Editor’s Note: this article was edited by OPNoobs staff for neutrality.
3D enhancements, redesigned interface, new scouting systems, realistic AI, 2018 Opening Day rosters, and more.
STRAIGHT FROM THE DEVS: Out of the Park Developments, an official licensee of MLB.com, the Major League Baseball Players Association, and MiLB.com, today announced that Out of the Park Baseball 19 will be released on March 22, 2018. OOTP 19 offers dozens of new features and improvements to its gameplay.
Out of the Park Baseball 19 includes:
- New 3D stadiums and player models with improved on-field movements, including running, sliding, jumping, and throwing;
- New in-game screen design for an optimized virtual dugout;
- 2018 roster sets with all Opening Day MLB rosters, as well as the complete minor league system from Triple-A to rookie leagues as well as the Arizona Fall League. All major league (and over a thousand minor league) player ratings will be based on the popular ZiPS player projection system. The 8 international leagues, as well as independent minor leagues in the US, also return this year with accurate rosters;
- Rewritten scouting reports that give a more detailed and realistic look at players;
- New tournament modes! Create a standalone tournament bracket and draw any teams in history into it;
- Ultra-realistic AI roster management and in-game decisions;
- A reworked ratings module;
- User voting for end-of-season awards;
- Redesigned interface, with the ability to choose between 6 different fonts;
- 800 custom team logos for fictional leagues;
- Improved Manager Home screen, with a more customizable layout and new widget options;
- A new stat -- RA9-WAR (WAR based on runs allowed) -- for pitchers;
- Delayed substitutions for injured players;
And more to be announced prior to release.
PERFECT TEAM and Opean Beta
This summer, Out of the Park Developments will unveil a new online mode called PERFECT TEAM. An open Beta will happen this spring, and the company will announce more information soon.
Customers can pre-order OOTP 19 for $35.99, a 10% discount off its full retail price. All pre-order purchases include access to the Gold Master version on March 19, three days ahead of the official launch on March 22.
OOTP 19 runs on PC/Mac/Linux and, like last year, it features the American League and National League logos, the World Series trophy, official logos and jerseys for all 30 MLB teams, over 150 Minor League Baseball league and team logos, and historical MLB logos.
OOTP creator Markus Heinsohn conducted an interview for the Out of the Park Developments blog which can be read here.
A look back at OOTP 18
2017 was a record-setting year for Out of the Park Developments, which boasted more than 120,000 players of OOTP 18 around the world. More than 3.5 million hours of the game were played on Steam, which equals 405 years. A record peak of 1,147 concurrent players was set on Nov. 9 on Steam, and South Korea is now number two in total sales, surpassing Canada.
The most-accomplished Achievement in OOTP 18 was a five-game team winning streak and the three rarest achievements were a player hitting 4 home runs in a game (accomplished by 0.4% of users), a pitcher tossing a perfect game (0.5%), and a hitter having 10 or more RBI in a game (0.6%).
Quotes from OOTP Developments executives
“After nearly 20 years of development, we’re still finding ways to make Out of the Park Baseball even better,” said lead developer, lifelong baseball fan, and Out of the Park Developments CEO Markus Heinsohn. “We can’t wait for our fans to see what we have in store this year.”
“Out of the Park Baseball is unique. Its high quality, delivered over two decades, has created generations of loyal fans who recognize it as the gold standard of sports strategy games,” said Out of the Park Developments CMO Richard Grisham. “Out of the Park Baseball 19 is our best version yet, purpose-built for those fans. We couldn’t be more excited for it.”
About Out of the Park Developments
Out of the Park Developments is the developer of the OOTP and MLB Manager series of baseball management simulations, Franchise Hockey Manager, and Beyond the Sideline Football. German-based OOTP Developments was founded by Markus Heinsohn and Andreas Raht in 1999. Further information on the company and its games is available from the OOTP Developments website,http://www.ootpdevelopments.com
About MLB.com
Established in June 2000 following a unanimous vote by the 30 Major League Baseball club owners to centralize all of Baseball’s Internet operations, MLB Advanced Media LP (MLBAM) is the interactive media and internet company of Major League Baseball. MLBAM manages the official league site, MLB.com,and each of the 30 individual Club sites to create the Major League Baseball resource on the Internet. MLB.com offers fans baseball information and interactivity across computers and mobile devices, including up-to-date statistics, game previews and summaries, extensive historical information, online ticket sales, baseball merchandise, authenticated memorabilia and collectibles, fantasy games, live full-game video streaming and in-progress and on-demand highlights, live and archived audio broadcasts, Gameday pitch-by-pitch application, Statcast tracking technology, around-the-clock hosted and specialty video programming, complete blogging capabilities, console and mobile video games and the award-winning At Bat and Ballpark mobile applications.
Major League Baseball Players Association
The Major League Baseball Players Association is the collective bargaining representative for all professional baseball players of the thirty Major League baseball teams and serves as the exclusive group licensing agent for commercial and licensing activities involving active Major League baseball players. On behalf of its members, it operates the Players Choice licensing program and Players Choice Awards, which benefit the needy through the Major League Baseball Players Trust, a charitable foundation established and run entirely by Major League baseball players.
