Published , by Chris Jarrard
Published , by Chris Jarrard
One of the biggest and coolest surprises of last year was the shocking announcement that Sony’s long-running baseball sim MLB: The Show was venturing onto other platforms with the Xbox One getting the first swing. During today’s Nintendo Direct presentation, we got confirmation that MLB: The Show 22 will be launching for the Switch handheld on April 5, 2022, with cross-save functionality.
While the series had previously been exclusive to the PlayStation ecosystem for years, there were rumors that Major League Baseball wanted the game in front of more eyes. With the success seen with the release of MLB: The Show 21 on Xbox consoles last year, the Nintendo Switch was the obvious next step. The new trailer showed off real gameplay captured on Switch hardware and revealed that the game is not cut-down or heavily altered like some ports. While the resolution and framerate were less than ideal in the video, it was still very impressive.
Nintendo also took an opportunity to have two-way star Shohei Ohtani act as the spokesman for MLB: The Show 22 on Switch. Older fans will fondly remember the relationship Nintendo had with Ichiro Suzuki and Ken Griffey Jr. when the video game publisher still owned a stake in the Seattle Mariners.
The other big news is the ability for players to carry progression between the various versions of MLB: The Show 22. Players will be able to start up a season on PS5 and continue plugging away at it on their Switch if they so desire. While it isn't as exciting as crossplay multiplayer, getting to bring along an award-winning spots simulation into the portable realm is a wonderful consolation prize.