It’s best to just rip the Band-Aid off in one quick motion, and that’s what SDS did today with their annual FAQ for MLB The Show 23. The most requested feature on OS of year-to-year saves returning to the franchise will remain out of MLB The Show 23. In addition, Sounds of the Show will only be on the PS4 once again (this remains a likely console/legal issue more than an SDS issue). On top of that, the stadiums will not transfer from game to game like logos do. On the bright side, cross-progression, cross-saves, and cross-platform play will remain in the game.
On a day where Jazz Chisholm was announced as the cover athlete for MLB The Show 23 and SDS gave a release date of March 28 for this year’s game, it’s probably the best time for SDS to sneak in the bad news about old features people love still not being back in the game. I don’t think many of us were expecting these features to return, but it’s still a bummer to read about them being absent once again. The stadiums not transferring would have been the one I would have hoped to see some movement on because it does take a lot of time to re-create these stadiums. However, I would assume because SDS keeps adding new assets and because the stadium creator tool is going through sizable changes that there is some sort of concern with having that data sync up from year to year.
If you want to be optimistic about year-to-year saves not being in the game, the same logic applies on that front. One reason for year-to-year saves leaving the game in the first place was because SDS was changing the architecture of franchise mode itself. So far, the loss of year-to-year saves has not been worth the “improvements” made to franchise mode, but perhaps this is the year where franchise mode improvements start to pick up.
However, I don’t see the same logic in year-to-year rosters not being in the game. Unless major changes are coming to the create-a-player tool, this seems like the one aspect that should make a return to the game sooner than later. And even if the CAP tool is undergoing changes, I would love to see SDS find a workaround to make Y2Y rosters return — most other sports games should also make this a priority.
Whatever the case may be, SDS will be doing livestreams and pumping out news at a steady pace as we gear up for that March 28 release for MLB The Show 23.
