Disaster Launch for MLB the Show 21

MLB the Show has been an exclusive Sony PlayStation game since the series debuted dating all the way back to 2006. It is currently the only simulation baseball series on the market. Finally, the PlayStation exclusive has been put on the Microsoft Xbox Platform, including their streaming service Xbox Game Pass. MLB the Show has been a PlayStation exclusive for years because the game is literally made by PlayStation Studios. This was supposed to be one of the biggest releases in video game history but so far, the launch of this game has been a disaster.

“Road to the Show” is a mode in the game where you create your ballplayer and only play as him for his career, starting in Double-A and going all the way to the Majors. It is the most played game mode the series has to offer. In MLB the Show 21 PlayStation studios made a bold move by integrating Road to the Show and Diamond Dynasty together. 

You create your ballplayer and you can have several load-outs for them at each position. The way you get your player better is by simply playing the game and getting rewards for getting a certain amount of hits, a certain amount of plate appearances, etc. 

Currently, the game has a bug where none of your progress is counting towards your player, making the mode nearly unplayable. You can still play the mode, but your players overall will go up at an infuriatingly slow rate. 

I have a 2-way player created for my Road to the Show. He is a Short Stop and Starting pitcher. I have currently played an entire season starting in Double-A and getting called up to Triple-A. My player should probably be at least in the mid-70s, but instead, he is still a 65 overall due to your player not gaining any progress through playing the game. Even simple things like editing your equipment doesn’t save. So every time you edit your player, it won’t matter. People on Reddit and Twitter are very disgruntled about the changes and how broken the mode currently is. I suggest you not touch Road to the Show until a patch is made.

Diamond Dynasty is essentially MLB the Show’s version of Ultimate Team. You can play online or face the AI with virtual “cards” you collect through buying packs, buying players through the marketplace or grinding the game. The mode itself is probably the best sports card mode out of any sports video game franchise out there right now. But there is a big problem with the mode, and it is related to the servers never working. 

Server maintenance is scheduled at 4 AM PT on Wednesday 4/21/21. Please complete all games prior to that time. Thank you.

— MLB The Show (@MLBTheShow) April 21, 2021

Ever since the game was launched, there have been multiple problems reported with the servers. Players are randomly losing all of their stubs (in-game currency), people are not earning their awards for completing certain tasks and every day since the game has been out people across all consoles are experiencing issues where they cannot get onto the servers for several hours. Server maintenance has been scheduled every day since the launch of this game. 

You can maybe give the developers a pass for launching the game for the first time on Xbox which essentially doubles the traffic to the game compared to previous years, but the bottom line is that it is 2021. Servers not working for a major video game franchise is not acceptable. People are already spending $59.99+ for current-gen versions and $69.99+ for next-gen versions of the game, and they are receiving a product that was not ready to be released. 

I was originally going to give a review for this game, but I cannot do that with the current state it is in. If you are primarily a franchise mode player, I would recommend this game now. I haven’t seen or heard of any bugs so far in Franchise Mode, and the gameplay is fantastic as always. However, if you are a Road to the Show or Diamond Dynasty player you should buy at your own risk knowing that the game is currently flawed and nearly unplayable in its current state. What a shame, because when the game works, it is clearly the best sports game out. A review is coming whenever the game is fixed. 

Stay tuned for more updates on MLB the Show 21.