For years, the MLB The Show games have been exclusive to PlayStation platforms, which makes sense as they're developed by the Sony-owned San Diego Studio. As one of Sony's first-party video game development studios, San Diego Studio has been developing PlayStation exclusive games since it shipped The Mark of Kri in 2002. However, San Diego Studio will soon be releasing a game for Xbox platforms as well in the form of MLB The Show 21, which is coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X on April 20.
MLB The Show 21 coming to Xbox is a big deal in and of itself, but now it's been confirmed that not only is a first-party PlayStation game coming to Xbox consoles, it's going to debut on Xbox Game Pass day one. This means that Xbox Game Pass subscribers can play a first-party PlayStation game on launch day at no extra cost to them, whereas those on PS4 and PS5 will have to pay full price if they want to play it at launch.
This move is shocking, to say the least. This is nearly unprecedented cooperation between Sony and Microsoft, and it's surprising that it's happening at all. MLB The Show 21 could give Xbox Game Pass a massive boost and may put the service on the radar of PlayStation gamers, who could be tempted to play the game through Game Pass instead of purchasing it on their PlayStation consoles. What's essentially happening here is a PlayStation exclusive is a day one Game Pass game, and that's huge.
The news of MLB The Show 21 coming to Game Pass is hot off the heels of the MLB Opening Day, and it's likely a strategic move that the announcement was made after April Fools' Day. This way no one will think that this is an April Fools' prank, as the idea of a PlayStation-developed game coming to Xbox Game Pass on the day of its launch would have been unheard of and viewed as a general impossibility until today's announcement.
In the meantime, it's worth pointing out that fans technically don't even need to own an Xbox console to play MLB The Show 21 through Game Pass. While it will be playable on Xbox One and Xbox Series X consoles, MLB The Show 21 will also be playable through Xbox Cloud Gaming, a feature exclusive to Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. This will allow fans to play MLB The Show 21 on Android devices, so PlayStation gamers can potentially still play MLB The Show 21 on Game Pass without buying an Xbox console, as long as they don't mind playing on their phone screens, that is.
MLB The Show 21 launches April 20 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.