It is silly that past versions of the game are not available
 

Really do not understand why past versions of the game are not for sale. Trying to get people into the series is difficult when the only available version of the game is $50. Don't really see the drawback in offering the last years version at a discount to try and attract newer players.

I'm sure there was a reason (which I don't remember) for no longer selling past versions. Demos, though, remain available. Though limited, they can serve to introduce someone to OOTP Baseball.

https://www.ootpdevelopments.com/ootp-prior-version/

i can think of 3 reasons. one should be obvious. You can't sell perfect team packs to gambling addicts if they are content with an older version of the game. Two, OOTP has turned into a subscription model. You can't watch an old version of Netflix at a discount, can you? Finally, I'm sure there is some legal protection from licensing issues if older versions are not sold anymore

It's not complicated and perfectly understandable. Older versions included stats from the Japanese leagues, which apparently in Japan are considered intellectual property so making those older versions available would bring the Eye of Sauron down upon OOTP.

Nobody wants that.

You can't buy older versions of Madden NFL nor MLB the Show either... So they are not the only licensed game that also follows this practice.

Well OOTP 23 (After the patch), 24, and 25 don't...

Who ? Or what is Sauron ?
Was he the old man with the goat that cursed the Cubs once upon a time ?
What happened to his other eye ?

Don't those games still produce physical copies of the game you can get for dirt cheap at gaming stores when the new iteration comes out ?

I can't find any of the older versions after the new ones come out. But yes, they do sell CD's but they are not the physical copy of the game anymore, just a key mainly that allows you to play the game, as in... you download it and install it, but you still need the CD in to play it even though it is a DLC. But even that will end soon the way PS and Xbox are removing blue ray drives from their products.

I can buy Madden 24, and 22 on Steam atm. MLB The Show I can buy every version as far back as 22.

So this is 1000000% wrong.

https://store.playstation.com/en-ca/...b%20the%20show

Has MLB the show 22-25.

All one has to do is look

Older games of madden are sold at retail stores all the time. Steam would be the same thing to OOTP. Why remove it from the site. do not think it is a good business model either. Hard to try a $50 game. I have played the game for a decades so it does not effect me too much, I just think it's a bad business model for a niche game like this

twins_34 needs to take a time out and regroup. Resident Evil 4 is available on steam and it was released in 2005.

And yet they stay in business year after year. Not an easy thing for a niche game like OOTP. You're entitled to your opinion on OOTP's business model, but they are the ones counting the beans while dealing with costs, licensing, and other contracts we as users aren't privy to. Every decision they make affects their ability to stay in business and make a living. My "best guess"? None of these decisions are made lightly.

FWIW, I could care less either way on if they do, or do not sell previous versions. IE I have no dog in the fight.

I'd say the prime thing that has allowed OOTP to stay in business is DUE to being not just a niche but this particular niche. Unless you're suggesting that if OOTP put out this level of product against say the level of product of a Sid Meier's Civilization series they'd do even better. ( and by better I mean more market share)

Resident Evil, famously an annual licensed sports game.

OOTP26 will be put on sale many times throughout the year, so I'd recommend keeping an eye out for those if the price is an issue.

$50, though, is a pretty great value for OOTP IMO.

If you want an older version, see this thread to obtain a DRM free copy of OOTP16.

https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=352264

Or get a free copy of OOTP 8 here - https://www.ootpdevelopments.com/ootp8/

Niche meaning a niche baseball/sports game with a "career/dynasty" universe to play in similar to FM.

I'd say what allowed OOTP to stay in business was the way it stayed ahead of the competition it once had. 15-20 years ago OOTP was not the only choice for this niche. I'd say by 2010 OOTP had distanced itself from that competition and never looked back. Many of the decisions they made then were criticized with a lot of "if you do that it will be the end of OOTP" comments. Those critics were wrong.

I'd also give them a bit more credit than they are successful because they are in "this particular niche". If it only took a game maker to fill a needed niche to be successful someone out there would be having a nice payday with an NFL equivalent to OOTP. Many have tried and, so far, none have reached the level of success that OOTP has.

You might want to look at that again. They are listed, but you didn't bother to look if you can actually buy them, did ya? There is no option to buy them. You can still play 24 IF you subscribe to EA Play, but you can only play Madden 25 and 24, no 23, no 22, no 21.

When it comes to Xbox, you can get MLB the show 24 for $69.99, 23 for $69.99, and 22 for $69.99, and 21 for $69.99. Not sure I wanna pay full retail price for outdated games.

However, it seems on Xbox Store on PC, you can still get OOTP 21 for $39.99 which of course was full retail price.

OP talked about the past versions being at highly discounted prices and none of these past games of Madden or MLB the show are discounted.

I am totally down for a baseball/Sauron crossover, let's make it happen OOTP.

Right now, what should OOTP 25 sell for? There are two angles here, someone who wants 26 but would buy 25 if the price was low enough, and someone who wants the lower price of 25 but would buy 26 if it wasn't too much extra.

When you don’t have anything of value to say go with name calling.

You keep on being you. :laugh:

Again, totally disagree. If we look more closely at OOTP we notice many components which were added and then more or less abandoned (not one of which is the UI which has never been updated). Which reveals they have far more vision than resources. If a deeper pocketed competitor wished to grab the market away from OOTP they could simply borrow heavily all the concepts OOTP has introduced but has never done much with and develop their own versions of those. Why doesn't someone do that? Because the market share is not worth the investment. Besides, OOTP, being the stand-alone product, has the MLB license. Now, have they earned that? Sure, no doubt, but that isn't the question. Given the resources of OOTP there's no way they could graduate into a bigger pond of competitors and survive, but in this baseball-sim market they can. That's a niche.

The reason they do well is because they are the only product in this market. They make a solid game for the most part, one out of every 2-3 years they make a substantial change or addition (most recently dev lab in 25’) they do just enough to keep it fresh. Competition would be great but I’m not sure there’s enough money in the baseball strategy market to ever see that sort of competition. Still think it’s bad business to not offer past versions for cheap. But I’m not in the meetings!! I’m glad this thread sparked a conversation however!

I don't know why last year's version would be offered "for cheap". For someone who doesn't want to play current season or PT, isn't 25 worth almost as much as 26?

Perhaps they don't have the server space because you can't keep the main game and not keep PT. Even if you don't play PT, it is still a part of the product. How long would you expect to the older games to be supported and updated? Also, how much of the demand is there? I would think a Google search might find older unauthorized license keys. The old versions are readily available in demo mode. If you want a cheaper version, there are sales throughout the year. I think right before 26 dropped, 25 was selling for less than $19 US.
So to answer your question, NO, I don't think it is silly.

Per Lukas, it's due to licensing and approval issues now. That's all that was said.

https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...11#post5006411

I literally said it was a niche product. You're the one that tried bringing up Sid Meier's products, not me. And my response?
I'm not sure what you're going on about? There is no semantics game to be played here.

They are a small company, starting out with Markus and Andreas, that was never going to compete with the big boys. But what they did with that small company was petty much beat their competition into the ground and made a nice living with a niche sports game as their product. A particular small niche arena where many developers have tried and had a small amount of success (compared to OOTP) or failed. These other developers also had "far more vision than resources." In this niche OOTP succeeded where the others have muddled along or simply failed.

If that’s the case then they’d be admitting they don’t change their game apart from a roster update between titles which is not something they will do. If it’s a newer game with upgraded features why shouldn’t it be more than previous games?

I miss the thank you feature the community used to have. You’ll have to settle for a good old fashioned thank you.

From the perspective of the type of person described in my post that is often close to reality.