In December 2019, Sony announced the long-running MLB The Show series would be "moving beyond PlayStation platforms as early as 2021." Today, Sony followed up on that statement with the announcement that MLB The Show 21 would be releasing on Xbox Series X (and S) and Xbox One alongside PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 on April 20.

The move to Xbox systems isn't surprising, but the lack of a PC version is. There was also some speculation that Switch could be a landing spot, but for this year's game it appears the first steps into a new gaming stadium will just be on Xbox's green field.

In a PlayStation Blog post, Ramone Russell, Sony San Diego's game designer, and online community manager revealed MLB The Show 21 features cross-platform play, allowing players to "earn and use content on whichever platform and generation."

This year's cover athlete is Fernando Tatis, Jr. of the San Diego Padres, who is showing off one of his signature home run bat flips. Sony hasn't officially revealed the Xbox box art yet, but Tatis is likely on those versions as well.

The next-generation iterations of MLB The Show 21 come with a price hike up to $69.99, whereas the current-gen versions remain the standard $59.99. We don't yet know any features about any of the versions, but this implies the next-gen versions will be enhanced in some way.

Russell also said a collector's edition will be revealed on February 3, adding "There will be no standard edition upgrade path from current-gen to next-gen. If you are interested in having access to the game on both current and next-gen platforms, please wait for more info about the collector’s edition."

What do you think about MLB The Show 21 moving to Xbox? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below, and keep in mind that Xbox players' only MLB game has been the RBI series up until this point.

[Source: PlayStation]