By Could be a home run
- by Sammy Barker
Sony’s been extremely slow embracing mobile, despite its best efforts to spin-up a new initiative in the smartphone space.
The company recently shuttered German developer Neon Koi before it could even ship anything, and there’s been a ton of executive turnover in its floundering PS Mobile division.
But a new job listing spotted by Reddit seems to insinuate that MLB The Show, one of PlayStation’s biggest and best-selling series in the US, is getting a mobile version.
The post for a Senior Product Manager at developer San Diego Studio notes that “candidates will partner with Design, Production, Marketing, Data & Analytics, and many other disciplines to drive new product features and optimise existing ones to make MLB The Show Mobile an amazing game”.
MLB The Show 25 does have a Companion App which allows you to manage your Diamond Dynasty roster while you’re away from your PS5, but this sounds very specifically like a spin-off game.
Responsibilities listed in the job listing include phrases like “retention” and “monetisation strategies”, all things you’d expect to read about a modern mobile project.
It makes sense to bring the series to phones, of course: rival franchises like EA Sports FC, NBA 2K, and Madden NFL all have their own mobile versions, which replicate the presentation and feel of their console counterparts, but provide more tailored on-the-go experiences.
In this case, we’d expect it to be Diamond Dynasty that gets converted, allowing you to collect players and build your own god squads. We suspect the gameplay will be simplified to accommodate mobile, with truncated games designed to meet the demands of shorter play sessions.
But considering how popular MLB The Show is – it’s an annual best-seller in the US – this seems like a perfect fit for Sony’s stagnating mobile strategy, especially at a time when the league has been eager for the platform holder to bring the franchise to as many platforms as possible.
[source job-boards.greenhouse.io, via reddit.com, patreon.com]
As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.