Backyard Sports chief announces completion of retro series, discusses animated special packaging production and more

During a panel at New York Comic Con, Playground Productions not only reviewed “ The beloved backyard exercise video game, But the company also announced that it will complete the Backyard Sports retro series in mid-November, including Backyard Basketball '01 and Backyard Hockey '02, Backyard Baseball '97 will have high scores and events, and shared some new details about the series' upcoming animated special.

To learn more, IGN had the chance to speak with Playground Productions CEO Lindsay Barnett and Chief Product Officer Chris Waters about the past and future of the fan-favorite franchise, starting with what makes these games so special.

“We think it works because these games are always character-first, comedy-driven, and accessible,” Waters said. “These games aren't 'Hey, let's do the most realistic simulation possible,' but 'Let's recreate the feeling of going out and picking up a bat and ball, grabbing your friends next to you, whether they're athletic or not, and then going out and playing baseball and seeing what crazy things happen.'” This madness transcends time and technology. ”

Backyard Sports' retro library will be completed by mid-November, and new features will be available in Backyard Baseball '97

Whether you're new to the series or returning, you'll be happy to know that the Backyard Sports retro library will be complete when Backyard Hockey '01 and Backyard Hockey '02 are released on Steam in mid-November. Oh, and did we mention both are free to download and keep?

These games, along with Baseball '97, Baseball '01, Football '99, and Soccer '98, will also be part of the Backyard Sports Retro Bundle, priced at $36. Save 40% by purchasing all the games individually. Players can even “complete bundles” and simply buy the games you don't already own at a cheaper price.

Additionally, Backyard Soccer '98 and Backyard Basketball '01 mobile versions will be free on iOS and Android when the Steam Retro Bundle goes live later next month.

Speaking of mobile devices, Backyard Baseball '97 has partnered with Lucra to introduce new gamification features. Fans can now compete against each other in week-long and month-long events such as home run contests or most strikeouts.

Global high scores will be tracked in real time, new features will be available to fans for free, and there may even be a chance to win 2025 World Series tickets, Pablo Sanchez trading cards, and more. The feature will launch on iOS, and players will need to opt in and provide some personal information.

“What we want to do is keep the community growing and allow players to interact with each other,” Waters said of the new gamification features. “Again, we can't make these games without the source code, but by adding a tournament layer to them we can create a backdoor co-op mode.”

Interestingly, Playground Productions did not obtain the source code for most of the games after acquiring the rights, so the team had to crack old CD-ROMs and rebuild the games themselves.

“We thought these games were dead,” Barrett told us. “It's an incredible feat that Mega Cat Studios was able to do this, reverse engineer and hack the CD-ROM to make it playable. However, what we didn't know was that we were able to make the game even better, we were able to remove some of the bugs that existed in the original game, add leaderboards and competitions, and make them playable on systems that didn't even exist at the time, like the Nintendo Switch.”

The future of backyard sports includes a just-completed animated special

Then we turned the conversation to the future. While the team isn't ready to reveal any information about future games, they did confirm that Backyard Sports has officially completed production on a new animated special based on the brand's beloved IP and characters.

The special is produced by Lighthouse Studios, known for Bob's Burgers and Rick and Morty, and its “all-star cast” will be announced in early November. As for when you can expect to see it, the special will be released at Dave & Buster's in early 2026 and direct-to-consumer soon after.

“What’s special about backyard sports is the characters,” Waters said. “The opportunity to bring your favorite characters to life in a new way was a no-brainer for us because we've said this is a multi-platform series and we want to expand beyond the games. We all love the beauty of the animations in the games and the love and care they put into them, which makes you like and understand the characters and makes you want to choose a character. So, we're really honored to be able to expand this into more animations.

“This special is our way of establishing the tone, establishing the look, and really laying down our flag and saying, 'Backyard' is a multi-platform series. You're going to be able to experience it in a lot of different ways. I can't wait to find out more, but I can assure you that with my 20 years in animation, we've done our best to make something that captures the tone, the magic and the comedy of this world.”

With Backyard Sports, the team hopes these games and multimedia projects will showcase the joy of sports and allow new generations to enjoy it with the people they grew up with.

“Streamers are picking up these games, but people aren't watching them because they're great video game players,” Waters said. “They're watching these movies because they're bringing these kids to life through their own lens. It reminds you of what it was like to pick up a glove and a bat and a ball and play baseball for the first time, and you're just playing for fun. I think that's a big reason why this is really a timeless and classic series.”

“It’s about celebrating all the different characters in your backyard and all their strengths and maybe even some weaknesses,” Barnett added. “You laugh together, you go through everything together. You play together, you may win, you may lose, but you always have fun doing it. Unfortunately, that's not the case anymore in a lot of sports, not just sports video games, but sports in general.”

Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @Adambankhurst, Instagram, and Tik Tok, and listen to his show, Talk about Disney magic.