It’s been 14 years, but EA Sports is making a return to the baseball video game market. SGO has learned that the company is working on a new next-gen baseball video game unrelated to the recently acquired Metalhead Software and Super Mega Baseball.
No platforms were specifically mentioned. However, the game is being developed by EA Vancouver, the same studio that handles other EA Sports properties like the NHL, UFC, and FIFA franchises.
The digging began when I stumbled across a job posting of EA Sports looking for a new Executive Producer for the NHL series. That led to checking the Twitter account of the most recent EP, Sean Ramjagsingh. In his Twitter bio it says that he’s the EP and GM of EA Sports NHL, UFC, and Baseball. It was then discovered that he was bringing in the Metalhead Software team under his leadership.
Naturally, though, I reached out to sources at EA to ask if it had to do with the next Super Mega Baseball installment. Almost instantly I received a “no” reply. That led to more questions.
When is EA Sports Baseball Coming?
One source told me that it was still a “ways out” as far as the timeline goes. Another gave me 2024 as a possible launch because it’s still in the earlier stages of development.
“A lot of things are still in the planning stages,” SGO was told. “There’s a lot to be decided before things really move forward.”
With EA reentering golf in 2022 and College Football in 2023, a 2024 launch for another sports game return would make sense to keep it at one per year for the Redwood City, CA company.
“They’ve seen the interest and demand grow,” one person said. “They know the market is there to capitalize.”
As far as licensing, everyone I spoke to said the assumption is that MLB will be a part of the game. The last EA Sports MLB game was MVP Baseball 2005, which has been regarded as one of the best baseball games ever released. A name for the game also hasn’t been decided on.
When asked about the worry with MLB The Show now being a cross-platform title, no one seemed to think EA was too concerned.
“It won’t change a thing for them,” a source said.
Nothing was said about an official announcement being imminent from the company. With a release being likely three years away, it’s still at least another year or so from any public hype coming. We’ve reached out to EA Sports for official comment on a baseball game being in development, but haven’t heard back as of publishing. Should a response be received, we will update the story accordingly.
Lastly, for those concerned about the future of the Super Mega Baseball franchise, don’t be. We’ve been told that EA has major plans for the series, including possible spinoffs. Metalhead Software is being given the same treatment as fellow recent acquisition Codemasters. EA is allowing them to manage everything largely on their own with the backing of the company.
UPDATED 8/23: Story was updated to include clarification on Sean Ramjagsingh’s position at EA Sports.