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<\/article>\nIs the mobile version of the game you\u2019re working on \u2013 OTTP Go \u2013 tied directly to your PC-based Perfect Team? Or is it a mobile version of the regular OOTP sim game?<\/strong> So to clarify, will you use your existing Perfect Team save in OTTP Go?<\/strong> Can you give any more details about the tournaments scheduled for Perfect Team by the end of the year? Will they be user-generated, what’s the\u00a0format, etc.?<\/strong> If we start ignoring the traditional franchise mode\u00a0and pivot toward\u00a0this Perfect Team-only focus, we will lose everything that got us here.” \u2013 Rich Grisham, Out of the Park Developments CMO<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Are there any third-party database websites to track players and auction house data, and do you have to okay that first?<\/strong> What do you say to fans who worry that because Perfect Team makes money for the series, OOTP\u2019s focus is going to skew in that direction to the detriment of the other modes?<\/strong> Has anyone done any of the really hard collection<\/a> missions yet?<\/strong> The other mission that has been incredibly tough and time-consuming is we have a subset of missions of collecting all the World Series champion cards for every year of the 1980s. Then you can turn that in for a World Series champions of the \u201880s mission. The last time I had checked, which this is probably four or five days ago, that mission had yet to be completed. When we launched, we had 119 missions. Within about six or seven hours we had some people who had completed upwards of 90 of them, like right off the bat. But yeah, we\u00a0still have a couple of those outliers that are not completed yet. I\u00a0expect because we\u00a0plan on supporting collection<\/a>s with content as well \u2013 we do plan on releasing periodical updates with new collection<\/a>s into the game \u2013 that we will be introducing some pretty tough ones. Kind of in that same vein as the White Sox. We\u00a0plan on doing that for all the teams as well.<\/p>\n Do you plan to backfill players\u2019 pictures for cards already out that don\u2019t have them?<\/strong> What are your thoughts on the different legislation against loot boxes being formulated right now worldwide?<\/strong> Out of the Park Baseball 20 is on sale for 50 percent off until\u00a0July 9<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n NBA 2K20 Gets Dwyane Wade, Anthony Davis, WNBA, Release Date & Teaser Trailer<\/a><\/p>\n Madden 20 Gridiron Notes On the Game’s Approach To Player Ratings<\/a><\/p>\n Madden 20 Rookie Ratings Released<\/a><\/p>\n PES 2020 Demo Date Announced<\/a><\/p>\n New GT Sport Update Adds Road Course, 5 Cars & More<\/a><\/p>\n F1 2019 Launch Trailer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last year, Out of the Park Baseball added a free fantasy-based card mode called Perfect Team to its simulation offerings, and not only has the mode taken off, but it’s just the start. Out of the Park Developments has added collection missions, and tournaments are planned before the end of the year.<\/p>\n I talked to OTTP community manager Kris Jardine and chief marketing officer Rich Grisham about how fans are finding ways to win in the mode, and what’s next for the mode and the company.<\/p>\n Where any changes made going from Perfect Team in OOTP 19 to 20?<\/strong> Have you seen any particular strategy or lineup that you were amused by or thought, “That’s a pretty novel strategy – I hadn’t thought of that”?<\/strong> Is there any particular meta players are using in Perfect Team you’ve had to adjust to?<\/strong> If you had to say what the meta of Perfect Team has been, I would generally say it tends to be toward starting pitching. If you look over the course of the history of baseball, I think you would probably say that more often than not elite starting pitching in real life wins out versus elite hitting. There are plenty of examples of that over the course of history, especially in some of the pitcher-dominated eras like the mid- to late-’60s. You see that from time to time in Perfect Team, especially when you get to the upper tiers where you see people trotting out some of the Walter Johnson cards, some of the Pedro Martínez cards…. There’s a peak Curt Schilling card out there, which is “God Tier” here in the community….<\/p>\n We haven’t done anything to combat that – that’s baseball. We provide the cards – how people choose to assemble their teams to win is totally up to them. We haven’t made any sort of groundbreaking changes since 20 has come out to change how the A.I. operates, to buff hitting in any way. We just let it naturally flow through the course of baseball. And yeah, if that’s how people choose to build their teams, going elite starting pitching first, so be it. It’s up to the other 29 teams in your Perfect Team league to figure out how to beat you.<\/p>\n Is the mobile version of the game you’re working on – OTTP Go – tied directly to your PC-based Perfect Team? Or is it a mobile version of the regular OOTP sim game?<\/strong> So to clarify, will you use your existing Perfect Team save in OTTP Go?<\/strong> Can you give any more details about the tournaments scheduled for Perfect Team by the end of the year? Will they be user-generated, what’s the format, etc.?<\/strong> If we start ignoring the traditional franchise mode and pivot toward this Perfect Team-only focus, we will lose everything that got us here.” – Rich Grisham, Out of the Park Developments CMO<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Are there any third-party database websites to track players and auction house data, and do you have to okay that first?<\/strong> What do you say to fans who worry that because Perfect Team makes money for the series, OOTP’s focus is going to skew in that direction to the detriment of the other modes?<\/strong> Has anyone done any of the really hard collection missions yet?<\/strong> The other mission that has been incredibly tough and time-consuming is we have a subset of missions of collecting all the World Series champion cards for every year of the 1980s. Then you can turn that in for a World Series champions of the ‘80s mission. The last time I had checked, which this is probably four or five days ago, that mission had yet to be completed. When we launched, we had 119 missions. Within about six or seven hours we had some people who had completed upwards of 90 of them, like right off the bat. But yeah, we still have a couple of those outliers that are not completed yet. I expect because we plan on supporting collections with content as well – we do plan on releasing periodical updates with new collections into the game – that we will be introducing some pretty tough ones. Kind of in that same vein as the White Sox. We plan on doing that for all the teams as well.<\/p>\n Do you plan to backfill players’ pictures for cards already out that don’t have them?<\/strong> What are your thoughts on the different legislation against loot boxes being formulated right now worldwide?<\/strong> Out of the Park Baseball 20 is on sale for 50 percent off until July 9<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n NBA 2K20 Gets Dwyane Wade, Anthony Davis, WNBA, Release Date & Teaser Trailer<\/a><\/p>\n Madden 20 Gridiron Notes On the Game’s Approach To Player Ratings<\/a><\/p>\n Madden 20 Rookie Ratings Released<\/a><\/p>\n PES 2020 Demo Date Announced<\/a><\/p>\n New GT Sport Update Adds Road Course, 5 Cars & More<\/a><\/p>\n
\nRich Grisham: It’s yes to both. We are building OTTP Go from the ground up…so you’ll be able to play Out of the Park Baseball in a traditional way, and you’ll also be able to play and participate in Perfect Team. So [it has] the Auction House,\u00a0ripping packs,\u00a0managing your team,\u00a0checking the scores, and all of that stuff.<\/p>\n
\nGrisham: The Perfect Team will be completely the same, so it’ll be your Perfect Team whether you’re on your PC or whether you’re on your mobile device. There is a plan for the\u00a0traditional Out of the Park experience to also be you know \u2013 basically, call it cross-platform play. That’s the plan and the goal, and it just comes down to can we execute that in time for the release? Or will that be post-release?<\/p>\n
\nJardine: Initially the plan is that people will be able to participate in three tournaments at a time. The tournaments are going to be all generated by us through the servers [Kris\u00a0says user-created tournaments are on the wishlist \u2013 Ed.], and they are going to cover an absolute wide variety of potential possibilities. So, for example, we may have a tournament where you can only use all bronze-level cards limited to 32 teams, double elimination. We may have another tournament that is\u00a0completely open \u2013 no roster restrictions, the first 64 teams that get in there and fill it up, single-elimination, and away you go. We may have a giant 256-team, Diamond and Perfect card-only tournament. The possibilities are really endless.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
\nJardine: Is there a point where we’re going to have the API available and allow third-parties to make you a FUTbin, or a MUThead, or a Daddy Leagues sort of site that can aggregate auction house information, identify trends, and help people build a database of cards? That’s not for me to decide. I think it would make a lot of people very happy. I think it’s something that we have had discussions about and will continue to have in the future. Ultimately, if it happens\u00a0it’s because we as a team have decided that this is the best method for us to grow the game for the community.<\/p>\n
\nGrisham: I say two things. Number one, don’t worry about that. Number two, don’t listen to me say, \u201cDon’t worry about it.\u201d Just watch what we make. We let Out of the Park Baseball speak for itself. We’re going to continue to make the core game better, we’re going to introduce new things. Baseball’s changing at such a rapid pace. The three true outcomes, launch angles, exit velocities, openers\/closers…We cannot ignore that because that’s when we will lose fans. If we start ignoring the traditional franchise mode and pivot toward\u00a0this Perfect Team-only focus, we will lose everything that got us here.<\/p>\n
\nJardine: There’s two collection<\/a> missions\u00a0I could think of right off the top of my head without having the game open in front of me that are particularly difficult. One is we have what I like to call tiered missions. So basically, we have a Chicago White Sox collection<\/a> of missions, that in order to receive the very top reward, which is a perfect\u00a0Ed Walsh \u2013 a great Chicago White Sox pitcher way, way back in the day \u2013 you have to complete a subset of five other collection<\/a> missions collecting all kinds of players from different eras of the Chicago White Sox. It is incredibly difficult to do, and a lot of those cards are incredibly rare and incredibly expensive. But we have seen it done a few times. That is one that a lot of people on the channels\u00a0I monitor are really, really psyched and really pushing toward\u00a0and hoping to someday complete the Ed Walsh collection<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nGrisham: Never say never. It’s certainly something that we would love to have, and plenty of our community would love to have, but it’s not something that we have on our short-term roadmap.<\/p>\n
\nGrisham: Certainly, if post-sale monetization becomes illegal, then that would definitely be a bummer. But, you know, if that happens, it happens. We’re still gonna make Out of the Park Baseball, right? That’s what we do. We’re certainly monitoring it, but we’re not ready to start running around flailing with our hands up in the air. Because, again, I think our community knows what we’re about. We’re open, we’re honest, and we respect our fans and our players. We’re not out to get them. There’s this attitude that I think in some parts of the world that companies are out to get people. We’re not out to get anybody.<\/p>\nTHE TICKER<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n
\nKris Jardine: We took a lot of the feedback that we got in that initial Perfect Team 19 in terms of player ratings and in-game strategies, and we were able to make some improvements in that regard. So we were able to tinker the way that players were rated, especially in terms of older historical players and trying to use their defensive ratings in a way that more reflected how the game was played at that time. And just some general changes to the way that the A.I. operates. And we introduced the opener\/follower scenario that has kind of taken the baseball world by storm.<\/p>\n
\nJardine: I’m always impressed by teams built completely on speed. I’ve seen teams that they will amass 600-700 stolen bases over the course of a 162-game season and make it work. Me, when I think baseball I think, “Okay, I want someone who hits for a good average, who can hit with some pop, plays acceptable defense…” Then you see these guys like, “No, I’m going to try to Billy Hamilton, Rickey Henderson, and Lou Brock, and I don’t care if they drop 1,000 fly balls or hit .110.” I just don’t conceivably understand how that could be successful. But I’ve seen people do it, and I’ve seen them make it work. It’s definitely not for me, but it is one that I always look at and am like, “How does that equate to 105 wins?”<\/p>\n
\nJardine: There’s always going to be a meta. Me personally, I don’t really like the term “meta” in the way a lot of people use it. Sure, I get it, you know, there’s always a funnel-based way to win, right? There’s only so many teams that can win, and it’s all the teams that get to the bottom of the funnel first, and sometimes there’s more effective ways to get there.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/prod-media.gameinformer.com\/styles\/body_default\/s3\/2019\/06\/29\/d52cb561\/ootp20perfectteam1500.jpg\")
<\/article>\n
\nRich Grisham: It’s yes to both. We are building OTTP Go from the ground up…so you’ll be able to play Out of the Park Baseball in a traditional way, and you’ll also be able to play and participate in Perfect Team. So [it has] the Auction House, ripping packs, managing your team, checking the scores, and all of that stuff.<\/p>\n
\nGrisham: The Perfect Team will be completely the same, so it’ll be your Perfect Team whether you’re on your PC or whether you’re on your mobile device. There is a plan for the traditional Out of the Park experience to also be you know – basically, call it cross-platform play. That’s the plan and the goal, and it just comes down to can we execute that in time for the release? Or will that be post-release?<\/p>\n
\nJardine: Initially the plan is that people will be able to participate in three tournaments at a time. The tournaments are going to be all generated by us through the servers [Kris says user-created tournaments are on the wishlist – Ed.], and they are going to cover an absolute wide variety of potential possibilities. So, for example, we may have a tournament where you can only use all bronze-level cards limited to 32 teams, double elimination. We may have another tournament that is completely open – no roster restrictions, the first 64 teams that get in there and fill it up, single-elimination, and away you go. We may have a giant 256-team, Diamond and Perfect card-only tournament. The possibilities are really endless. <\/p>\n\n
\nJardine: Is there a point where we’re going to have the API available and allow third-parties to make you a FUTbin, or a MUThead, or a Daddy Leagues sort of site that can aggregate auction house information, identify trends, and help people build a database of cards? That’s not for me to decide. I think it would make a lot of people very happy. I think it’s something that we have had discussions about and will continue to have in the future. Ultimately, if it happens it’s because we as a team have decided that this is the best method for us to grow the game for the community.<\/p>\n
\nGrisham: I say two things. Number one, don’t worry about that. Number two, don’t listen to me say, “Don’t worry about it.” Just watch what we make. We let Out of the Park Baseball speak for itself. We’re going to continue to make the core game better, we’re going to introduce new things. Baseball’s changing at such a rapid pace. The three true outcomes, launch angles, exit velocities, openers\/closers…We cannot ignore that because that’s when we will lose fans. If we start ignoring the traditional franchise mode and pivot toward this Perfect Team-only focus, we will lose everything that got us here.<\/p>\n
\nJardine: There’s two collection missions I could think of right off the top of my head without having the game open in front of me that are particularly difficult. One is we have what I like to call tiered missions. So basically, we have a Chicago White Sox collection of missions, that in order to receive the very top reward, which is a perfect Ed Walsh – a great Chicago White Sox pitcher way, way back in the day – you have to complete a subset of five other collection missions collecting all kinds of players from different eras of the Chicago White Sox. It is incredibly difficult to do, and a lot of those cards are incredibly rare and incredibly expensive. But we have seen it done a few times. That is one that a lot of people on the channels I monitor are really, really psyched and really pushing toward and hoping to someday complete the Ed Walsh collection.<\/p>\n
\nGrisham: Never say never. It’s certainly something that we would love to have, and plenty of our community would love to have, but it’s not something that we have on our short-term roadmap.<\/p>\n
\nGrisham: Certainly, if post-sale monetization becomes illegal, then that would definitely be a bummer. But, you know, if that happens, it happens. We’re still gonna make Out of the Park Baseball, right? That’s what we do. We’re certainly monitoring it, but we’re not ready to start running around flailing with our hands up in the air. Because, again, I think our community knows what we’re about. We’re open, we’re honest, and we respect our fans and our players. We’re not out to get them. There’s this attitude that I think in some parts of the world that companies are out to get people. We’re not out to get anybody.<\/p>\nTHE TICKER<\/h2>\n