| Backyard Sports | |
| Publisher: |
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| 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.
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.
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]
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]
| Title | Released | Sport | Developer | Publisher | Platforms | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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]