MLB The Show 24's Improved Animations are a Step in the Right Direction

MLB The Show 24’s Improved Animations are a Step in the Right Direction

• MLB The Show 24 is set to feature 400 new animations, improving fielding gameplay for a more realistic experience.
• Fans may see a graphical upgrade in future installments of the game as SDS focuses on refining animations in The Show 24.
• MLB The Show 24 may have largely similar modes to past games, but its ambitious animation upgrades are a positive sign.

With MLB’s spring training in full-swing, MLB The Show developer San Diego Studio has been pulling back the curtain on MLB The Show 24 with each passing week. After MLB The Show 23 tried a lot of new things with regard to single-player content and Diamond Dynasty, hopes are high among many fans that MLB The Show 24 will continue to push the envelope. The Show has long been considered one of the best baseball games on the market, and with the franchise’s expansion to Xbox and Nintendo consoles a couple of years ago, more gamers than ever are able to partake in SDS’ immersive baseball sim.

As is the case with many yearly sports franchises, MLB The Show has experienced only marginal changes to certain features over its last few entries. Game modes like Franchise and Road to the Show are largely the same in The Show 23 compared to The Show 20, for example, but SDS has recently revealed that it’s adding much more immersion to The Show 24 through a frankly staggering amount of new animations. If the developer is putting this much effort into ensuring ballplayers move exactly like they do on the field, then it could mean they’ll look exactly like they do on the field in future The Show installments.

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MLB The Show 24’s New Animations Explained

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In a recent blog post, SDS revealed that MLB The Show 24 would feature about 400 new animations. Many of these animations will apply to fielding, with the blog post including a brief clip that shows a first baseman stretching for the ball. Fielding animations have been improving year after year in MLB The Show, as SDS has gradually added more dynamic movements for players based on reaction time, movement of the ball, and more. Fielding has always been an important component of The Show’s gameplay, and 400 new animations will likely make fielding feel more realistic than ever.

The Door For Better Graphics In MLB The Show May Be Opening

With SDS putting so much effort into refining The Show’s animations, fans may have their first sign that a graphical upgrade will soon be in order. Though The Show has been on the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S for a few years now, it has yet to make a major graphical leap befitting the consoles. Many face models look the same they have for years, with some verging on uncanny, and textures for things like infield dirt and stadium decor often appear flat. While it’s not usually an outright distraction, The Show’s graphics have hardly been on par with its contemporaries.

Now that SDS is taking care to ensure The Show 24’s animations are as accurate and detailed as possible, the developer may have more opportunities to work on graphics in the future. SDS has had a few years to get acclimated to this generation’s hardware, however, and players could start to see noticeable improvements to graphics starting with The Show 25. The developer’s recent blog post also featured a brief clip of enhanced hair physics for MLB The Show 24 cover athlete Vladimir Guerrero Jr., which could be taken as an additionally encouraging sign of future graphical improvements.

MLB The Show 24 is shaping up to be an important entry for the franchise, as SDS takes many of the lessons it learned from The Show 23 and applies them to this year’s entry. Like a major league team who fell just short of a championship, The Show 24 currently looks to be enhancing what worked, and revising where it fell short to provide a better overall product. Time will tell if MLB The Show 24 meets many of the lofty expectations fans have for it.

MLB The Show 24

San Diego Studio’s MLB The Show 24 provides an in-depth baseball sim experience, allowing players to work their way up from the minor leagues to the World Series.

FranchiseMLB The ShowPlatform(s)Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, Switch, PS5, PS4, PC, Xbox OneReleasedMarch 19, 2024Developer(s)San Diego StudioPublisher(s)MLB Advanced MediaGenre(s)SportsESRBE For Everyone Due To In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items), Users Interact See at Official SiteSee at Playstation StoreSee at Nintendo eShopSee at Xbox Games Store