Afrigather Seize your glove, hop in your bike and race to Steele Stadium—as a result of the long-lasting Yard Sports activities franchise is formally coming again to a neighborhood close to you.
Playground Productions, a manufacturing firm devoted to creating family-friendly content material, introduced Tuesday that the beloved online game sequence is returning “within the coming months” with the identical aesthetic of the video games launched within the late Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s.
“We’re extremely excited to reintroduce Yard Sports activities to a brand new era of gamers,” Chris Waters, chief product officer at Playground Productions, mentioned in a press release. “We’re taking nice care to protect the feel and appear that made the unique video games so particular whereas updating them with trendy options and gameplay that at present’s viewers expects. I can’t await followers to see what we’re constructing on the Playground.”
The unique Yard Sports activities sport titled Yard Baseball was launched in 1997, debuting the long-lasting forged of “Yard Children” characters like Pablo Sanchez, Stephanie Morgan, Kenny Kawaguchi, Pete Wheeler and extra. Initially developed by Humongous Leisure and revealed by Atari, the franchise later added Yard Sports activities video games for soccer, basketball, soccer and hockey.
In 2001, Yard Sports activities partnered with MLB to characteristic one participant from all 30 groups in Yard Sports activities 2001 along with the 30 fictional characters, portraying every large leaguer as the child variations of themselves. Randy Johnson, Tony Gwynn, Ken Griffey Jr. and Cal Ripken Jr. have been among the many athletes featured within the first version. The opposite Yard Sports activities video games adopted go well with, partnering with the MLS, NBA, WNBA and NHL to characteristic different athletes from these sports activities, together with Kevin Garnett, Lisa Leslie, Brandi Chastain, Cobi Jones, Jerry Rice and Joe Sakic, amongst many others.
Extra Yard. Rating Pablo Sanchez, High 10 ‘Yard Sports activities’ Characters As Iconic Collection Returns. Rating Pablo Sanchez, High 10 ‘Yard Sports activities’ Characters As Iconic Collection Returns. darkish
Playground Productions didn’t verify to Sports activities Illustrated if they’ll work with skilled sports activities leagues to characteristic their athletes within the video games, however extra bulletins are anticipated to roll out within the close to future.
“Yard Sports activities is greater than only a sport; it is a cherished a part of childhood for thousands and thousands of individuals,” Lindsay Barnett, founder and CEO of Playground Productions, mentioned in a press release. “I have a look at media as the most important classroom on the planet. As such, our objective is to supply significant content material that not solely entertains but additionally educates and evokes. The return of Yard Sports activities is the proper embodiment of that objective.”
Though the rights to the franchise has bounced round for a decade-plus with out a lot to indicate for it, the Yard Sports activities sequence re-entered the mainstream final yr when now-retired Philadelphia Eagles heart Jason Kelce introduced up that he wished to reboot the franchise.
“I don’t even know if I need to point out this,” Kelce mentioned on his New Heights podcast in January. “I’ve secretly been trying into seeing if anyone holds the rights to Yard Baseball and Yard Soccer as a result of I need to purchase it and get this factor going once more.”
Sources confirmed to Sports activities Illustrated that Kelce shouldn’t be linked to this reboot.
“Whereas Jason Kelce isn’t instantly concerned on this relaunch, he represents an viewers of those that, to today, fondly keep in mind Yard Sports activities as a staple sport with iconic characters beloved by many,” a Playground Productions spokesperson informed Sports activities Illustrated. “Identical to Jason and the thousands and thousands of different followers on the market, Playground Productions acknowledges the nostalgia of this franchise and is thrilled to convey it again to life to succeed in a brand new era of gamers.”
Along with releasing the video video games, Playground Productions plans to relaunch the Yard Sports activities world in different verticals akin to merchandise, movie and tv.
