Longtime PlayStation-Exclusive Baseball Series The Show 21 Is Coming To Xbox Series X With Cross-Play

In a big shakeup for the world of sports video games, it has been announced that Sony's long-time PlayStation-exclusive baseball series, The Show, is coming to Xbox consoles.

This is not entirely out of left field, however, as it was confirmed back in 2019 that the exclusivity for PlayStation was ending, with the first multiplatform release penciled in for 2021 at the soonest. Now we know it's happening with MLB The Show 21, which has 22-year-old San Diego Padres shortstop phenom Fernando Tatis Jr. on the cover as the leaks suggested. The game is scheduled to release on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S on April 20, 2021.

It's also been confirmed that MLB The Show carries a premium price tag on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, as it will cost $70 USD on the next-gen systems. The PS4/Xbox One edition is $60 USD.

Regarding the expansion to Xbox, Sony San Diego's Ramone Russell said in a blog post that it's all about bringing in new players.

"This is a very exciting moment for all of us as the storied franchise will be accessible to more gamers than before," Russell said. "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."

People were hoping that the end of exclusivity for PlayStation might mean The Show would also release on Nintendo Switch--heck, Nintendo even tweeted about it--but there was no mention today of a Nintendo edition of the baseball game.

Sony has also confirmed that MLB The Show 21 will feature cross-play with PlayStation and Xbox, while there will also be cross-progression support, but only from PS4 to PS5, it seems.

Sony also noted that there will be no way to upgrade from the standard edition to next-gen at no extra cost. "If you are interested in having access to the game on both current and next gen platforms, please wait for more info about the collector’s edition," Sony said. The collector's edition will be announced this Wednesday.

Xbox marketing boss Aaron Greenberg said on Twitter that Microsoft had been working with Sony for some time on this announcement. He also said MLB The Show 21 is launching for Xbox on April 20, which is about a month after it releases on PS4 and PS5.

This is a very big change, as it marks the first time in nearly a decade that Xbox fans are getting a proper simulation baseball game. 2K Sports benched its MLB 2K series after MLB 2K13, with the company instead putting its efforts into the very popular NBA 2K series.

The RBI Baseball series is an officially licensed baseball game that has been available on Xbox and Nintendo platforms in recent years, but it is a budget-priced arcade-style game.