'Backyard Sports' Set to Return; Video Game in Development for Next-Gen Consoles

Having previously announced a full relaunch of the Backyard Sports franchise earlier this year, Playground Productions has provided some details about what the new title will consist of.

In a statement released on Wednesday (h/t Jennifer Maas of Variety), the game will be made available for next-gen consoles featuring all of the beloved characters from the original series and updated features for this era of gamers:

"The brand new game will feature all the original characters alongside a few new additions as well as embrace the comedy, diversity, accessibility and fun that made the original titles timeless classics. Like the retro titles, the next-gen game can be used as a tool to teach kids sports rules and strategies, but it will also have difficulty levels that are challenging for the original fan base."

A release date for the game is not yet known.

Playground Productions dropped a reveal trailer in August for the relaunched series, while teasing a new baseball game featuring Backyard Sports icons like Pablo Sanchez, Stephanie Morgan and Kiesha Phillips.

A remastered version of Backyard Baseball '97 was released on Steam on Oct. 10. An upgraded version of Backyard Soccer '98 is set to be released on Nov. 27.

Other remastered titles in the works include Backyard Football '99, Backyard Basketball '01, Backyard Baseball '01 and Backyard Hockey '02, but none of those games has a confirmed release date at this point.

The new next-gen version of Backyard Sports will be overseen by Playground Productions founder and CEO Lindsay Barnett and chief product officer Chris Waters, with Mega Cat Studios developing the game.

Maas noted the production company is also exploring the possibility of developing a television series or film adaptation set in the world of Backyard Sports.

The Backyard franchise debuted in 1997 with a baseball game released for Windows and Mac OS. The game's popularity launched an entire franchise that expanded to include football, basketball, soccer, hockey and skateboarding games.

Before the remastered games dropped this year, the last new release in the franchise was in 2015 when Baseball and Basketball were made available for iOS and Android.