Founded in 2001, San Diego Studio are the first-party studio responsible for the MLB: The Show series. This annualized baseball IP, which began in 2006 for PS2 and PSP, is the only series they now work on. As a result, 6 MLB games have shipped on PS5 since 2021, with all of them releasing in the same March/April window.
While SDS continue to exclusively work on the series and have provided the incremental changes expected out of all yearly sports IPs, the PS5 generation has significantly transformed the business side. Firstly, despite SDS being a PS Studio, MLB have forced PlayStation to develop an Xbox port since MLB 21 and a Nintendo port since MLB 22, or they would lose the license.
Xbox also initially went around Sony and secured a deal with MLB to have the game launch day 1 into Game Pass. However, while these enforced changes to the IP's business model could've easily led to major disruptions, they instead provided some very surprising answers.
SDS are now 6 games into their enforced multiplatform pivot, but nothing has materially changed. This alone suggests coming to Xbox and Nintendo platforms didn't siphon enough players away from PS4/PS5 to the point where continuing with the IP was unviable. MLB was even the first yearly sports IP to drop last-gen consoles, which suggests that Sony weren't worried that PS4 owners would move to a different platform ecosystem.
Xbox also didn't renew the Game Pass contract past MLB 24, suggesting its ability to move PS5 owners to the Xbox subscription didn't happen in sufficient numbers for Microsoft to care. This was objectively a huge win for Sony, as it proved that being 'free in Game Pass' just wasn't good enough for players to migrate to another platform ecosystem.
Regarding SDS developing non-MLB titles, they haven't done so as the lead developer since 2016's Kill Strain on PS4. It's therefore unlikely that SDS are working on something new, especially considering rising development costs and other external economic factors.
Consequently, SDS will likely just continue with MLB during the PS5 era, with the next big change likely being a move from Switch to Switch 2 for MLB 27. SDS also recently launched a standalone F2P mobile version worth keeping an eye on, but it won't impact their PS5 plans.
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