RBI Baseball 18 Small Image

It’s a Whole New Ballgame – R.B.I. Baseball 18 Releases Today on Xbox One

Opening Day is around the corner for your favorite MLB teams and players. Today, however, represents an early Opening Day as your season officially opens with our release of R.B.I. Baseball 18. With more gameplay modes, a brand-new look, and the same easy-to-play fun, we think R.B.I. Baseball 18 takes a huge leap forward in our most significant update since the franchise was revived in 2014.

One of the largest undertakings for our internal dev team was the creation of an all-new Franchise Mode. It’s the most requested feature from your feedback on previous versions of the game, so we’re excited to give you complete control of your favorite MLB team by making trades, signing free agents, calling up rookies. Franchise Mode also introduces our new player progression system, allowing players to develop, improve and ultimately retire across 10 seasons.

RBI Baseball 18 Screenshot

We’ve also built injuries into Franchise mode, with multiple options, so you can play your way. “Off” includes no injuries of any kind, “Minor Only” includes injuries of 3-5 days, “Moderate” includes some longer injuries, up to a month, and “Realistic” includes a full variety of injuries and their chances to occur. A pitcher might suffer an unexpected arm injury and be lost for the season, so just like a real-life GM, having Plan B will be a must.

R.B.I. 18 also expands the roster update feature by allowing you to import a roster update into an already-in-progress Franchise. With this, you’ll be able to keep your team up-to-date without starting over and losing any season-long progress your franchise has made! For example, if a new prospect is called up during the 2018 MLB season, you may choose to import new players only or completely overwrite the roster – undoing all fictional trades and free agent additions but making your Franchise roster match the real-life MLB team roster.

RBI Baseball 18 Screenshot

Another brand-new feature is Home Run Derby Mode. Challenge a friend in local head-to-head or the CPU in the ultimate slugfest. We’ve built this mode based on the timed competition within the bracket format of the real-life Home Run Derby. You can see how your skills stack up against your friends and the rest of the world on the global Derby leaderboard.

Next, let’s dive into the visual improvements. The first thing you’ll notice when you boot up the game is that we’ve designed a more dynamic UI with more modern usability than previous editions and we’ve added the ability to change the UI theme based on your designated favorite MLB team. I’m an Orioles fan and I can’t get enough of seeing my favorite players and that classic black and orange color scheme! You can also get into the groove while toggling through the menus with our soundtrack that includes fun songs from more than a dozen popular recording artists.

RBI Baseball 18 Screenshot

You will discover even more complex visual improvements while playing a game. Our MLB player models are more authentic than ever before with more than 300 digital likenesses, hundreds of new animations, including unique player-specific animations, and customized player gear such as wristbands, compression sleeves, and stirrups (yes, our cover athlete Francisco Lindor rocks his stirrups!). We’ve also built the ballpark environments with better lighting, textures, a revamped 3-D crowd system and camera angles that bring the action closer to you while playing!

Last, but not least, we’ve added more than 100 MLB legends into our free agent pool. A dream franchise is no longer just a dream. You can make it a reality by adding any of these legends to a franchise and working toward that World Series Championship. Players like Ted Williams, Ernie Banks, Hoyt Wilhelm, Juan Marichal, Brooks Robinson, Nolan Ryan, and many, many more.

We hope you enjoy Opening Day and checking out the new features, functionalities and hidden gems we’ve built into R.B.I. Baseball 18. For more information on R.B.I. Baseball 18, visit rbigame.com or follow @RBIGAME on FacebookTwitter, and Instagram.