In a first for video games, a major sports league is making its own game

Professional sports are a big business in video games, but it’s mostly thanks to licensing deals. Major League Baseball is set to change that in 2018.

Since 2014, the corporate side of the league has been relying on for-hire studios to drive its R.B.I. Baseball series. But this March, R.B.I. Baseball 18 will arrive as the product of a completely internal development team inside the MLB Advanced Media division of the company.

In a sprawling feature penned by Polygon‘s Samit Sarkar — one of the most authoritative voices out there when it comes to sports video games — we learn the new R.B.I. is built on many of the same ideas that went into past game.  Read more…

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