Microsoft earning it’s gold glove with another great snag for Game Pass.

You know that great feeling when the baseball team you root for hits a grand slam, and then the very next batter comes up and hits a solo home run? Hot off the heels of officially welcoming Bethesda into the family, Microsoft just announced another major get for Game Pass. MLB: The Show 21, a franchise formerly exclusive to PlayStation and indeed internally developed at their San Diego studio, is coming to Game Pass on it’s launch day of April 20th. Jamie Leece, MLB Senior VP of Games & VR, explained it all over on the official Xbox Wire blog. “This is an incredible moment for all of us and bringing the franchise to more players and baseball fans is something that we at MLB, MLB Players, Inc., and Xbox are all excited about. We can’t wait for Xbox fans to experience the fastest, deepest, and most intense moment-to-moment baseball action yet. With pinpoint pitching, brand new fielding mechanics, and gameplay styles, Xbox gamers are in for a treat when MLB The Show 21 launches on April 20.”

MLB: The Show 21 will be published by Major League Baseball on Xbox systems while Sony remains the publisher for it’s PlayStation platforms. This is certainly an attention grabbing move when you consider that Sony’s own San Diego studio develops MLB: The Show and that the game will be a full $70 on PlayStation 5. Compounding the issue is that both the current and last generation versions of MLB: The Show will be available on Game Pass. In order to snag both versions in the PlayStation ecosystem, players must cough up $85 for the Jackie Robinson edition of the game.

All of this begs the question, “Is Sony going to continue to develop MLB: The Show for it’s primary competitor?” Stopping development of future The Show titles would seem like a bad move considering how well The Show sells on PlayStation consoles. The franchise has seen rising sales over the last several years with the 2020 version of the game piercing the NPD’s top 20 best selling games of that year. However, with rumors swirling that Sony has a new San Diego studio working on a more traditional single player game, the impact could have a ripple effect on the existing San Diego studio.

There’s no denying that the times… they are a changin’. How do you see this relationship with MLB, Sony and Microsoft heading in the future? Give us your thoughts in the comments below!