Latest news with #BackyardSports
Reuters
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Reuters
Lucra and Playground Productions Partner to Launch Online Tournaments for Backyard Sports Players Across the U.S.
NEW YORK, NY, July 21, 2025 (EZ Newswire) -- Lucra, opens new tab, the leading social competition platform, today announced a partnership with childrenʼs and family entertainment company Playground Productions, opens new tab, to integrate its white-label gamification software into the iconic Backyard Sports franchise. The collaboration will introduce free-to-play digital tournaments, enabling players across the United States to compete against others in the Backyard Sports community for the chance to win exclusive rewards. The integration taps into the hunger for nostalgic, interpersonal experiences through a modern digital lens—making it even easier for players to build community and play socially. Whether itʼs challenging old friends or new ones through interactive tournaments, the addition of Lucra reinforces Backyard Sportsʼs mission to deliver accessible, family-friendly fun that transcends generations. 'The Backyard Sports are beloved games that truly shaped how many of us first connected over sports and everyday fun,ˮ said Dylan Robbins, CEO of Lucra. 'Weʼre excited to partner with them to bring social competition to their fans in a new, digital-native way. This collaboration shows just how adaptable our platform is for partners looking to deepen engagement, reward loyal users, and build authentic communities through play.ˮ For Backyard Sports, the partnership represents an investment in modern, behavior-driven customer engagement. By leveraging Lucraʼs technology, the franchise can reward players for participating in fun, social experiences that drive loyalty and ongoing connection with the brand. 'Lucraʼs technology aligns perfectly with our vision for Backyard Sportsʼ future in combining nostalgia with modern features that keep our fans coming back, and we look forward to continuing to deliver on our singular focus: our fans,ˮ said Lindsay Barnett, CEO of Playground Productions. Through this partnership, Lucra continues its expansion into digital gaming and entertainment, demonstrating the flexibility of its technology to support a wide variety of applications and industries. By meeting gamers where they are, Lucra is rapidly growing its addressable market and broadening its brand appeal among digital-first audiences. With launch planned in the coming months, both companies aim to deliver a best-in-class social competition layer that reminds everyone of the joy of competition and makes every game more meaningful and rewarding for players. About Lucra Lucra provides white-label gamification software that helps brands drive visitation, build customer loyalty, and unlock new revenue. Our technology encourages your users to engage in social tournaments, group play, and peer-to-peer challenges directly within your existing experience. We handle all payments, compliance, and risk management, allowing you to quickly implement our solution to drive more traffic, increase user engagement, and generate new revenue. Lucra powers gamification for top entertainment, hospitality, and consumer brands, including Dave & Buster's, Five Iron Golf, Puttshack, TouchTunes, and more. For more information, visit opens new tab. About Playground Productions Playground Productions is a children's and family company focused on making best-in-class film, television, digital media, and video games. By leveraging the top technology, talent, and character IP, Playground creates content that celebrates the joy of play for kids and kids at heart. Playground is best known for reviving the iconic Backyard Sports franchise and remastering classic titles like Backyard Baseball '97 and Backyard Baseball '01. Learn more at opens new tab. Media Contact Michael Maddingmichael@ ### SOURCE: Lucra Copyright 2025 EZ Newswire See release on EZ Newswire
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Backyard Baseball 2001 Game Returns With 28 Original MLB Stars
Backyard Baseball '01 is set to re-launch next week on PC and mobile devices, featuring MLB marks and 28 of the 31 players who appeared in the original version, the franchise's new owners announced Monday. The Backyard Sports series has been revived under the Playground Productions label after extensive efforts to track down the rights to the groundbreaking PC titles and redevelop the original code. The newest game—available July 8—also required locating the pros who initially appeared in the game. Advertisement More from Some were easy to connect with. Others were harder to find. Playground Productions CEO Lindsay Barnett said the team reached former Marlin Álex González through players he's currently coaching, for instance. '2001 is already some time ago, and some of these players don't live in the U.S. Some of them don't have managers or agents or social media,' she said. 'So we got creative.' In general, Barnett said, players were eager to lend their IP rights once again. In some cases, they leapt at the opportunity to show their kids, or grandkids, how big of a star they once were. Three players ultimately declined to participate this time around: Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas and Barry Bonds. Bonds—notably—has not appeared in MLB video games since opting out of the MLB Players Association licensing agreement in 2003. Advertisement Playground Productions also got buy-in from MLB, allowing for renewed rivalries such as Melonheads vs. Marlins. 'It just could not have been easier [working with MLB],' Barnett said. 'They really love this brand.' She added that the league recognizes how valuable the original releases were to the sport's efforts to grow. 'There were actually kids who learned about baseball through a very simple point-and-click game,' Barnett said. 'Now that we get to bring it back, we can start to capture even more kids who can become baseball fans for life.' Recently released versions, including Backyard Baseball '97 and Backyard Soccer '98, have found success on gaming platform Steam and iOS, largely by entertaining nostalgic millennials, including those hoping to share their childhood favorites with a new generation. Backyard Baseball '97 also recently came to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5. Mega Cat Studios has been responsible for game development. Advertisement Playground Productions is also creating an entirely new entry in the series. Though the group has not announced which sport it will feature first, Barnett said the company intends to continue the crossovers between original characters and real-life stars—that is, assuming she can get players on board. In addition to Backyard mainstays such as Pablo Sanchez and Pete Wheeler, the MLB players available in the upcoming 2001 re-release are: Jeff Bagwell Carlos Beltrán Jeromy Burnitz Jose Canseco Marty Cordova Jason Giambi Álex González Juan González Nomar Garciaparra Shawn Green Vladimir Guerrero Tony Gwynn Derek Jeter Randy Johnson Chipper Jones Jason Kendall Barry Larkin Kenny Lofton Mark McGwire Raul Mondesi Mike Piazza Cal Ripken Jr. Alex Rodriguez Iván Rodríguez Curt Schilling Sammy Sosa Mo Vaughn Larry Walker Best of Sign up for Sportico's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
