The Fall of MLB 2K - What Happened?

The MLB 2K series has a pretty long history, dating back to World Series Baseball, a 1994 game for the Sega Genesis. It then moved to the Sega Saturn, but when Sony released the PlayStation, competition arrived. EA’s fantastic MVP Baseball series eventually caught up and surpassed MLB 2K, and then 2K signed an exclusive rights agreement with the MLB, effectively killing off EA’s series along with any others. MLB The Show, however, could continue, since the license only applied to 3rd party games, and eventually The Show became a much better game than 2K. After MLB 2K died in 2013, however, The Show started to stagnate. It’s clear that competition makes video games better, and this video goes over a story that exemplifies that.

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
03:34 World Series Baseball Era
06:23 Beginning of the 2K Era
10:20 The Fall of MLB 2K & Rise of MLB The Show

Song “Close” by Foewi used

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[SOFTDRINKTV]

I hope you guys enjoyed this video! It’s meant to be a brief overview of the MLB 2K series and its fall. If you want me to go more in depth on a specific title and its features & gameplay, let me know and I’ll add it to my list of retrospectives to work on!

[ervinghenderson]

I was a victim of being squeezed out by both EA and 2K. I played MVP Baseball and NFL 2K. Within months I lost both to exclusive deals.

[gabingston]

I'd love to see a retrospective on the short lived MLB Power Pros series. While cartoony and arcadey, it was a blast. I put so many hours into MLB Power Pros 2008 back in the day.

[kiiedonstephens]

Sports gaming as a whole has gone completely down hill. I was starting to think I was just being negative. You should do a video on the rise and fall of Tiger Woods PGA tour games or golf games as a whole. I remember getting so excited about Rory McElroy PGA Tour and it was complete junk. EA has became a brand instead of making great games. Thanks for the good content!

[Negative]

I'd like to see an overall video on the 2003-2005 series of sports video games. When EA, 2K, Sony, and even others were all fiercely competing in NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL at once. It was a golden era.

[CloudyWithAChanceOfthPlace]

I been stuck at home with Covid for over a week so whipped out the ole PS2 and fired up 2k5, so great!! And the nostalgia with those players from that era was the cherry on top!!

[firstbaseman_dev]

12:58 The team at Kush Games that developed MLB 2K7 was actually led by the lead developer of MVP Baseball 2005 (Ben Brinkman) for that release, which is why the game feels and plays different, and reviewed higher vs MLB 2K6, which was universally panned the year prior. MLB 2K7 was part of a planned three year overhaul for the series with Brinkman leading the team, but unfortunately Kush was no longer involved with the development of MLB 2K by the time 2K9 was released in favor of Visual Concepts, which is why 2K8 and 2K9 look and feel different. The series ended up being fully developed by a separate team at Visual Concepts (who makes the NBA 2K games) moving forward until MLB 2K13.

I think Kush initially brought Ben on board after 2K made their deal with MLB to be the exclusive third party developer for MLB licensed titles, and EA was stuck with making NCAA Baseball 06 and 07. I'm of the firm belief that had Brinkman been able to fully realize his team's 3 year roadmap that he started with 2K7, the MLB 2K brand would have been saved.

Brinkman now works at EA (full circle, right?) under Respawn working on Apex Legends.

[ttstrikehilariousdude]

Awesome! Now you should do the NHL 2k series. But more of a retrospective because nhl 2k didn't necessarily take a downfall. Would love that!

[markcavallaro]

Great Video! I hope we get an NHL2K retrospective next!

[Precious.Achiuwa]

Softdrinktv is so underrated. The video quality and editing is amazing

[frenchyfred]

I won a Sega Genesis console and World Series Baseball in a contest in '94. Can't tell you how many hours I've spent on it as a young teen. I don't game anymore and I feel kinda bummed out to learn that such a great game went down the drain over the years...

[chrisnotredfield]

I still think 2005 had the best sports games. MVP baseball 05, espn 2k5, madden 05 and even allstar baseball are still my favorite sports games. World series baseball 96 was my favorite for a long time

[BradyAndersonsSideburns]

You should do “the fall of Mlb the show” while you’re at it. The game is following the Madden model with very limited improvement year over year. But some would argue that it’s just wonderful because there’s a few new trading cards with a cool design and 115 pwr/r

[Skybound.]

Been waiting for this! Not even a minute in and I already LOVE IT

[ETK]

Growing up with a 360 during those MLB games from 2k6-2k11 is pure nostalgia. One of the biggest turn offs I had with MLB 2k was in 2k9 big FAs would hit the market in franchise mode and would remain unsigned due to teams not having the cap space.

[AsherFeltman]

The man, the myth, the legend Jon Dowd at 2:08. The Flashpoint Barry Bonds.

Great job as always! Also dig the new soundtracks.

[LumberNumbers]

Great video. I was a huge 2k fan. Also a finalist in the 2k12 perfect club show on Spike TV where 8 of us competed for a million dollars. Got to meet all the 2k big shots, media people, and developers as this was at the time the biggest purse for a video game contest. Love the video and agree with what you say about when you take competition away the games get worse. Also LOVED the old World Series baseball games!!

[guysfieri]

i grew up with the only baseball game i owned being world series baseball ‘95 on the genesis. played the hell out of that thing every summer break. then mlb 2k9 came out with tim lincecum on the cover and 9 year old me had to have it because he was my favorite player. finally got it on ps2 and me and my brother spent countless hours playing gm mode. eventually got the pc version which is the same as the ps3/360 version and yeah it was buggy as hell but again me and my brother played the hell out of it. a few years later mlb the show finally got my attention and i started really seeing how messy the last few 2k games were, but i’ll always have love for them just from all the memories. props to softdrink for another banger of a video as usual

[doublecommenter]

This just makes me want a retrospective of Allstar Baseball and Quarterback Club series.

[skunkycatog]

Mvp 2004 and 05 were my childhood man. Loved those games.