OOTP 16 Release Date Announced – March 23rd!
The first installment in the Road to Release series means the next version of OOTP is right around the corner, so here’s the news you’ve been waiting for: OOTP 16 will be released on March 20 to all pre-order customers! It will be available worldwide on March 23.
If you haven’t pre-ordered yet, you have until March 19 to do so. You’ll not only get OOTP 16 three days before everyone else, but you’ll receive a free Steam key too! *
Click here to Pre-Order OOTP 16 for PC Windows and Mac OS X
If you’d like to wait for OOTP 16 to arrive on Steam, you can add it to your wishlist today at the OOTP 16 Coming Soon page on Steam.
OOTP 16 The Road to Release #1: Official MLB.com Licensing
By Jeff Fox
It’s spring once again. Pitchers and catchers are in full swing. The new baseball season is rapidly approaching. And adding to the excitement is the new version of OOTP. But your friendly neighborhood OOTP may just look a little different this year, and there’s a major reason why. For this installment of the 2015 Road to Release, we’ll take a look at one of the most exciting developments of this new version: The official MLB.com license!
MLB.com licensing has arrived
Unless you’ve been somewhere without Internet access for a while, you’re probably used to the news that OOTP now has an official MLB.com license.
So why is this something to be excited about?
You’ll have all 30 major league teams and their logos at the ready as soon as you start your game! You’ll even have league and team logos for all the game’s minor leagues, as well as historical MLB logos!
Out of the Box
For those of us who love nothing more than installing our new version of the game, packed with tons of new features (which you’ll get to read more about in subsequent RTR articles this month), and firing up a new MLB game using 2015 Opening Day rosters, the inclusion of officially licensed artwork will be a huge bonus this year.
As a fan of the current MLB World Champion San Francisco Giants, I was personally excited to load the new MLB game and jump right to the Giants team pages. Seeing the official team artwork and colors immediately jump out was a real joy and really brought the immersion factor of entering the Giants world full circle. (The newly added backgrounds feature lets you choose artwork that is displayed behind your team’s pages.)
But it goes beyond names, logos and backgrounds. OOTP also includes logos on jerseys and ball caps for over 200 MLB and MiLB teams.
Immersion Factors of Historic Proportions
But let’s not try to contain our excitement because in addition to all modern MLB logos and facegen uniforms, OOTP also includes historical logos as well. Why is this so cool?
Say I want to replay the Giants’ 1972 season. In the past, when I’d begin my new game, all the teams and player names would be present, but OOTP would auto generate the team logos and uniforms. It’s sometimes kind of a bummer to not have the real Giants logos and colors, but not anymore.
With OOTP 16, when you create your historical league, you get all the historical logos and artwork as well! How cool is that?
The Best Roster Set Ever!
We talk about the MLB Roster set every year, and with good reason. Each year the game ships with the best roster set ever assembled and OOTP 16 is no exception to this.
The 2015 roster set includes updated ratings based on a combination of PECOTA and detailed research. What is this and why is this so cool?
PECOTA stands for Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm. It’s a sabermetric system used for forecasting the performance of Major League Baseball players. PECOTA was invented by Baseball Prospectus to forecast player performance, mainly from a fantasy perspective. It is now widely regarded as the most accurate player projection system available.
Think about how this can help you scout, organize, and execute a plan for your next MLB season. The player ratings extend down to the minors as well with most players on team 30-40 man rosters having been researched and rated as well. It’s the deepest rated roster set yet!
OOTP 16 also includes the complete 2015 MLB first-year player draft class! Draft the next superstars for your favorite franchise and watch them develop into All-Stars, players with respectable careers, or those who never reach their potential. The roster set also contains real players for the 2016 and 2017 draft classes as well, so you’ll be able to also scout and draft real players coming up over the next few years.
With meticulous care paid to all aspects of the set, including lineups, salaries, history and ratings, OOTP 16 includes the very best roster set yet!
Minor League Baseball Too
In addition to official MLB.com licensing, OOTP 16 has officially licensed content from Minor League Baseball, so the excitement continues as you deep dive into your MLB clubs’ Minor League teams.
All 30 MLB Stadiums in 3D
As if all of the above was not possibly enough, OOTP will expand on the introduction of 3D support in OOTP 15 by adding 3D versions of all 30 MLB ballparks, which were created by a 3D artist over hundreds of hours of work. Now you can enjoy playing out your games with multi-angle views of your favorite MLB ballparks.
OOTP 16 puts a host of new tools, a redesigned and improved user interface, and countless functional improvements all under your control so you can mold and shape your mega-million-dollar MLB franchise or small market independent start-up to to its maximum potential. The game is truly yours for the taking, so play it your way!
Out of the Park Developments: Turning Fans Into GMs! Pre-order your copy now and download it on March 20th, 2015, three days prior the official release on March 23rd! You’ll also receive a free Steam key once the game is released on Steam!
The OOTP Developments Team
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