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Backyard Sports
Series logo as of 2024
Genre(s)Sports
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)
Platform(s)Windows, Mac, PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, Wii, Xbox 360, iOS, Android
First releaseBackyard Baseball
October 10, 1997
Latest releaseBackyard Soccer '98[a]
November 27, 2024

Backyard Sports (originally branded as Junior Sports)[1][2] is a video game series released for consoles, computers, and mobile devices created by Humongous Entertainment. The series is best known for starring a diverse cast of fictional children as well as child versions of famous professional sports athletes, 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 was previously licensed by the five major professional American sports leagues: Major League Baseball (MLB), Major League Soccer (MLS), the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Hockey League (NHL), as well as their affiliated players associations. The series has changed ownership and developers several times since Humongous's 2005 closure; it is currently owned by a dedicated company called Backyard Sports LLC, which bought the series' rights in 2021. Playground Productions is the series' current publisher, having rebooted the series in 2024.

The series includes five sub-series based on different team sports—Backyard Baseball, Backyard Soccer (association football), Backyard Football (American football), Backyard Basketball, and Backyard Hockey (ice hockey)—as well as the single game non-team sport-based 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 Entertainment

The series began in late 1997 when Humongous Entertainment, owned by GT Interactive, created the first game in the franchise: Backyard Baseball.[3] Later, GT Interactive was purchased by Infogrames and was renamed as Infogrames, Inc.[4] 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. In 2003, Infogrames, Inc. was renamed as Atari, Inc.

Under Humongous, Inc.

In August 2005, Atari, Inc. sold Humongous Entertainment to their majority parent Infogrames Entertainment SA for shares worth US$10.3 million. After the sale, Infogrames shuttered Humongous Entertainment and secured the studio's assets to Humongous, Inc., a holding company formed solely for this purpose.[5] With this point, newer Backyard Sports titles were developed by other studios for consoles and computers, with Atari, Inc. continuing to hold publishing rights to the series under license from Humongous, Inc. In March 2008, Infogrames purchased the remaining shares of Atari, Inc. that they didn't own and renamed itself to Atari SA the following year.[6][7] The two Atari businesses continued to release entries in the series within this time.[8]

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.[9]

In February 2014, Day6 Sports Group acquired the franchise from Epic Gear.[10] 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.[11] Aside from that, no other titles were released in the franchise.

In 2016, Day6 Sports Group was acquired by a European investment group.[12] The company later went out of business in 2020.[13]

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,[14][1][2] 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)[15][16] [17] of which the franchise trademarks are held under Backyard Sports LLC.[18][19]

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.[15][16][13]

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.[20] 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.[20][17]

The first entry released under Playground Productions and developer Mega Cat Studios, a remaster of the original Backyard Baseball entitled as Backyard Baseball '97, was released on October 10, 2024,[21][22] followed by a remaster of Backyard Soccer entitled as Backyard Soccer '98 on November 27, 2024.[23][24] Remasters of Backyard Football, Backyard Baseball 2001, Backyard Basketball, and Backyard Hockey are also planned.[25]

On November 19, 2024, Playground Productions announced that they are working to bring the remasters to mobile devices and are working with Mega Cat Studios on a new original Backyard Sports title.[23][24]

Games in the series

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
Backyard Football October 28, 1999 American football
Backyard Baseball 2001 June 6, 2000 Baseball
Backyard Soccer MLS Edition October 3, 2000 Association football Infogrames
Backyard Football 2002 September 19, 2001 American football
Backyard Soccer
(Junior Sports Football for PAL)		 September 28, 2001 (US)
November 3, 2001 (PAL)		 Association football Runecraft 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 Microsoft Windows, Macintosh
Backyard Baseball March 31, 2003 Baseball GameCube
Backyard Football 2004 September 4, 2003 American football Atari Microsoft Windows
Backyard Basketball 2004 September 4, 2003 Basketball
Backyard Hockey October 9, 2003 Ice hockey Mistic Software Game Boy Advance
Backyard Basketball NBA
(Junior Sports Basketball for PAL)		 October 21, 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 PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows
Backyard Hockey 2005 September 21, 2004 Ice hockey 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 Torus Games Game Boy Advance
Backyard Sports: NBA 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
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 FarSight Studios 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 American football
Backyard Sports: Baseball 2015 February 6, 2015 Baseball Day 6 Sports Group Fingerprint Network iOS, Android
Backyard Sports: NBA Basketball 2015 Basketball
Backyard Baseball '97[a] October 10, 2024 Baseball Mega Cat Studios Playground Productions Microsoft Windows
Backyard Soccer '98[a] November 27, 2024 Association football
Backyard Football '99[a] TBA American football
Backyard Baseball '01[a] TBA Baseball
Backyard Basketball '01[a] TBA Basketball
Backyard Hockey '02[a] TBA Ice hockey

Other media

In 2002, a live-action animated hour-long special based on the Backyard Football games entitled Backyard Basics aired on CBS on November 16.[26]

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.[27] No news about the film has been revealed since.

On November 19, 2024, along with the announcement of a new Backyard Sports title, Playground Productions revealed the development of an animated project based on the franchise, which is planned to release in 2025.[24]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Remaster of an older game derived from a hacked CD-ROM copy of the game, as the original games' source codes are lost.[21]

References

  1. ^ a b Schmidt, Eugene (April 24, 2019). "Humongous Entertainment coming to consoles". Barrelrolled. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Frech, Ricky (April 24, 2019). "Humongous Entertainment is Bringing Their Collection of 90s Classics to Consoles". DualShockers. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  3. ^ "COMPANY NEWS;GT INTERACTIVE ACQUIRES HUMONGOUS ENTERTAINMENT (Published 1996)". The New York Times. 1996-07-11. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  4. ^ "History of Infogrames Entertainment S.A." Fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  5. ^ "Atari Sells Humongous to Infogrames for $10.3 Million". Business Week. August 28, 2005. Archived from the original on September 23, 2018. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  6. ^ Infogrames Entertainment S.A. and Atari, Inc. Announce Agreement to Merge: Financial News Yahoo! Finance Archived May 27, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ "Atari GB". Corporate.infogrames.com. October 9, 2008. Archived from the original on February 19, 2009. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  8. ^ "Infogrames Entertainment Fiscal Year 2008/2009 Earnings" (PDF). Infogrames. May 29, 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 3, 2023. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  9. ^ "The Evergreen Group Has Agreed to Acquire Backyard Sports Video Game Franchise". Businesswire.com. 24 July 2013.
  10. ^ "NBA, Day 6 to Reboot Backyard Sports | License Global". www.licenseglobal.com. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  11. ^ Srisavasdi, Greg (2014-12-13). "Stephen Curry To Help Re-Launch Backyard Sports Franchise". Deepest Dream. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  12. ^ Kram, Zach (2017-10-10). "How 'Backyard Baseball' Became a Cult Classic". The Ringer. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  13. ^ a b Yarwood, Jack (February 2, 2024). "The NFL's Jason Kelce Is Interested In Reviving Backyard Sports". Time Extension. Retrieved February 2, 2024.
  14. ^ Humongous [@HumongousEnt] (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.]" (Tweet). Retrieved May 17, 2019 – via Twitter.
  15. ^ a b Lyles, Taylor (February 1, 2024). "NFL Star Jason Kelce Wants to Bring Back Backyard Football and Baseball". IGN. Retrieved February 2, 2024.
  16. ^ a b Mercante, Alyssa (February 1, 2024). "NFL's Kelce Brothers Want To Bring Back Your Fave Childhood Game". Kotaku. Retrieved February 2, 2024.
  17. ^ a b Whyte, Alexandra (August 21, 2024). "Playground to revive '90s gaming franchise Backyard Sports". Kidscreen. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  18. ^ "Trademark Status & Document Retrieval Video Game". United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  19. ^ "Trademark Status & Document Retrieval Merchandise". United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  20. ^ a b Otterson, Joe (August 20, 2024). "'Backyard Sports' Relaunching With New Video Games, TV Series, Films (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
  21. ^ a b Romano, Sal (September 25, 2024). "Backyard Baseball '97 announced for PC". Gematsu. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  22. ^ Silberling, Amanda (September 25, 2024). "Backyard Baseball '97 is back, with a re-release coming soon on Steam". TechCrunch. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
  23. ^ a b "Next-Gen 'Backyard Sports' Game in the Works". Variety. November 19, 2024. Retrieved November 19, 2024.
  24. ^ a b c Dierberger, Tom (November 19, 2024). "'Backyard Sports' Franchise Currently Developing First Next-Generation Video Game". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved November 19, 2024.
  25. ^ Moore, Logan (2024-10-10). "Backyard Football, Basketball, and Soccer Remasters "Coming Soon" to PC". ComicBook.com. Retrieved 2024-10-10.
  26. ^ Ball, Ryan (2002-11-12). "NFL Films gets animated". Retrieved 2024-11-20.
  27. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (March 30, 2016). "'Backyard Sports' Video Game In Movie Deal With Cross Creek & Crystal City". Deadline.
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