Beloved 'Backyard Sports' Video Game Franchise Is Officially Returning

Tom Dierberger | Aug 20, 2024

The Backyard Sports gang / Playground Productions

Grab your glove, hop on your bike and race to Steele Stadium—because the iconic Backyard Sports franchise is officially coming back to a neighborhood near you.

Playground Productions, a production company dedicated to creating family-friendly content, announced Tuesday that the beloved video game series is returning "in the coming months" with the same aesthetic of the games released in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

“We're incredibly excited to reintroduce Backyard Sports to a new generation of players,” Chris Waters, chief product officer at Playground Productions, said in a statement. “We're taking great care to preserve the look and feel that made the original games so special while updating them with modern features and gameplay that today's audience expects. I can’t wait for fans to see what we’re building on the Playground.”

The original Backyard Sports game titled Backyard Baseball was released in 1997, debuting the iconic cast of "Backyard Kids" characters like Pablo Sanchez, Stephanie Morgan, Kenny Kawaguchi, Pete Wheeler and more. Originally developed by Humongous Entertainment and published by Atari, the franchise later added Backyard Sports games for soccer, basketball, football and hockey.

In 2001, Backyard Sports partnered with MLB to feature one player from all 30 teams in Backyard Sports 2001 in addition to the 30 fictional characters, portraying each big leaguer as the kid versions of themselves. Randy Johnson, Tony Gwynn, Ken Griffey Jr. and Cal Ripken Jr. were among the athletes featured in the first edition. The other Backyard Sports games followed suit, partnering with the MLS, NBA, WNBA and NHL to feature other athletes from those sports, including Kevin Garnett, Lisa Leslie, Brandi Chastain, Cobi Jones, Jerry Rice and Joe Sakic, among many others.

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Playground Productions did not confirm to Sports Illustrated if they will work with professional sports leagues to feature their athletes in the games, but additional announcements are expected to roll out in the near future.

"Backyard Sports is more than just a game; it's a cherished part of childhood for millions of people," Lindsay Barnett, founder and CEO of Playground Productions, said in a statement. "I look at media as the largest classroom in the world. As such, our goal is to produce meaningful content that not only entertains but also educates and inspires. The return of Backyard Sports is the perfect embodiment of that goal."

Although the rights to the franchise has bounced around for a decade-plus without much to show for it, the Backyard Sports series re-entered the mainstream last year when now-retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce brought up that he wanted to reboot the franchise.

“I don’t even know if I want to mention this," Kelce said on his New Heights podcast in January. "I’ve secretly been looking into seeing if anybody holds the rights to Backyard Baseball and Backyard Football because I want to buy it and get this thing going again."

Sources confirmed to Sports Illustrated that Kelce is not linked to this reboot.

"While Jason Kelce isn’t directly involved in this relaunch, he represents an audience of people that, to this day, fondly remember Backyard Sports as a staple game with iconic characters beloved by many," a Playground Productions spokesperson told Sports Illustrated. "Just like Jason and the millions of other fans out there, Playground Productions recognizes the nostalgia of this franchise and is thrilled to bring it back to life to reach a new generation of players."

In addition to releasing the video games, Playground Productions plans to relaunch the Backyard Sports world in other verticals such as merchandise, film and television.