MLB Front Office on deck for 2K

Baseball-management sim warming up for winter release on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC; game to feature Oakland A's Billy Beane.

It's playoff season in Major League Baseball, which means that the bats are about to go silent until the arrival of 2009's spring training. However, 2K Sports is hoping to give diamond dogs a little help in making it through the long, cold winter, given that today the publisher announced MLB Front Office Manager for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

As the name implies, Front Office Manager puts players in the role of an MLB general manager, calling all the shots for a pro team through a 30-year career. During that time, players will scout talent, negotiate trades, and cherry-pick international talent in an attempt to field the best teams possible. The game will also feature an online fantasy mode in which up to 30 players can set up a league and compete against each other to prove their management acumen.

Helping players learn the ins and outs of the role will be Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane, the much-heralded subject of Michael Lewis' book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. Famous for using statistical analysis to get the best bang for his GM buck, Beane will guide players through their virtual careers.

As the only third-party publisher of MLB-licensed games, 2K Sports is hoping to capitalize on its exclusivity deal with a slew of baseball offerings. This year alone has already seen the releases of the multiplatform games MLB 2K8 and MLB Power Pros, MLB 2K8 Fantasy All-Stars on the Nintendo DS, and MLB Stickball on the Xbox 360. A Wii minigame collection called MLB Superstars is also set for launch by year's end.

MLB Front Office Manager is being developed by Blue Castle Games, the upstart studio behind 2K's 2007 arcade-style baseball game The Bigs. It is currently slated for release this winter.

15 Comments

  • rob40

    Posted Nov 12, 2008 9:24 pm PT

    "GordonFan92 If this keeps you involved as much as Head Coach then ill play it. But 2K baseball games suck, if they can't make a better game than MVP 2005 how are they supposed to make a good Manager game?"

    Very easy MVP was EA's sorry approach to a baseball game

  • BallOBaseSimmer

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 4:50 pm PT

    Front office sports games mainly appeal to stat geeks who want to micro manage and turn team sports into a girlie boy soap opera without the hands on action. EA Sports tried this with NFL Head Coach and the game sucked. With the upcoming release season, 2K Sports had a nice chance to offer a seminal everything in one package perhaps with the Lehman database of baseball history as a roster alternative option to today's crybabies and primadonnas. Instead they've chosen a throwaway title for the numbers nerds. My guess is that it'll be in game store bargain bins by next summer.

  • DeViLzzz

    Posted Oct 10, 2008 12:24 am PT

    omg so if it doesn't have great graphics and you can't control the action it is dumb .... people this is a chance to play a real baseball game for once where you use your darn mind like in APBA or Strat-O-Matic and now you can get the title on a console game and you get to play online !!!! I said ages ago APBA and Strat needed to tap this market and they blew it ....

  • Sins-of-Mosin

    Posted Oct 9, 2008 8:28 pm PT

    This will either be a good game or a broken game. I'm going to have to vote for the 2nd option.

  • GordonFan92

    Posted Oct 9, 2008 7:49 pm PT

    If this keeps you involved as much as Head Coach then ill play it. But 2K baseball games suck, if they can't make a better game than MVP 2005 how are they supposed to make a good Manager game?

  • rbop

    Posted Oct 9, 2008 7:35 pm PT

    I love baseball, but this sounds BORING... oh yeah, GO PHILLIES!

  • rddflag

    Posted Oct 9, 2008 6:45 pm PT

    This sounds stupid

  • _Brennan_

    Posted Oct 9, 2008 6:18 pm PT

    This sounds like something that will be a total failure. I'll pass on this one.

  • xboxmaster61

    Posted Oct 9, 2008 5:42 pm PT

    definite buy

  • xbriggs

    Posted Oct 9, 2008 5:01 pm PT

    i will pass

  • Pandemic-7

    Posted Oct 9, 2008 4:01 pm PT

    Go Dodgers!!!

  • PMG_HART

    Posted Oct 9, 2008 3:32 pm PT

    I am sorry but i stumbled upon a wal-mart last night that had MLB the Show 07 on PS2 and while the graphics werent up to par, the presentation and the gameplay were absolutely outstanding. 2K needs to relenquish their MLB exclusitivity license and let their be competion. Just like EA needs to let go of the Football license. LET THEIR BE A COMPETITION!!!

  • baystatethrashr

    Posted Oct 9, 2008 3:31 pm PT

    im hoping this is better than NFL Head Coach

  • drummerboi43

    Posted Oct 9, 2008 3:19 pm PT

    nice

  • earnhardtfan77

    Posted Oct 9, 2008 3:00 pm PT

    no thanks

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