MLB RIVALS and Out of the Park Baseball 26 Interview: Com2Us’ Rich Grisham Talks Accessibility, Community, and Growth

MLB RIVALS and Out of the Park Baseball 26 are planning to cover the bases (sorry) this year by letting players swing for the fences (still sorry) with direct-control pitching and embracing one’s inner manager, respectively.

Gamers Heroes recently asked Com2Us’ Rich Grisham questions around the accessibility, community, and growth behind MLB RIVALS and Out of the Park Baseball 26 – learn more with our interview.

MLB RIVALS and Out of the Park Baseball 26 Interview: Com2Us’ Rich Grisham Talks Accessibility, Community, and Growth

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Gamers Heroes

As someone who’s primarily a PC gamer, I greatly appreciate how MLB RIVALS features the latest rosters and schedules! What has it been like working with each team to ensure this authenticity?

Rich Grisham

It’s been a fascinating and rewarding journey so far! There is nothing like seeing a brand-new experience come together, and MLB Rivals is a real next-generation title. Then, adding a PC version that is cross-play with mobile really takes it to a new level. The incredible visuals, the beautiful animations, the intense competitions, the awesome card collection, to name just a few things I love about it, have really created an immersive experience for people across the globe.

Gamers Heroes

I like how MLB RIVALS has been designed for players to enjoy whenever and wherever you want with easy accessibility (Quick Play, Highlight Play, and Full Play) – can you tell us more about what went into this design?

Rich Grisham

Our team is really good about ensuring a fun experience for every kind of player. We know that today’s MLB Rivals players are incredibly smart and they know what they like, and that means variety. We want to provide people with deep gameplay experiences, yet at the same time deliver fun that can be had in “short bursts” as well as longer sessions. Sometimes people want to play on their own, other times they want to battle friends and rivals around the world. We work very hard to give players a lot of different options to play how they prefer to play – and we continuously add more to the mix to keep things new and fresh.

Gamers Heroes

One of the things I saw about MLB RIVALS was that it features improved graphics – and I like what I’m seeing! What can you tell us about how things have been refined?

Rich Grisham

As a company that has been making MLB games for decades, we have learned an extraordinary amount of technical and gameplay knowledge. That kind of experience is invaluable, and really sets us up to deliver MLB Rivals with best-in-class visuals, fantastic sound, and true next-generation gameplay. Experience combined with passion equals high quality, and we are excited that so many people around the world are discovering that every day.

Gamers Heroes

I saw that MLB RIVALS also has a mobile version on both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store; how are you achieving parity between the PC version and mobile versions of the title?

Rich Grisham

One of our goals for years was to enable our fans to experience high-quality MLB gameplay wherever they are – and on a host of different devices and platforms. That goal has now been realized, with Rivals available on PC and on mobile. Even better, the versions are completely cross-play and equal in all features and content. So you can spend some time with your team on your big, beautiful PC and laptop monitor, and then keep the good times rolling when you’re out and about on your mobile device. We spend a lot of time and effort making sure that both PC and mobile are completely compatible, and our fans are very happy about that!

Gamers Heroes

I love how MLB RIVALS is involving the community with platforms like the Reddit subreddit and YouTube with Subscriber Milestones and livestreams with JayFish – what has it been like working with the community on this release?

Rich Grisham

Our community is the lifeblood of our game, and we do everything we can to encourage community engagement with each other. That means a LOT of work, of course, because there are so many places on the internet where our fans like to gather. Reddit, Youtube, Twitch, Discord, and many other platforms are all very important to allow us to all talk to each other. Every successful game needs a strong, involved community and we understand that deeply. The community also gives us a lot of great ideas, and some of those ideas make their way back into the game. 

Gamers Heroes

What are some of the more MVP thing you have seen throughout the highlights of MLB RIVALS? Love to hear more about the diehard players out there!

Rich Grisham

One of my favorite parts of being part of this team is seeing how different people enjoy Rivals, and watching them on Youtube and Twitch. When a fan gets a special card they’ve been chasing, or a fan comes out on top in a game against his friend, or when someone reacts to one of their favorite players now being in the game – these are all moments that are special and help drive us to make the game better every single day.

Gamers Heroes

How are you looking to continue to grow MLB RIVALS throughout the season and beyond?

Rich Grisham

We have got some INCREDIBLE new features coming this season – even in just the next few months – that our fans are going to absolutely love! I wish I could tell you what they are now, but they will be rolled out over the spring and summer and we will be very excited to tell everyone all the details about them when we can.

Gamers Heroes

Talking about Out of the Park Baseball 26, the release of that title is coming up fast! We saw that it’s got a number of upgrades – both big and small – in the mix. What are you most proud of?

Rich Grisham

Thank you for asking about Out of the Park Baseball 26! We are so excited for the new year – lots of cool new features and legends and ways to play. Our biggest new feature is the first-ever inclusion of the World Baseball Classic! We have always wanted to have it in the game, and now we do, which is very exciting for all of our fans. I am also really, really excited for the debut of a whole host of new MLB legends in our Perfect Team competitive mode – the kinds of names that almost all baseball fans know and love. It’s going to be an amazing year of Out of the Park!

Gamers Heroes

We also saw that Out of the Park Baseball 26 will feature new content all season, including all new programs, missions, and competitions. What are you looking forward to the most?

Rich Grisham

There is so much good stuff coming for OOTP this year, it’s so hard to pick one thing! We have a whole new season of content with the Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum, a slew of new licensed Legend players, a whole new League tier and promotion/relegation system, new ways to earn and experience rewards, and some really cool under-the-hood updates that will make this year’s game the best yet. We are going to have an amazing season with our fans!

Out of the Park Baseball 26 will come out on March 14 – one can get a headstart on things by wishlisting the title for the PC via Steam and via the official website (which features a 10% discount!).

Meanwhile, MLB Rivals is available for the PC via Steam.

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