@PriorFir4383355_XBL said:
This game started its slow ebb when it started to think trinkets (such as virtual cards) were more important than the basic gameplay elements dominating the act of actually playing video baseball games! Yeah, I know, it's a radical concept nowadays to actually believe that the first duty of a company making a baseball video game is to ensure that it is the best possible game at actually playing baseball games on a console!
Trinkets, quaint arcade style pursuits, and crafty marketing has become the primary focus of SDS. They have stopped trying to be the finest baseball game it can be. Obviously, in terms of MLB licensed games, they cannot avoid being the "best" on the market because for years now they have been the ONLY game on the market!
This reflects the state of the industry. Large corporations desired to carve up the sports market such that each company carved out a monopoly. It started when EA Sports paid the NFL an insane amount of money to corner the NFL market. Other companies refused to offer up that kind of money and so they decided since they couldn't have the NFL game any longer, they would instead pursue monopolies elsewhere.
The entire industry is on the decline. We see this with large scale erosion in game quality. This is worse than what should guide all these companies -- a relentless pursuit of not only being the best in a given industry, but trying to push the technology to greater heights than before realized.
Here's some advice from an internet legend. (aka Pico)
WHO ASKED YOU?