power, which then brings money. And they have the money to buy that dominance. They have been operating this way since the beginning of their operating system business.

@get2sammyb

It’s a GAAS game stuffed with MTX’s, it is the best choice for being out on a service like Game pass.

But Sony can’t get away doing this with their single player blockbusters, not without adding MTXz

@MaccaMUFC oh dear.

I Barely made it past the intro to MLB 19, if I want to play rounders I'll go outside.

Look we get it Game Pass is the best thing since sliced bread. Once it has games on it I want to play, I'll pick up a series X and subscribe. Till then though Playstation and Nintendo is where it's at for me.

@TripleKing333 You can play it with a Game Pass subscription. If you like it you can then buy it for 20% cheaper than on PlayStation.

@TheCollector316 Similar to a large business (e.g., Walmart) coming into an area and lowing prices below profitability. They sustain the losses while the local competition goes under.

Microsoft wants to put Sony on their backfoot, and possibly put Gamestop out of business so they can get the full cut of the digital sale verses a fraction after the physical sale.

@OthmaneAD I mean Switch Players arent known to give a damn about this and its still the only way to play MLB on Mobile

I hope Big Papi gets like an MVP (despite him not winning a regular season one) or Special edition version. I don’t care about the price at launch in general for this or any sports games because I’ll wait until Black Friday to buy it for $30 or less and enjoy it. I don’t play online so getting it right away doesn’t matter much. I’m glad Ohtani is the cover boy this season though 😎😎😎

@MrGawain I've heard there is a discount for preorders, for horizon forbidden west already. Score!, if true.

@Bdbrady

Exactly right. Far too many people are not paying attention to the danger of what Microsoft is doing. In a nutshell: they are buying more content than any competitor can afford and giving it away for less than any competitor can afford.

@TheCollector316 you know that ms wasnt the first and only suitor for actiblizz, right? Would we be okay if google, facebook, amazon or tencent bought actiblizz or zenimax? Think of all those games being tied to a streaming service only or having to have a facebook account to play these games. Just saying, ms is an evil we know.

@CWill97 I’m surprised there isn’t an Ortiz edition shown off here. It feels like a no-brainer. Would be nice to see steroid mechanics in Road to the Show as well 😂

Forgive me, I’m new here. Trying to understand the vitriol this seems to bring up for many here.

Looking at it objectively, if you have a PS4 or PS5, nothing changes. You purchase the game at launch (or on sale months later) and that’s it, just like it’s always been.

If you have an Xbox with game pass, you get it free day 1. Seems like a great deal, so you would be happy about that.

Aside from wanting PlayStation to have a game pass like service if you don’t have an Xbox, which may happen soon anyway, I’m not entirely sure what the point of contention is. Plus this is also a bit of a separate issue and not specific to MLB The Show.

Is it that because it’s on game pass you feel the game should retail for less? I don’t really understand that arguement as the pricing is consistent to what it’s always been. Is it because you own both and want to play it on PS but instead are forced to play it on Xbox because of game pass?

Like I said, forgive me, not trying to critique anyones position just trying to understand as I’m just getting back into gaming. Thanks

Also I was hoping to get a Canadian version with Vladdy jr on the cover. Do they still do that? I presume that would have been in this announcement if so? If anyone has any context for Canadian gamers would be appreciated. Thanks again

No interest in baseball, but this might interesting for some Switch owners, given the dearth of decent sports games on the system.

Game Pass is MS's primary platform not Xbox consoles. Those on 'Xbox Consoles' will still be charged the same - depending on which 'generation' platform you have. XB1 users are getting the 'same' treatment as PS4, Series X users the 'same' as PS5.

Game Pass is its 'own' platform. Its like saying you can buy the 4k Bluray for your 'Bluray' player or Subscribe to a service like Netflix to watch the 'same' film. You don't whinge that 'netflix' has the same film for free whilst you have to pay quite a bit to watch the same 4k film because you don't want to subscribe to a service where you 'don't' own the games - although do get a decent discount if you do go on and buy.

Game Pass Ultimate costs a maximum of £132 a year vs buying just 2 'new' next gen games which is £140. It just depends on whether you'd rather have 2 games that you'll lose money on immediately but still has 'some' resale value (unless you buy Digital) or have access to LOTs of games but nothing (other than great memories) to show for it.

Yes Game Pass owners can play this 'free' as part of their Subscription but non Subscribers are being treated the same - still have to pay £10 more for 'Series' versions. Even if you buy an Xbox, MS still want you to subscribe - almost to be fully counted in the Xbox community. MS are focussed on Subscriber numbers - 25m+ and player numbers - 18m+ for FH5, 20m+ for Halo, not console/game sales figures...

@get2sammyb Why don't you just get a job with an Xbox site. It's clear you hate Sony and look for any reason to moan.

Ohtani should’ve gone to the Mariners. They’d have had 2 playoff appearances since 2018 if he were with them. If they make the playoffs this year and LA is again severely underachieving he should reconsider.

It makes way more sense getting this on Xbox, Playstation players have to fork out $70+ every year while game pass subscribers will get the newest game each year at no extra cost.

It's a complete rip off on Sony's consoles, oh and those that will say they rather own it... you rather own a sports game that will be outdated and worthless in 12 months?

@get2sammyb What can Sony do if MS throws hundreds of millions of dollars at the MLB to put it on GP? Should they just not make the game anymore and lose tons of revenue? I love how the end all is a god damn rental service. We've been buying games forever and now its like games suddenly aren't worth it? Go get Gamefly if you want to play it cheap. I can't wait til Sony makes their GP alternative and everything turns live service so you can whine about that.

@nessisonett there should be a Road To The Show decision where in the minors, a hitting coach pressures you with some steroids. If you say yes to them, your hitting goes to Sammy Sosa levels. But you also gain 300 pounds and can’t run the bases any more :’)))) Then whenever your player goes to bat, the announcer calls him Roid Master instead of his name. Sign me to game design, Sony. I got this

So it's already been a year, huh

@Octane Maybe, but Sony could have turned around and said no thanks. There's no gun being held to their heads to develop this game (legal requirements aside). Maybe when the contract is up for renewal we'll see everybody's thoughts, but as far as I can tell, Sony signed this willingly.

@BeerIsAwesome Because it's profitable? Their option was continue the franchise as a multiplat and earn the revenue, or stop it all completely.

@Col_McCafferty I will. I never bought it. Doing my job from the day it was created

@Octane That is the right answer, and always will be. Gaming wars mean absolutely nothing to anyone other than us armchair commentators. The point of business is to make money. So when questioning the choices of companies doing things, the correct answer always lies at the other end of the money trail.

@get2sammyb so how much is it to actually own on xbox, and not rent ?

@code45709 rounders. that game has skill. A tiny bat and a tennis ball, that's hardcore 😄

Last year's version sold pretty well on ps consoles if I recall.
I game on playstation BTW, why do I have to read so much about gamepass on this site?
It is a bit tiresome really.
Everybody here knows what gamepass is. Yes it seems better value (I disagree, I like to own my games) but still, playstation site?

@riceNpea exactly, what next football where don't you use your feet to kick a ball becoming "ruby with armour" and spelling with "u" involved. 😂

Shouldn't take the mess out of them but it's "foot"(foot use of feet) ball for a reason. Really sends me on one. Amount of handball red cards Americans would get is insane😮😂

I can forgive dropping the "u"

Why are the sports in the USA basically English sports made incomprehensible?😮

Again? Lol.

@code45709 seems to me American sports are designed around advertising breaks. It's why snooker will never be popular there. Imagine they had to televise a frame that took an hour to play, the TV companies would lose their minds 😆

@riceNpea 😂😂😂 oh no I'm laughing too loud, trying to get kids to sleep!

Snooker is easy in the US, you take the cues have a fight for five minutes, then take a 15 min break, then both opponents hit the table with sticks for 5 mins. Then repeat, add in ads and throwing a snooker table 😮🤞 and it's a winner🤣👍

@code45709 oh that's a good idea! Put a snooker table in the middle of a ring, get the players to wear spandex costumes and grow mullets, make half the red balls explosive...I think we have a game on our hands!

@riceNpea we have a game on our hands😂 right well let's start marketing... foot stick pokey baller?

@code45709 I'm pretty sure trying to get the name 'Foot Stick Pokey Baller' trademark in America is going to get blocked by some religious puritan as being offensively sexual in nature. Now, if we call the game 'Smash Club Ball Go Bye Bye' we'd get past the sensors AND get across in simple terms what snooker is about 😆

@riceNpea 😂 excellent, I'm writing the dragons den pitch as we speak. We'll be so rich next week we can launch our own NFT's😂😂😂

I'm using these comments at the bank tomorrow for the house👍

@code45709 don't forget to show some cleavage in the Den. Deborah Meaden loves to see a bit of arse-crack. I'll start drawing up some NFTs....well I say I...I'll glue a stick on the end of my dog's dick and let him trace a pattern over the laptop touchpad with an art app open. We'll sell that to some idiots online 😄

This is a major Sport league title, This is the kind of IP that Sony needs going forward and it needs to be cross platform to catch up with FIFA and Madden which dwarfed MLB in the past. It does look bad from a value point of view but PS has already taken the stand not to compete on value this gen and FIFA sells millions every year. FIFA is also £69 on current gen digital, although it's £46 most places physical. I sure feel bad for those that bought the PS5 digital at this point!

So if you wanted to play this game on Gamepass all year it will cost you $119.88??? And play it forever more than that?!?! So $70 for the PS5 version is cheaper 'AND' you own the game on disc to play forever for 'NO' extra cost(if you buy the disc version that is)
《《《GAMEPASS IS NOT FREE!!!》》》

Not happy? Go play on GamePass, simple as.

MLB will still be a bigger seller with more players on PlayStation as it was with 21.

This is how things are, don’t like it, you know what to do.

Game Pass will only benefit the hardcore gamers who plays almost everyday or always plays everyday I only play video games once or twice a week so it’s not for me I won’t waste my money on that I rather buy it on PS5 or Switch.

@get2sammyb pretty sure gamepass is still in the bleed cash to gain subscribers stage at the moment, yet to prove long term sustainability.

@thefourfoldroot You should spend £450 instead of 500…and you can get gamepass a lot cheaper than £100 a year. £60 got me two years…and you could probably get better than that

@MisterXpoSay you’ve been under a rock. MS are buying activision… you know what the biggest selling games are for casual gamers? FIFA and cod. Guess which one will be on gamepass day1? Gamepass is going to benefit every gamer…that’s the aim anyway

@Carl-G no one is buying the disc version of anything forever on any platform. The game that’s on the physical media you’re preserving hasn’t been the game you end up playing for a generation now…that’s not gonna get any better. Tell me the last game you played that came out that didn’t have a day 1 patch waiting for you?…hell even Nintendo games need day 1 patches these days

You know the best part about getting Game Pass Ultimate for free?

Not paying $70.

Good guy Sony, helping poor little companies Nintendo and Xbox

MLB is smart to push this game everywhere. They need to grow the fan base, and this is a great way of reaching that audience. I would get it for my PS5, but I can't find a PS5, so I'll dust off the Switch. This game is going to do amazingly well on Switch.

@riceNpea that's the pitch right there😂

@thefourfoldroot 100 plus a year haha nice try...I just got 3 years for well under a hundred....

@MisterXpoSay How? I have 3 years of the subscription for not much more than the cost of 1 brand new digital ps5 game....so even if you casualy play...thats alot better from every angle than buying games here and there ... Example i have over the past couple of months I completed Forza horizon 5 and halo infinite ...if I bought both games on release I'd be paying a hell of alot more.......and that's just 2 games....got 3 years of day 1 exclusives and whatever else comes to it

@StylesT
“Nice try”? At what?
On the Xbox official website it says £7.99 a month for basic (so £95.88 for 12 months). That’s not even for Ultimate, which is even more.
Doesn’t give a yearly price, but on Amazon 6 months is £47.50, again, £95 for the year.

I’m aware MS offer deals on the first month, and people can get temporary workarounds if they know what they are doing, but I’m not talking about loopholes, just what most ordinary people pay.

For me it isn’t worth it as I don’t have the time to take advantage of a big selection. It wasn’t a criticism. It’s great value for people who do.

@get2sammyb Yeah because MS is happy to eat huge losses on GamePass (for now). You don't seriously think it's sustainable as it stands?

@IonMagi Any numbers to evidence that? The series has always sold well on Playstation, not to mention the fact that PS5 is the dominant next-gen console.

@NattyKing No but you only need some critical thinking for that. The series mainly sales in NA and Xbox isst much behind PS there + it being included in Gamepass 100% moved saled from PS4/5 to Xbox

Congrats, MLB The Show fans: you've been Maddened.