Backyard Sports Explained

Backyard Sports
Publisher:
Genre:Sports
Platforms:Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, Wii, Xbox 360, iOS, Android
First Release Version:Backyard Baseball
First Release Date:1997
Latest Release Version:Backyard Sports: Baseball 2015 and Backyard Sports: Basketball 2015
Latest Release Date:2015

Backyard Sports (originally branded as Junior Sports) is a video game series released for consoles, computers, and mobile devices. The series is best known for starring kid-sized versions of popular professional sports stars, such as Albert Pujols, Paul Pierce, Barry Bonds, Tim Duncan, Clint Mathis, Kevin Garnett, Tom Brady, David Ortiz, Joe Thornton, and Andy Macdonald. The Backyard Sports series is licensed by the major professional U.S. sports leagues: Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), the National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Soccer (MLS).

The series includes Backyard Baseball, Backyard Basketball, Backyard Football (American football), Backyard Soccer (association football), Backyard Hockey (ice hockey), and Backyard Skateboarding. In the games, players form a team consisting of Backyard Kids and pro players, which they take through a "Backyard League" season, attempting to become the champions of their chosen sport. Players can create their own custom characters, starting in Backyard Football (1999). An additional aspect of the games is the use of Power-Ups, allowing players to gain "Super-abilities". For instance, "Super-Dunk" allows a basketball player to make a dunk from nearly anywhere on the court, "Leap Frog" allows a football player to jump over the entire defensive line, and "Ice Cream Truck" causes the other team to be distracted for a brief period.

History

Under Humongous

The series began in late 1997 when Humongous Entertainment, owned by GT Interactive, created the first game in the franchise: Backyard Baseball.[1] Later, GT Interactive was purchased by Infogrames.[2] Infogrames allowed Humongous Entertainment to expand the series, and Humongous later developed more titles such as Backyard Soccer, Backyard Football, Backyard Basketball, Backyard Hockey, and Backyard Skateboarding. Following the buyout by Infogrames, these titles from the Backyard series were released for game consoles, including the GameCube, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and Wii. Infogrames in North America eventually changed its name to Atari Interactive.

Post-sale and attempted relaunches

In July 2013, private equity firm The Evergreen Group bought the Backyard Sports franchise during the Atari bankruptcy proceedings for its portfolio company, Epic Gear LLC.[3]

In February 2014, Day6 Sports Group acquired the franchise from Epic Gear.[4] The company announced to relaunch the franchise in December with Backyard Sports NBA Basketball for smartphones and tablets, with Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry as the cover athlete.[5] Aside from that, no other titles were released in the franchise.

In 2016, Day6 Sports Group was acquired by a European investment group.[6] The company later went out of business in 2020.

In April 2019, Humongous's social media pages tweeted an image of the original Junior Sports logo, hinting at a possible re-release of the original games and/or the developer having re-secured the rights to the series proper,[7] [8] [9] but a week prior, Humongous replied to a Twitter post saying that they didn't own the rights to the franchise.

After Day6's closure in 2020, the franchise was purchased by Ari Pinchot and Stuart Avi Savitsky via Backyard Sports LLC in 2021. Backyard Sports LLC is represented by United Talent Agency (UTA)[10] [11] of which the franchise trademarks are held under Backyard Sports LLC.[12] [13]

The franchise regained media attention in 2024, when NFL player Jason Kelce, in an episode of his and his brother Travis's podcast New Heights, reminisced about playing Backyard Football and Backyard Baseball, and stated his desire to purchase the rights to the brand to develop a new game in the series.[14] [15] [16]

Full brand relaunch

On August 20, 2024, it was announced that Playground Productions, led by Lindsay Barnett, would be relaunching the Backyard Sports brand alongside Pinchot and Savitsky. The brand would consist of new video games, a TV series, and films.[17] The announcement was accompanied by an animated trailer featuring several of the Backyard Kids in their original designs preparing to start a game of baseball.[17]

Games in the series

TitleReleasedSportDeveloperPublisherPlatforms
Backyard Baseball October 10, 1997 Baseball Humongous Entertainment Humongous Entertainment Microsoft Windows, Macintosh
Backyard Soccer
(Backyard Football in UK)
September 24, 1998
1999 (UK)
Association football Humongous Entertainment Humongous Entertainment Microsoft Windows, Macintosh
Backyard Football October 28, 1999 American football Humongous Entertainment Humongous Entertainment Microsoft Windows, Macintosh
Backyard Baseball 2001 June 6, 2000 Baseball Humongous Entertainment Humongous Entertainment Microsoft Windows, Macintosh
Backyard Soccer: MLS Edition October 3, 2000 Association football Humongous Entertainment Microsoft Windows, Macintosh
Backyard Football 2002 September 19, 2001 American football Humongous Entertainment Microsoft Windows, Macintosh
Backyard Soccer
(Junior Sports Football for PAL)
September 28, 2001 (US)
November 3, 2001 (PAL)
Association football PlayStation
Backyard Basketball October 30, 2001 Basketball Humongous Entertainment Microsoft Windows, Macintosh
Backyard Baseball (GBA)
Backyard Baseball 2003 (PC, Mac)
May 30, 2002 (GBA)
June 7, 2002 (PC)
Baseball Game Brains (GBA)
Humongous Entertainment (PC, Mac)
Game Boy Advance, Microsoft Windows, Macintosh
Backyard Football September 25, 2002 (GBA)
October 10, 2002 (GC)
American football Torus Games (GBA)
Left Field Productions / Humongous Entertainment (GC)
Game Boy Advance, GameCube
Backyard Hockey October 18, 2002 Ice hockey Humongous Entertainment Microsoft Windows
Backyard Soccer 2004 March 18, 2003 Association football Humongous Entertainment Microsoft Windows, Macintosh
Backyard Baseball March 31, 2003 Baseball Humongous Entertainment GameCube
Backyard Football 2004 September 4, 2003 American football Humongous Entertainment Microsoft Windows
Backyard Basketball 2004 September 4, 2003 Basketball Humongous Entertainment Microsoft Windows
Backyard Hockey October 9, 2003 Ice hockey Mistic Software Game Boy Advance
Backyard Basketball
(Junior Sports Basketball for PAL)
September 4, 2003 (US)
November 19, 2004 (PAL)
Basketball Humongous Entertainment PlayStation 2
Backyard Baseball (PS2)
Backyard Baseball 2005 (PC)
March 23, 2004 (PS2)
June 22, 2004 (PC)
Baseball Humongous Entertainment PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows
Backyard Hockey 2005 September 21, 2004 Ice hockey Humongous Entertainment Microsoft Windows
Backyard Basketball September 22, 2004 Basketball Mistic Software Game Boy Advance
Backyard Skateboarding September 27, 2004 Skateboarding Humongous Entertainment Microsoft Windows
Backyard Baseball 2006 March 16, 2005 Baseball Game Brains Game Boy Advance
Backyard Football 2006 September 20, 2005 (PC)
October 4, 2005 (PS2)
October 18, 2005 (GBA)
American football Humongous Entertainment (PC, PS2)
Torus Games (GBA)
Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance
Backyard Skateboarding: Game of the Year Edition (PC)
Backyard Skateboarding (GBA)
October 4, 2005 Skateboarding Humongous Entertainment (PC)
Full Fat (GBA)
Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Advance
Backyard Sports: Baseball 2007 June 12, 2006 (GBA)
September 5, 2006 (PS2)
September 11, 2006 (PC)
April 3, 2007 (GC)
Baseball Game Brains Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, GameCube
Backyard Sports: Football 2007 September 26, 2006 American football Game Boy Advance
Backyard Sports: Basketball 2007 November 14, 2006 (GBA)
February 13, 2007 (PS2)
February 20, 2007 (PC)
Basketball Mistic Software (GBA)
Game Brains (PS2, PC)
Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows
Backyard Basketball September 25, 2007 Basketball Mistic Software Nintendo DS
Backyard Hockey October 9, 2007 Ice hockey Mistic Software Nintendo DS
Backyard Football '08 (PS2, PC)
Backyard Football (Wii, NDS)
October 16, 2007 (PS2, Wii)
October 23, 2007 (PC, NDS)
American football FarSight Studios (PS2, PC, Wii)
Torus Games (NDS)
PlayStation 2, Wii, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS
Backyard Baseball '09 March 25, 2008 (PC, NDS)
June 10, 2008 (PS2, Wii)
Baseball FarSight Studios (PC, PS2, Wii)
Mistic Software (NDS)
Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Wii
Backyard Football '09 October 21, 2008 (PS2, NDS, Wii)
October 29, 2008 (PC)
American football FarSight Studios (PS2, Wii, PC)
Torus Games (NDS)
PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, Wii, Microsoft Windows
Backyard Baseball '10 March 26, 2009 (NDS)
March 27, 2009 (Wii)
April 28, 2009 (PS2)
Baseball Mistic Software (NDS)
FarSight Studios (Wii, PS2)
Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation 2
Backyard Football '10 October 20, 2009 American football Wii, PlayStation 2
Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers May 25, 2010 Baseball HB Studios (Wii, 360)
Powerhead Games (NDS)
Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, Wii
Backyard Sports: Rookie Rush October 20, 2010 Football HB Studios (Wii, 360)
Powerhead Games (NDS)
Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, Wii
Backyard Sports: Baseball 2015 February 6, 2015 Baseball Day 6 Sports Group Fingerprint Network iOS, Android
Backyard Sports: Basketball 2015 February 6, 2015 Basketball Day 6 Sports Group Fingerprint Network iOS, Android

Film

In 2016, Cross Creek Pictures and Crystal City Entertainment were reportedly in development of a film based on Backyard Sports with producers Brian Oliver and Ari Daniel Pinchot.[18]

Notes and References

  1. News: 1996-07-11. COMPANY NEWS;GT INTERACTIVE ACQUIRES HUMONGOUS ENTERTAINMENT (Published 1996). en-US. The New York Times. 2020-12-31. 0362-4331.
  2. Web site: History of Infogrames Entertainment S.A.. 2020-12-31. Fundinguniverse.com.
  3. Web site: The Evergreen Group Has Agreed to Acquire Backyard Sports Video Game Franchise. Businesswire.com. 24 July 2013.
  4. Web site: NBA, Day 6 to Reboot Backyard Sports License Global . 2024-02-26 . www.licenseglobal.com . en.
  5. Web site: Srisavasdi . Greg . 2014-12-13 . Stephen Curry To Help Re-Launch Backyard Sports Franchise . 2024-02-26 . Deepest Dream . en-US.
  6. Web site: Kram. Zach. 2017-10-10. How 'Backyard Baseball' Became a Cult Classic. 2020-12-31. The Ringer. en.
  7. Humongous. Humongous Entertainment. HumongousEnt. 1119371805787975681. April 19, 2019. [Image-only tweet; image shows a red exclamation point on a transparent background overlaid with the words "It's Junior Sports" in blue.]. May 17, 2019.
  8. Web site: Schmidt. Eugene. Humongous Entertainment coming to consoles. Barrelrolled. 2019-05-17 . 2019-04-24. mdy-all.
  9. Web site: Frech. Ricky. Humongous Entertainment is Bringing Their Collection of 90s Classics to Consoles. DualShockers. 2019-05-17. 2019-04-24. mdy-all.
  10. Web site: Lyles. Taylor. NFL Star Jason Kelce Wants to Bring Back Backyard Football and Baseball. IGN. February 2, 2024. February 1, 2024.
  11. Web site: Mercante . Alyssa . NFL's Kelce Brothers Want To Bring Back Your Fave Childhood Game . . February 2, 2024 . February 1, 2024.
  12. Web site: Trademark Status & Document Retrieval Video Game. United States Patent and Trademark Office. August 19, 2024.
  13. Web site: Trademark Status & Document Retrieval Merchandise. United States Patent and Trademark Office. August 19, 2024.
  14. Web site: Lyles. Taylor. NFL Star Jason Kelce Wants to Bring Back Backyard Football and Baseball. IGN. February 2, 2024. February 1, 2024.
  15. Web site: Mercante . Alyssa . NFL's Kelce Brothers Want To Bring Back Your Fave Childhood Game . . February 2, 2024 . February 1, 2024.
  16. Web site: Yarwood. Jack. The NFL's Jason Kelce Is Interested In Reviving Backyard Sports. Time Extension. February 2, 2024. February 2, 2024.
  17. Web site: Otterson. Joe. 'Backyard Sports' Relaunching With New Video Games, TV Series, Films (EXCLUSIVE). Variety. August 20, 2024. August 20, 2024.
  18. Web site: 'Backyard Sports' Video Game In Movie Deal With Cross Creek & Crystal City. Deadline. Fleming. Mike Jr.. March 30, 2016.