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Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The return of 'Backyard Sports': What it took to recover lost IP rights and bring back the franchise
Listen and subscribe to Yahoo Finance Sports Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts. IP revivals are everywhere in gaming and movies right now, but the rights to beloved franchises aren't always easy to track down. Just ask Lindsay Barnett, a former elementary school teacher who made it her mission to bring "Backyard Sports" to modern consoles using several lawyers, a private investigator, and a lot of reverse engineering. The "Backyard Sports" games were an incredibly popular series of desktop PC video games in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The earliest games, developed by Humongous Entertainment, featured a series of cartoon children as possible teammates to recruit, while later installments featured kid versions of some professional players, like Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter in "Backyard Baseball 2001." Though the original franchise ended a decade ago with the release of "Backyard Sports: Baseball 2015" and "Backyard Sports: NBA Basketball 2015," it made a comeback in October 2024 when Playground Productions rereleased "Backyard Baseball '97." As of July 8, fans of the series can now play "Backyard Baseball '01" too. "These games were my favorites growing up," Barnett, founder and CEO of Playground Productions, said on the Sports Report podcast (see video above or listen below). "I was a very sporty little girl in Chicago, and this was the game that made me fall in love with baseball and football. I was looking for great content for kids and especially great games that they could be playing on their computers, and this franchise was nowhere to be found." This embedded content is not available in your region. Barnett, who taught elementary public school in Chicago for nine years, explained that teaching remotely during the COVID era set her on the path to find out how to make these games accessible to children again. "['Backyard Sports'] hadn't had a game come out in almost a decade when I started looking for it," she recalled. "And so I did the normal process of first searching on Google and then asking IP lawyers — and it was not findable. One of the lawyers said, 'Hey Lindsay, you could hire a private investigator to track the rights down.' And that just sounded like a great COVID project. And so I was like, let's do that." She said it took six months to find out who owned the intellectual property rights for "Backyard Sports," but she eventually acquired them for her own production company, which she founded in 2022. Once she acquired the rights to the IP, her company also needed to obtain the rights to the individual pro players who were featured in the games. "We were able to get 28 out of the 31 players, and I was just so excited because, honestly, we did have to go player by player for the majority of them," Barnett explained. "Some of them are in the retired players union ... We wound up hiring an awesome guy named Zach Oliver to help track people down." Getting player rights wasn't the only roadblock Barnett faced while reviving a well-loved IP. She explained that she and her team have been reverse-engineering the code to make it playable on current platforms. "The process of it has actually been quite complicated because we don't have the source code," Barnett said. "It took us a little bit longer to actually reverse engineer and make it possible on mobile. And then through that process, we actually discovered new technology to be able to make it playable on PlayStation and on Nintendo Switch." Two and a half years after her journey started, "Backyard Baseball '97" was rereleased on Steam, bringing the franchise back in full force for fans new and old. The game was later released for iOS and Android in March 2025 and on PlayStation 5 and the Nintendo Switch in June 2025. "Backyard Soccer '98" was also made available on Steam in 2024, and four other games in the beloved franchise are set to be rereleased in the coming years. "We're really inventing a playbook in some ways, which is very exciting for us because we have a big piece of IP that's independently operated, and so we have a lot of flexibility on how we bring things to market," Barnett said. "It's actually quite exciting for us because we're learning a lot, but we're able to do it with the integrity that we all share on our team, which is making sure that we're making great children's family content and we can set our own kinds of standards." Each week, Sports Report with Joe Pompliano coaches you through the latest sports business news so you can play the financial game for financial gain. You can find more episodes on our video hub or watch on your preferred streaming service. Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The return of 'Backyard Sports': What it took to recover lost IP rights and bring back the franchise
Listen and subscribe to Yahoo Finance Sports Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts. IP revivals are everywhere in gaming and movies right now, but the rights to beloved franchises aren't always easy to track down. Just ask Lindsay Barnett, a former elementary school teacher who made it her mission to bring "Backyard Sports" to modern consoles using several lawyers, a private investigator, and a lot of reverse engineering. The "Backyard Sports" games were an incredibly popular series of desktop PC video games in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The earliest games, developed by Humongous Entertainment, featured a series of cartoon children as possible teammates to recruit, while later installments featured kid versions of some professional players, like Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter in "Backyard Baseball 2001." Though the original franchise ended a decade ago with the release of "Backyard Sports: Baseball 2015" and "Backyard Sports: NBA Basketball 2015," it made a comeback in October 2024 when Playground Productions rereleased "Backyard Baseball '97." As of July 8, fans of the series can now play "Backyard Baseball '01" too. "These games were my favorites growing up," Barnett, founder and CEO of Playground Productions, said on the Sports Report podcast (see video above or listen below). "I was a very sporty little girl in Chicago, and this was the game that made me fall in love with baseball and football. I was looking for great content for kids and especially great games that they could be playing on their computers, and this franchise was nowhere to be found." This embedded content is not available in your region. Barnett, who taught elementary public school in Chicago for nine years, explained that teaching remotely during the COVID era set her on the path to find out how to make these games accessible to children again. "['Backyard Sports'] hadn't had a game come out in almost a decade when I started looking for it," she recalled. "And so I did the normal process of first searching on Google and then asking IP lawyers — and it was not findable. One of the lawyers said, 'Hey Lindsay, you could hire a private investigator to track the rights down.' And that just sounded like a great COVID project. And so I was like, let's do that." She said it took six months to find out who owned the intellectual property rights for "Backyard Sports," but she eventually acquired them for her own production company, which she founded in 2022. Once she acquired the rights to the IP, her company also needed to obtain the rights to the individual pro players who were featured in the games. "We were able to get 28 out of the 31 players, and I was just so excited because, honestly, we did have to go player by player for the majority of them," Barnett explained. "Some of them are in the retired players union ... We wound up hiring an awesome guy named Zach Oliver to help track people down." Getting player rights wasn't the only roadblock Barnett faced while reviving a well-loved IP. She explained that she and her team have been reverse-engineering the code to make it playable on current platforms. "The process of it has actually been quite complicated because we don't have the source code," Barnett said. "It took us a little bit longer to actually reverse engineer and make it possible on mobile. And then through that process, we actually discovered new technology to be able to make it playable on PlayStation and on Nintendo Switch." Two and a half years after her journey started, "Backyard Baseball '97" was rereleased on Steam, bringing the franchise back in full force for fans new and old. The game was later released for iOS and Android in March 2025 and on PlayStation 5 and the Nintendo Switch in June 2025. "Backyard Soccer '98" was also made available on Steam in 2024, and four other games in the beloved franchise are set to be rereleased in the coming years. "We're really inventing a playbook in some ways, which is very exciting for us because we have a big piece of IP that's independently operated, and so we have a lot of flexibility on how we bring things to market," Barnett said. "It's actually quite exciting for us because we're learning a lot, but we're able to do it with the integrity that we all share on our team, which is making sure that we're making great children's family content and we can set our own kinds of standards." Each week, Sports Report with Joe Pompliano coaches you through the latest sports business news so you can play the financial game for financial gain. You can find more episodes on our video hub or watch on your preferred streaming service. Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The return of 'Backyard Sports': What it took to recover lost IP rights and bring back the franchise
Listen and subscribe to Yahoo Finance Sports Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts. IP revivals are everywhere in gaming and movies right now, but the rights to beloved franchises aren't always easy to track down. Just ask Lindsay Barnett, a former elementary school teacher who made it her mission to bring "Backyard Sports" to modern consoles using several lawyers, a private investigator, and a lot of reverse engineering. The "Backyard Sports" games were an incredibly popular series of desktop PC video games in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The earliest games, developed by Humongous Entertainment, featured a series of cartoon children as possible teammates to recruit, while later installments featured kid versions of some professional players, like Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter in "Backyard Baseball 2001." Though the original franchise ended a decade ago with the release of "Backyard Sports: Baseball 2015" and "Backyard Sports: NBA Basketball 2015," it made a comeback in October 2024 when Playground Productions rereleased "Backyard Baseball '97." As of July 8, fans of the series can now play "Backyard Baseball '01" too. "These games were my favorites growing up," Barnett, founder and CEO of Playground Productions, said on the Sports Report podcast (see video above or listen below). "I was a very sporty little girl in Chicago, and this was the game that made me fall in love with baseball and football. I was looking for great content for kids and especially great games that they could be playing on their computers, and this franchise was nowhere to be found." Barnett, who taught elementary public school in Chicago for nine years, explained that teaching remotely during the COVID era set her on the path to find out how to make these games accessible to children again. "['Backyard Sports'] hadn't had a game come out in almost a decade when I started looking for it," she recalled. "And so I did the normal process of first searching on Google and then asking IP lawyers — and it was not findable. One of the lawyers said, 'Hey Lindsay, you could hire a private investigator to track the rights down.' And that just sounded like a great COVID project. And so I was like, let's do that." She said it took six months to find out who owned the intellectual property rights for "Backyard Sports," but she eventually acquired them for her own production company, which she founded in 2022. Once she acquired the rights to the IP, her company also needed to obtain the rights to the individual pro players who were featured in the games. "We were able to get 28 out of the 31 players, and I was just so excited because, honestly, we did have to go player by player for the majority of them," Barnett explained. "Some of them are in the retired players union ... We wound up hiring an awesome guy named Zach Oliver to help track people down." Getting player rights wasn't the only roadblock Barnett faced while reviving a well-loved IP. She explained that she and her team have been reverse-engineering the code to make it playable on current platforms. "The process of it has actually been quite complicated because we don't have the source code," Barnett said. "It took us a little bit longer to actually reverse engineer and make it possible on mobile. And then through that process, we actually discovered new technology to be able to make it playable on PlayStation and on Nintendo Switch." Two and a half years after her journey started, "Backyard Baseball '97" was rereleased on Steam, bringing the franchise back in full force for fans new and old. The game was later released for iOS and Android in March 2025 and on PlayStation 5 and the Nintendo Switch in June 2025. "Backyard Soccer '98" was also made available on Steam in 2024, and four other games in the beloved franchise are set to be rereleased in the coming years. "We're really inventing a playbook in some ways, which is very exciting for us because we have a big piece of IP that's independently operated, and so we have a lot of flexibility on how we bring things to market," Barnett said. "It's actually quite exciting for us because we're learning a lot, but we're able to do it with the integrity that we all share on our team, which is making sure that we're making great children's family content and we can set our own kinds of standards." Each week, Sports Report with Joe Pompliano coaches you through the latest sports business news so you can play the financial game for financial gain. You can find more episodes on our video hub or watch on your preferred streaming service. Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices Sign in to access your portfolio
Reuters
21-07-2025
- 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.
