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Xbox Trusted Sony With Pre-Release Xbox Series X Hardware For MLB the Show 21

To get MLB The Show 21 ready for its Xbox debut, Microsoft trusted its industry rivals with its latest console technology before it even launched.

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MLB The Show came to Xbox for the first time this year, and to get the latest version of the game running on its then-unreleased Xbox Series X|S consoles, Microsoft sent PlayStation's development team some of its top secret hardware at the time. Speaking to Axios via VGC, head of game creator experience and ecosystem at Xbox Sarah Bond called the move a "real sign of industry trust" when it entrusted the consoles to its main rivals in the video game industry.

"The Show always came up," Bond explained. "We always said, 'We love this game. It would be a huge opportunity to bring it to Xbox'. It was a real, real sign of industry trust."

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Now Playing: MLB The Show 21 Video Review

Microsoft would later announce that MLB The Show 21 would be free for Xbox Game Pass subscribers, a bold move that Microsoft says made it the biggest sports game of the past year on Xbox, as well as the second biggest sports game of all time on Xbox overall. Sony explained in April that its internally-developed game becoming a cross-platform title was MLB's decision.

"As part of the goal for this year's game, MLB decided to bring the franchise to more players and baseball fans," a PlayStation representative said in April. "This decision provides a unique opportunity to further establish MLB The Show as the premier brand for baseball video games."

In other MLB The Show 21 news, the first 3rd Inning boss has been revealed to be former Cleveland Indians Grady Sizemore, the 2008 Gold Glove winner.

Darryn Bonthuys on Google+

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