MLB 15 The Show News Post

MLB 15 The Show: An Era of Transparency

03:11 PM - February 11, 2015 by RaychelSnr

In our MLB 15: The Show preview podcast last week, I expressed my surprise at the lack of available information. At that time, we were nearly two months away from release, and most of what we knew came from online product pages.

Since then, we've been given a detailed fact sheet and a lengthy Twitch feed to digest. It was while watching the video feed that it occurred to me how unique the marketing of MLB 15 seems to be.

Read More - MLB 15 The Show: An Era of Transparency

Game: MLB 15 The ShowReader Score: 9/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS Vita / PS3 / PS4Votes for game: 31 - View All

MLB 15 The Show Videos

Member Comments

# 1 Knight165 @ 02/11/15 03:27 PM

Well....I've always said it....and have taken flak for it...but this is why SCEA is the best dev team out there in many ways.....
Don't forget...before their first Community Day....nothing like that was ever done before. They put themselves out there the 7(8?) years ago when they contacted a handful of members of this website and invited us into the studios to both see the process and to relay info/suggestions in both directions between the studio and the gaming public. Unheard of at the time(and I remember how freaked out Ramone was in relation to how it was going to go off!)
SCEA has always gone the extra steps it takes to use the community in shaping their game to some extent and to be open about what they can/will do in changing the game to suit the gaming public.

Nice read.

M.K.
Knight165

# 2 Armor and Sword @ 02/11/15 04:23 PM

Well said. The Show's team is really a bunch of pros. They listen to their fans, implement new features without taking out old ones. They constantly stack the deck and keep building a game full of options and features without taking away the core gameplay that some Show veterans (like myself) still utilize (Classic pitching, timed batting) in fact a perfect example of adding is directional hitting to the timed mechanic. They are not forcing on us. If you want to play timed the default way...you can. If you want to add in the directional user input you have that option.

And the communication with the community is second to none.

# 3 LastActionHero @ 02/11/15 04:34 PM

Amen! .

# 4 rjackson @ 02/11/15 04:45 PM

Feel free to ignore as I'm just thinking out loud but I've always wondered how much of your expenses SCEA covers for CD...very cool that they do that and listen/respond to us here.

# 5 burjeffton @ 02/11/15 04:48 PM

Great read! I've been consistently impressed by SCEA San Diego. They don't have huge budgets or multi-year development cycles, but they prove to truly care about what their fans think.

The unscripted moments in the Twitch feed humanizes these guys in a whole new way. It's why I really loved Nick Livingston's Twitch stream last Spring as well. He was honest, open and very casual about how they go about making the game. And when he didn't have an answer, he was up front about it. Super refreshing.

# 6 Cowboy008 @ 02/11/15 04:52 PM

I think this dev team is great. You can see that they are passionate about the game.

# 7 Dazraz @ 02/11/15 05:16 PM

Great read. We often look at pre release details that hint at areas that have been improved to a questionable degree. SCEA have been very forthcoming in this area giving realistic indications as to where this game may or may not have been improved.

# 8 Herschie @ 02/11/15 05:24 PM

So here it was, late February of 2012, and I'm dying to pick up MLB 2K12 for my 360. I was a little upset that they weren't showing us much, but The Show was getting some exposure. Not that I really cared, I didn't have any Sony systems at the time. And then I saw this video clip of The Show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dIjsunHb54

Whoa. Was I ever impressed! So impressed that I went out and bought a PS3, a Vita, and The Show for both systems. Got two systems. For one game. And it was the best investment I ever made. Not only that, but since I was now hooked on The Show, it was the main reason why I got a PS4 over an Xbox One. I never did pick up 2K12.

The moral of the story? At least in my case, revealing the game early made me RUN out to buy it. If you have a good product, you're going to want as many people to see it as possible. I'm sure there are a ton of people out there right now who are just waiting for that good reason to get this gen's system. Will The Show be that reason? Will it be the deciding factor in selling a PS4 over an Xbox one?

It was for me.

# 9 bcruise @ 02/11/15 05:43 PM

Along with everything else that's been mentioned as far as transparency goes, The Show is the only sports game series I can think of that explains IN DETAIL what its sliders do. We also get plenty of under-the-hood info about the game's mechanics and how it applies to real life thanks to an extensive guide built into the game. No one else does that - no one. Other games are making strides toward being more transparent (and it's just as welcomed for those games), but the Show has been this way for years.

# 10 Ghost Of The Year @ 02/11/15 06:03 PM

The greedy side of me wants the Show to go one step further with the transparency & share the secret of how they arrive at attribute ratings lol

# 11 nemesis04 @ 02/11/15 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghost Of The Year


	The greedy side of me wants the Show to go one step further with the transparency & share the secret of how they arrive at attribute ratings lol

Good luck with that!

# 12 markus48 @ 02/11/15 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armor & Sword


	Well said. The Show's team is really a bunch of pros. They listen to their fans, implement new features without taking out old ones. They constantly stack the deck and keep building a game full of options and features without taking away the core gameplay that some Show veterans (like myself) still utilize (Classic pitching, timed batting) in fact a perfect example of adding is directional hitting to the timed mechanic. They are not forcing on us. If you want to play timed the default way...you can. If you want to add in the directional user input you have that option. And the communication with the community is second to none.

Well said, everything you just mentioned is what EA DIDN'T do with NHL 15. They completely ruined the game for this year and heard about it from the fans. On the other hand, I think this form of feedback for MLB is what makes the game so successful and great every year.

# 13 markus48 @ 02/11/15 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markus48


	Well said, everything you just mentioned is what EA DIDN'T do with NHL 15. They completely ruined the game for this year and heard about it from the fans. On the other hand, I think this form of feedback for MLB is what makes the game so successful and great every year.

Whoops, put in "Well said" by accident

# 14 SVCbearcat10 @ 02/11/15 06:47 PM

I do think SCEA does it right with this game. I'm beginning to grow tired of the growing cries that this franchise has turned into Madden. The main difference is that this game has nearly perfectly the gameplay of baseball. Madden still had fundamental flaws, especially in the WR/DB area. It would be great to have something be eye-poppingly different to refresh the series, however, it's hard to improve on near perfection.

# 15 lekfountain @ 02/11/15 06:48 PM

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# 16 lekfountain @ 02/11/15 06:49 PM

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# 17 seanjeezy @ 02/11/15 07:00 PM

I think sports is the genre where user feedback is the most valuable, honestly I can't see a community day or livestream being all that useful for a platformer or any kind of story-driven game for example. Its great that the dev team actively listens to its community, when you see something that you personally suggested make it into the game its a great feeling.

SCEA SD always seems ahead of the curve when it comes to sharing info about their game, maybe the next step is an early alpha/beta?

# 18 RandyBass @ 02/11/15 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knight165


	Well....I've always said it....and have taken flak for it...

Any flak given is for the rose colored glasses, and not just picking on you here, because lots of people at this forum wear them as if this game can do no wrong.

It's a good game, just don't really understand it when people get offended when obvious flaws are pointed out.

# 19 Sco291 @ 02/11/15 08:36 PM

The San Diego Studios dev team has, without a doubt, become the shining example and standard for all existing and upcoming developer teams, at least IMO. Back in 2007, when I bought my first (of many to come) The Show game, I thought "nice, a new baseball game to play".

Now in 2015, after buying every single MLB The Show game since, I can say it's more than just a baseball game. Its a game by the players pretty much. I never thought I'd be able to enter a thread for last names and put my last name in it only to see it in the game. That, among other things, shows why this dev team is light years ahead of anyone else when it comes to the community. Dedication and a shared passion for the game of baseball with their consumers.

It's how you build credibility and their devotion to their players (especially us die hards) is why The Show is an annual purchase for me.

# 20 Knight165 @ 02/11/15 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RandyBass


	Any flak given is for the rose colored glasses, and not just picking on you here, because lots of people at this forum wear them as if this game can do no wrong. It's a good game, just don't really understand it when people get offended when obvious flaws are pointed out.

Well then some people need to take of the blinders......because they only see what they want to see.....I call B.S. on the guys getting offended.......guys are perpetuating a myth with that one.

M.K.
Knight165

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