Another year, another MLB: The Show game from Sony San Diego, and it’s that time again! Sony and Sony San Diego announced the next installment in their highly beloved baseball sim franchise, MLB: The Show 17 on the PlayStation Blog today, which is scheduled to arrive on March 28th, 2017, right within the series’ usual annual launch week.
There is a caveat to those who still have yet to upgrade from a last-gen console though, as MLB: The Show 17 is being made as a PlayStation 4 exclusive. Support for Sony’s last-gen PlayStation 3 console is officially being dropped for the MLB: The Show games from the 2017 installment onward, and as with this year’s installment, no portable PlayStation Vita edition of MLB: The Show 17 is being made either.
Baseball all-star, Ken Griffey, Jr. has been confirmed as the cover athlete for MLB: The Show 17, marking his first appearance in a video game in over two decades (Griffey, Jr. headlined several baseball games for legacy Nintendo platforms in the 90’s, including the Super NES, Game Boy and Nintendo 64), and he will also be a playable Legend in the game to boot. MLB: The Show 17’s retail package will also sport a slick golden autograph on the box art, which you can check out below:
MLB: The Show 17 will come in not only a standard edition for the regular retail price of $59.99 USD/$79.99 CDN, but will also include three special editions, including additional pre-order incentives at Gamestop/EB Games. An MVP Edition is also being sold at all participating retail outlets and the PlayStation Store for $69.99 USD/$89.99 CDN, which will come in a limited edition steelbook, include a Gold Season Starter Pack, 5,000 Bonus Stubs, 1 Sponsor Pack, 10 Standard Packs, and 31 MLB themes for your PlayStation 4’s main menu. Anyone who pre-orders either of these editions from EB Games/Gamestop will receive an additional five Standard Packs for use in-game as well, while anyone who pre-orders either edition from the PlayStation Store will receive 11,000 bonus Stubs, with all pre-ordering customers also receiving 10 Standard Packs and 1 digital Ken Griffey, Jr. card, regardless of their shop of choice.
Gamestop/EB Games meanwhile will exclusively offer the ‘Hall of Fame Edition’ of MLB: The Show 17 for $99.99 USD/$119.99 CDN, which will include all of the bonuses from the MVP Edition (with an increased 11,000 Stubs instead of 5,000), as well as a New Era Hall of Fame 9FIFTY Hat both in real life, and one for use in-game within Diamond Dynasty, as well as an additional Diamond Season Starter Pack to go with the Gold Starter Pack that is also offered in the MVP Edition. The PlayStation Store will also offer an exclusive Digital Deluxe Edition for the same price, which includes the same bonuses as the GameStop/EB Games-exclusive Hall of Fame Edition, minus the real-life baseball cap and steelbook case of course, instead replacing these bonuses with a ‘Digital Deluxe Pack’.
Gameplay details for MLB: The Show 17 haven’t yet been confirmed, but we’ll doubtless hear about those during December’s PlayStation Experience expo. Thus, keep swinging for Eggplante for all major news and updates on MLB: The Show.