Last night, SDS held their first Feature Premiere live stream for MLB The Show 23. This live stream showed off the new Storylines mode that will help educate and enlighten players about some of the biggest starts of the Negro Leagues. We also got our first look at actual gameplay for MLB The Show 23.
Storylines
The live stream featured a special guest, Bob Kendrick who is the President of the Negro Baseball League Museum. Mr. Kendrick was joined by Ramone Russell and Jared Schiff from San Diego Studios. The three discussed how the new mode came together. They also discussed all the new equipment and assets the team had to create in order to be as historically accurate as possible.
A lot of things about the look of MLB The Show had to be changed in order to reflect the era that the Negro League players played in. From the jerseys, to the cleats, even to the crowd in the stadium, all these things were changed to immerse players in the era of the Negro Leagues. Speaking of stadiums, there are six new stadiums coming to the Storylines mode. These new stadiums are Muehlebach Field, Hilldale Park, Forbes Field, Bush Stadium, Comiskey Park, and South Side Park.
Historical Accuracy
The team had to go to extreme lengths in order to accurately depict these historical figures and landmarks. Because of the time period these players played in, there are not many photographs and recordings of their games. The team working on this mode had to get creative in how they would find what they needed to put these players into the game. For example, Ramone talked about how for one of the uniforms in the game, there were only photos of players from the waist up. In order to figure out how to design the pants, they had to find an old bobblehead toy to know what they looked like.
This project is clearly an incredible passion project for the entire team at San Diego Studios. Ramone even became visibly emotional when talking about how much this meant to the entire team to be able to bring the Negro League legends into MLB The Show. The entire team at SDS should be proud of what they are doing with this mode. From what little we have seen of it, it is already clear that this is going to be a wonderful experience. This mode is sure to help educate, enlighten, and inspire millions of players with the stories of these legendary players.
Gameplay
After the discussion with Mr. Kendrick, the team showed the first snippet of gameplay from the Storylines mode. This snippet showed the beginning of the Jackie Robinson episode in the Storylines mode. We saw Mr. Kendrick narrate a short video about Jackie and why he was chosen to be the one to break baseball’s color barrier. We then saw our first bit of gameplay for MLB The Show 23, with a moment that challenged the user to get a hit and an RBI in one at-bat.
The new gameplay showed off all the new assets that were created for this Storylines mode. We also saw a new UI for batter feedback that looks really good. This were the only new things we saw in this brief bit of gameplay, but overall things looked really good for this new mode. Fans online were very impressed with the live stream overall, with many saying it was the best Feature Premiere the SDS team had ever done.
This might go down as my favorite MLB The Show Feature Premiere of all time.
You can really see the passion and effort that went into this Negro Leagues addition into MLB 23.
Great work @SonySanDiego, @Ramone_Russell, @nlbmprez and everyone involved!
— Scann (@TheScann) February 9, 2023
Hands down the most well put together and enjoyable feature premiere we've ever had.
I could listen to @nlbmprez talk baseball all day long. Incredible work to @Ramone_Russell and everyone involved. The passion shown in this project/game was awesome to see.
— Ance🌵 (@ancelarmstrong_) February 9, 2023
I know people want to see more MLB The Show info during this stream, but I could listen to Bob Kendrick talk for hours. This is so awesome to watch.
— Mills (@MillsTwitch) February 9, 2023