Grab your glove, hop on your bike and race to Steele Stadium – because the iconic Backyard sports Franchise is officially coming back to a neighborhood near you.
Playground Productions, a production company specializing in creating family-friendly content, announced Tuesday that the popular video game series will return “in the coming months” with the same aesthetic as the games released in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
“We are incredibly happy Backyard sports for a new generation of gamers,” said Chris Waters, chief product officer at Playground Productions, in a statement. “We place great importance on preserving the look and feel that made the original games so special, while updating them with modern features and the gameplay that today’s audiences expect. I can’t wait to show fans what we’re building at Playground.”
The original Backyard sports Game with the title Baseball in the backyard was released in 1997 and featured the iconic cast of “Backyard Kids” characters such as Pablo Sanchez, Stephanie Morgan, Kenny Kawaguchi, Pete Wheeler and more. Originally developed by Humongous Entertainment and published by Atari, the franchise later added Backyard sports Games for soccer, basketball, football and hockey.
In 2001, Backyard Sports partnered with MLB to select one player from each of the 30 teams in Backyard Sports 2001 in addition to the 30 fictional characters that represent every major leaguer as child versions of themselves. Randy Johnson, Tony Gwynn, Ken Griffey Jr. and Cal Ripken Jr. were among the athletes featured in the first issue. The other Backyard sports Games followed suit and partnered with the MLS, NBA, WNBA and NHL to feature other athletes from those sports, including Kevin Garnett, Lisa Leslie, Brandi Chastain, Cobi Jones, Jerry Rice and Joe Sakic, to name a few.
More Backyard. Ranking Pablo Sanchez, Top 10 Backyard Sports Characters as the Cult Series Returns. Ranking Pablo Sanchez, Top 10 Backyard Sports Characters as the Cult Series Returns. dark
Playground Productions did not confirm Sports illustrated whether they will partner with professional sports leagues to feature their athletes in the games, but further announcements are expected in the near future.
“Backyard sports is more than just a game; it is a cherished part of childhood for millions of people,” said Lindsay Barnett, founder and CEO of Playground Productions, in a statement. “I view media as the world’s largest classroom, so our goal is to produce meaningful content that not only entertains, but also educates and inspires. The return of Backyard sports is the perfect embodiment of this goal.”
Although the rights to the franchise have been passed around for over a decade without much coming of it, Backyard sports The series returned to the mainstream last year when now-retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce mentioned that he wanted to reboot the franchise.
“I don’t even know if I want to mention it,” Kelce said on his New heights Podcast in January. “I secretly checked whether anyone owned the rights to Baseball in the backyard And Football in the garden because I want to buy it and get the thing working again.”
Sources confirmed Sports illustrated that Kelce is not connected to this reboot.
“Although Jason Kelce is not directly involved in this relaunch, he represents an audience that still enjoys Backyard sports as a base game with iconic characters loved by many,” said a Playground Productions spokesperson Sports illustrated. “Just like Jason and the millions of other fans out there, Playground Productions recognizes the nostalgia of this franchise and is excited to bring it back to life to reach a new generation of gamers.”
In addition to the release of the video games, Playground Productions is also planning to reissue the Backyard sports world in other industries such as merchandise, film and television.
