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@greedyg103_xbl said in Lack of competition = Lack of innovation:

@hustlinowl_psn said in Lack of competition = Lack of innovation:

@greedyg103_xbl said in Lack of competition = Lack of innovation:

@raylewissb47_psn said in Lack of competition = Lack of innovation:

@thehungryhole said in Lack of competition = Lack of innovation:

@greedyg103_xbl said in Lack of competition = Lack of innovation:

@mistergraavy_psn said in Lack of competition = Lack of innovation:

@doihearbossmusic_mlbts said in Lack of competition = Lack of innovation:

Not to be a [censored] to the devs, but come on maaaan. This game just needs a fresh overhaul. Very stale. No bs I legit can't even tell the difference in the games trailers the last 4ish years.

This may be the first one I legit pass on, or just wait till late season when it's dirt cheap if we even get one

This is the first year they really worked on small details. Not to mention the game looks incredible on PS5 in 4k

Incredible? Those player models are pretty bad. And the players have no rigidity at all. Just smooth clay like skin!

lol exactly

i was expecting a nice update with the PS5 being out for a couple years now

I honestly don’t see much happening in terms of updates to the game until they stop making the game for PS4 and Xbox One. Maybe then there will be a major overhaul.

Madden, 2K, Fifa, and NHL all have overhauled their graphics all while remaining on old gen systems. Also when the Show went to PS4 there was a large leap in graphics all while (you guessed it) still making the game on PS3. That is not what’s holding them back.

They probably won’t ditch the PS4 for a couple more years. Meaning we would have been in the Current Gen (Next Gen) for about 4 years. That is an unacceptable timeframe to experience a jump in graphics when the character models look 10 years old sir. And all the other games have simple things like hair physics. Why must us baseball fans be treated like peasants ?

Also have studios ten times the size of SDS wake up

SDS improved graphics year one of the PS4 while still supporting PS3. Wake up! Stop acting like this isn’t possible.

Disagree with this take. Literally every sports game at the tail end of a generation is usually night and day from its version at the start. Go back and play MLB The Show 14, then play The Show 21.

SDS as long as they've worked on The Show have never done any bold visual changes in a single year because you don't do drastic changes as a sports sim, that's not how it works. OOTP doesn't do drastic overhauls either, and that's their closest competitor that also puts out a new game every year.

Here's some links I gathered to kind of show you the progression of the game visually through last gen, and maybe because people buy it every year they don't necessarily notice things but if you take gap years between games maybe things stand out more:

• MLB 14 was a performance bump on PS4 but the visuals didn't change much outside of improvements to textures and lighting. This is fine for the first game on PS4. The only next-gen feature with this version was being able to transfer career mode saves from PS3 to PS4.

• MLB 15 started including dynamic lighting and improved stadium models

• MLB 16 introduced physically based rendering (PBR) to PS4 (basically better lighting across different types of surfaces) as the third entry in the series.

• MLB 17 to my knowledge was the first big visual overhaul since they specifically mentioned in the feature reveals for that launch that they had implemented better mocap, newer lighting and shaders after ditching legacy PS3 code. They even mention that it was a three year project for the studio to work on before deciding it was ready. I want to say that MLB 17 is essentially what you can consider to be the modern day version of MLB The Show that the team's been iterating on steadily with visuals from '18-'21, whether that's better lighting, shading, presentations, etc.

I just think the studio going third party with MLB and putting out games on Switch and XBOX really warped everybody's expectations because they've traditionally only put their games out on Sony consoles. I'm not expecting a 4K version of Aaron Judge with raytraced lighting at Yankee Stadium as part of the second iteration of The Show on a next-gen console, but I would definitely expect them to steadily leverage next gen hardware in a way that strengthens the engine they are already using year over year until they stop working on a last-gen version of The Show.

@surfinsantacruz_xbl said in Lack of competition = Lack of innovation:

They do have competition - at least on gamepass. Another baseball game released on gamepass today. I will not mention the name as it's a competitor but , they do have competition.

I'll say it, since SMB3 is not a competitor. It's an arcade version of baseball with sim elements, but The Show does not have a competitor in the console baseball sim space, period.

Unless OOTP decides to enter the console space, then maybe a conversation can be had about competition

This mode isn't even on the Tech Test so I'm not sure how this got here.

In any case, here's my take: They probably haven't talked much on Franchise because since the mode itself involves you being the GM for an organization, there is no CBA between MLB and the Players Association to address any changes since a lot of the core functions of the mode stem from what's in the CBA

@lookat_menowww_psn said in Any improvement ?:

Oh [censored] bro I think March to October is dumb it’s like franchise just you don’t get to play full games nor control your team. I think they need to make a GM mode something similar to 2K franchise/GM mode that’s what we need

I mean if you played the older NBA2K games, it really took a while for Association in NBA2K to evolve into myLeague/GM/NBA, because there's a lot of data and CPU logic within those modes that need to all work well and interact with each other.

I also don't think MTO as a mode is dumb. It serves a pretty good purpose since it's grown to be a more condensed version of Franchise mode if you don't want to sink a ton of time being a full on GM but still want to be invested in what happens over the course of a season with your team.

It also helps that since both MTO/Franchise use the same...base? foundation? So you could carry that team into Franchise mode when you finish the first season out and take full control of the team seamlessly. This is why both of the modes go hand in hand with feature reveals whenever they talk about changes, because one mode indirectly improves the other.

There's plenty of people who would love to do a full blown franchise but simply don't have the time to commit to a full 162 game season and then the playoffs if you make it, and there's other people who would like to play a franchise but with DD being so time consuming with things to do, they never really get the chance to do that. March to October allows both of those groups of people to enjoy the game in a pickup-and-play way that works well and the rewards system it currently has (which I hope changes this year) keeps people invested because the mode puts you in games and events that matter.

@x-alec_j-x_psn said in The Indians/Guardians:

This erasure of completely historical names and logos is pathetic. Besides the bad photo shop jobs and amateurish fake replacements looking terrible, its absolutely gutless, and immoral to erase Native Americans from history. Who, might i add, are still 90% in favor of being honored by teams.
Im real close to not buying the game this year already.....it feels like a cheap cut and paste job. I felt zero improvements in the game playing the tech test... (did they even attempt to fix the broken check swing mechanic. It being RNG is unacceptable)
"Woke" trash like erasing accurate uniforms may be the last straw....

Right.

So anyway, since The Show is a licensed product, I am 100% certain the edits to the Indians logos and stuff in the game are a part of branding guidelines directed by MLB or even the team itself and not something SDS's art team would do on their own

@lookat_menowww_psn said in Any improvement ?:

I know franchise mode was not on the feature calendar list which makes me disappointed but does anybody at least think if they’re going to touch anything I mean absolutely anything on franchise mode ? Or is it just literally going to be a copy and paste ?

I think March 17 is a feature reveal stream on March to October, so I'm hoping we might get some news related to Franchise mode, since MTO is basically a streamlined version of that mode anyway.

My suspicion is that they ended up merging the modes altogether and making MTO just stuff you can toggle on/off within that mode

Speculating here but it might be a part of the MTO stream since both of those modes share a lot of the same functions (MTO is by all intents and purposes an on-ramp to Franchise mode for casual/new players)

@rosco-1up_xbl said in Same old franchise?:

If they fixed the legacy issues without adding anything new, I might be ok. But if they just left it to rot, then they can go rot.

Last year's Feature Reveal stream covering changes to Franchise and MTO involved the team making an effort to rework some parts of the CPU logic (which is what long time fans continuously ask for every year), and they did mention that this would be something that is a long term goal that they have in mind for those modes.

If you're looking for new features, I don't think it'll be likely since in that same stream, they said that they're more focused on laying down a good foundation first before they tack on more things to Franchise and March to October. I'd expect some more significant AI improvements and probably some streamlining mostly.

@megaprime1977_psn said in Good bye MLB the Show:

It’s a real shame to end this way. Waited for the power of PS5, stadium creator man the child in me woke up again. So looking forward to rebuilding a team from scratch. MLB 21 started Orioles franchise playing one last season in their stadium before moving them. I played every painful game only to finish 6th in the WC and missed the playoffs and now I can’t carry over and franchise gets no love.

Thank you for making me realize how much time I wasted playing this game. I waited for years and spent so much time. I’ve dreamt of an MLB game like this since I started tracking stats playing season mode in baseball simulator 1000 on NES. Just like the NES game nothing changed over the years but I only paid for the game once. I’ve been playing the show since 08 So much potential in this game but so little effort for franchise. It’s a shame. But thank God PS5 has so many exciting titles coming out.

Two things Ramone can do:

1. don’t break MLB 21 with a patch. At least let us have that.
2. Just play straight with us please. We deserve an explanation

I mean for me, I'm a strong advocate for two year development cycles for sports games. You get better fully realized features that way, and you don't necessarily have that "been there, done that" feeling.

I'd say, take a gap year. If you got '21, skip this year's version if you want to.

@nflman2033_mlbts said in Why Does SDS hate Franchise mode and its Players?:

@red_ted_is_back said in Why Does SDS hate Franchise mode and its Players?:

@nflman2033_mlbts said in Why Does SDS hate Franchise mode and its Players?:

Franchise mode doesn't have as many players as DD, because it's gone completely stale. I say it's at least 60/40 a revenue thing. Franchise players maybe the minority, but they are the unsilent minority, I'm seeing it everywhere people complaining for tears that it's not being touched.

Fact is, it will take competitors to try and come in and motivate them to improve Franchise mode. And it's just not going to happen.

Another good point but it comes down again to the question ‘now that franchise players are a much smaller percentage of users than they used to be (and probably getting even smaller) and presently not an ongoing revenue stream, what is the financial impact if they stop buying our game and switch to a competitor?’

If it's just for Franchise, not much at all, but if they can offer a fun competitive game. It could push SDS. I just want the option, I miss 2005 when we had at least 3 or 4 viable options to choose from for a base game.

The problem with a lack of competition is that now your fanbase ends up with extremely high expectations every year since you are the only game in town.

Choice is always a good thing. When we all had choices in 2004 and 2005, it became a lot easier to switch to a different baseball game if another studio was in the process of overhauling one of their modes (like SDS is with Franchise right now). Fans were able to have breathing room and tempered expectations when a studio decided to focus on something else for that year's development cycle.

There's an upcoming gameplay feature reveal where they can probably talk about this directly at some point

@codywolfgang_xbl said in Another Year of Allowing Trash Players to Not Strike Out!!:

@kovz88_psn said in Another Year of Allowing Trash Players to Not Strike Out!!:

Maybe considering it's a tech test to figure stuff like this out try giving some constructive criticism on specific area that can improve so that hopefully it can be improved instead of coming on here and just crying like a baby.
"You're unfinished product isn't absolutely perfect! Wah!!!" That's you

It’s built into the engine. It is not a simple tweak from testing.

I will be dissatisfied with the state of the game if I choose. It is an idiotic aspect of the gameplay and there is no point in sugar coating it. You have made it abundantly clear that you are not interested in the truth.

So what you're saying is, the range of the PCI is too big and players with poor swing discipline can still make contact on balls out of the zone?

@wdflicksports13_psn said in The Indians/Guardians:

I noticed on the cards of Bieber and Lofton and many more had their uniforms edited by adding the new name on or removed completely it shouldnt be done just because of the name change its still the same team and the history stays and when the full name do they only get a couple uniforms and not all the uniforms they wore throughout history which is over 100 years old

I think changes like these are branding guidelines by the league or the club itself rather than an internal choice by the studio to do it, to be honest with you.

@tvsectog_xbl said in Feels like "alpha" code, doesn't seem anywhere close to production ready:

Code feels like really early alpha code, not even beta code. I hope you aren't hoping to hook fans into the game by letting them play this code, as I think this code may have the opposite affect and actually cause people to not buy the game. This code looks nowhere near code complete/ready for any type of release. The lags in co-op are extremely bad. Looks like the game just uses RDP and/or VNC w/ split I/O streams between controllers. Co-op is a great idea, yet it looks extremely rough/not playable as is TBH.

Just cutting through the noise in your post but the lag (whether it's input based or network based) with co-op mode is exactly the kind of feedback that can be actioned by the team.

Every year's tech tests are usually focused on how that season's gameplay changes affect netplay, and if things are rough in an early build where they're implementing the netplay, it's good to give feedback on how that impacts everything else.

@yemlk_xbl said in Feels like "alpha" code, doesn't seem anywhere close to production ready:

I wouldn’t be surprised if the game is running in some sort of extra logging mode or debug mode to gather data, making it run choppier.

This is also a good call as this might be going on with the tech test, since this is in most cases the same type of build internal QA would be using early in development

@zalot____psn said in Logic Bug that will need to get addressed:

I think if they were to add a “tag-in” feature where a player that’s struggling could delegate their inning to pitch (or even to face a single batter) or their at bat to their teammate if they’re struggling would be a great option, obviously having to limit it to X amount of times per game as a lifeline in the oft chance they end up expanding coop to competitive games/duos BR/any mode with desirable rewards. Maybe your buddy hits really well with a specific player in the lineup or one guy really hates some players stance and swing, it’d be nice to have the option to at least swap in instances like that. Maybe I’m asking for too much and it’s too difficult to code/enable the ability to “tag” your teammate in without causing freezes offs. A different and possibly simpler solution would be to let a player that gets a hit continue to take the plate until they commit an out.

Like what you see, SDS? My brains so full of ideas and tweaks to improve this legendary franchise that I have cerebral edema. It’s only a matter of weeks til my brain is squeezing through my foramen magnum. Do with that information what you wish

Oh you may be onto something here! A tag-in mechanic sounds pretty good and something they can definitely set up for captains.

I think this year's initial implementation of co-op is meant to make the gameplay accessible for everyone but I'm sure the mode and its mechanics will evolve over time

I'm consistently stumped at how this is such a polarizing thing across the fanbase.

Given that development for these games are planned out far in advance, how was SDS able to look into the future and realize there would be next-gen console shortages? There's no way.