When publisher Playground Productions announced it was bringing back the Backyard Sports franchise after years away, fans were understandably hyped. Backyard Baseball ’97 was the first game to get the remaster treatment, but was originally only available on PC. Playground Productions released Backyard Baseball on mobile platforms relatively recently, but it has announced today that it’s finally coming to consoles, and the launch date might be sooner than you’d assume.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Backyard Baseball ’97 will officially launch on PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch today, on June 12th. Hopefully, it’ll also eventually come to Xbox platforms down the line. If not, this is still great news for Backyard Sports fans. Having the game available on even more platforms should increase the playerbase, which might mean we get even more remasters in the future. Either way, it’s great to have Backyard Baseball ’97 on consoles for the first time
“Whether you grew up playing on a family desktop or are just discovering the magic for the first time, this game’s pick-up-and-play charm, funny characters, and nostalgic art style remain unrivaled,” said Lindsay Barnett, CEO of Playground Productions, in announcing the launch. “It’s an incredible retro game that celebrates the joy of play, and we’re proud to bring it to kids and families everywhere – in the living room or on the go.”
RELATED: Ranking the Backyard Sports Kids
It’s also worth noting that the team had to reverse engineer Backyard Baseball ’97. The developers did not have the source code from the original game, so it’s had to work backwards to get everything up and running. It’s an impressive feat that gives us hope for the future of the series.
“For 28 years, this game has held a singular place in sports and game-lovers’ hearts,” said James Deighan, Founder and CEO, Mega Cat Studios. “To be able to bring this game back to life for the modern gamer, to expand the base of those who enjoy playing it, and to have those two audiences play together is a privilege and a pleasure for all of us. We’re excited to bring this to continually new audiences.”
You can pick up Backyard Baseball ’97 on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 right now. Grabbing the game on console can only entice developer Mega Cat Studios and Playground into putting more resources into the series. Simply put, if you want more Backyard Sports games, buying this one is a great way to make that happen.
There are still several games the developer could remaster, so the more hype fans can put behind those projects, the quicker we’ll get to a new Backyard Sports game. We can’t be the only ones hoping to see Justin Jefferson in Backyard Football or Shohei Ohtani in Backyard Baseball within the next few years. Last year, the team said it was working on a new original Backyard Sports game. We haven’t had many updates since, but Mega Cat and Playground were targeting a 2026 release date at the time of the original announcement.
