FILE – A gamer holds an Xbox controller. (Photo by Emanuele Cremaschi/Getty Images)
The cult video game series “Backyard Sports” is officially making a comeback after several years.
Variety reported that this will be the franchise’s first new video game since 2015.
Playground Productions announced Tuesday that the video game series will return “in the coming months,” offering the same visual appeal of the games from the late 1990s and early 2000s that players have come to appreciate.
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The Backyard Sports franchise debuted in 1997 with the release of Backyard Baseball and featured the Backyard Kids characters, including Pablo Sanchez, Stephanie Morgan, Kenny Kawaguchi and Pete Wheeler.
Sports Illustrated reported that the game was first developed by Humongous Entertainment and published by Atari.
Backyard Sports collaborated with Major League Baseball to highlight one player from each of the 30 teams in Backyard Sports 2001, featuring professional baseball players as child representations of themselves. Some of the superstars of the game of baseball included Ken Griffey Jr., Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn.
After forming partnerships with other professional leagues such as the NBA, WNBA and NHL, the video game series later expanded to include other sports with the release of Backyard Basketball, Backyard Football, Backyard Soccer, Backyard Hockey and Backyard Skateboarding.
Sports Illustrated reported that Playground Productions plans to expand the Backyard Sports franchise into other areas such as film, television and merchandise.
