MLB The Show 21might be considered the only baseball game in town these days, but there was a time when another baseball series was bigger and more popular. These days,MLB The Show’s only real competitor is the new version ofRBI Baseball, but that series doesn’t have anywhere near the popularity of Sony’s franchise. Back in the day,The Showwas still plenty popular, but it wasn’t the undisputed king of the hill. In fact, theMLB 2Kseries wasn’t just a competitor, the argument could be made it was the more popular franchise. Then, 2K Sports folded up that particular tent and leftMLB The Showto claim the throne for itself.
Just why the sports giant decided it was time to leave MLB 2K in the past is a question the franchise’s still-loyal fans ask often. There are still people whoswear by the last few versions, especially MLB 2K12. A quick search online shows quite a few mods and roster updates that give players the opportunity to keep playing a game that hasn’t had a new edition in about eight years. The popularity of the series is one of the reasons shutting it down was a surprise.
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The Abrupt Departure
One of the reasons people were quite surprised thattheMLB 2Kseries shut downis that it was the only game in town for Xbox players. The franchise leaving meant that only PlayStation users had a simulation-style baseball game. Despite that fact, 2K Sports was rather matter of fact back in January of 2014 when it announced the cancellation of the series.
Interestingly enough, the company didn’t really offer a rationale. Instead, it simply said it was proud of its work. It also made it clear that the people who worked on the baseball game were being reassigned to work on other sports games in the company’s catalog. Still, it’s important to note that the company gave up the license renewal to make baseball games on its own, not for any other particular reason. The dropping of theMLB 2Kseries appears to absolutely have been of 2K Sports own accord.
Focusing On Other Titles
One reason the company might have decided it was time to move on from theMLB 2Kseries was that it wanted to focus more on its other titles.NBA 2K21is the undisputed championof simulation-style professional basketball video games. There was a time when a rivalry existed betweenNBA 2KandNBA Live. However, EA Sports eventually pulled the plug on its basketball series, allowing 2K Sports to become the king of that hill.
Things haven’t been as solid for 2K’s other big sports franchise, though. Eventually, there were enough problems in the development of theWWEseries that the companydecided not to releaseWWE 2K21at all. Instead the company took a year off in hopes it could come back stronger withWWE 2K22. There’s no way to tell what the overlap is between formerMLB 2Kdevelopers, and Visual Concepts’WWEdevelopers, but perhaps many former 2K developers have moved to working onWWE 2K22.
Whether the reason for leavingMLB 2Kin the dust was the competition with Sony, or the desire to focus on its other IPs, it seems as if 2K Sports made the right decision in the long run.MLB The Show’s 21jump to the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/Sthis year could have been a significant blow to the company’s bottom line, in the present, at the very least. Regardless,MLB The Showhas become the premier baseball simulation game inMLB 2K’s stead.
