“Baseball Hits 26” hasn’t officially come out yet — but Ares Interactive’s game already has loyal players coming back day after day.
51 percent of players participating in the soft-launch of “Baseball Hits 26” are playing seven days a week, according to Ares Interactive president Mike DeLaet, who spoke to GamesBeat about the upcoming mobile title during an interview at GDC Festival of Gaming earlier this week.
DeLaet and Ares Interactive head of product marketing Callie Jenkins credited their company’s close relationship with the core “Baseball Hits 26” fan base as one factor behind the game’s positive reception thus far, with Ares Interactive sharing detailed updates and release notes via a Discord channel and other community engagement tools.
“We’re not giving anything away by communicating to them, and we value their input as well,” Jenkins said in an interview with GamesBeat. “Having that kind of open communication with them has been really great for us, so that we can improve the game and keep tweaking it.”
“Baseball Hits 26” is in the advantageous position of tapping into a pre-existing fan base pulled from another game’s community. At least six members of the development team at Ares Interactive behind “Baseball Hits 26” previously worked on “Tap Sports Baseball,” a once-popular EA Sports title that was officially sunsetted in May 2024. “Baseball Hits 26” shares many gameplay elements with “Tap Sports Baseball,” and gamers who left behind when “Tap Sports Baseball” shut down are taking note.
“Believe it or not, there is a ‘Tap Sports Baseball’ online community, and people are getting hype about ‘Baseball Hits 26,’” DeLaet said.
Like “Tap Sports Baseball,” “Baseball Hits 26” features in-game micropurchases and drives player interest and engagement using a multiplayer “club” social play system. Ares Interactive is also developing “Baseball Hits 26” with a license to use Major League Baseball players’ stats and likenesses thanks to a partnership with MLB Players, Inc., with 800 currently active ballplayers available inside the game. DeLaet told GamesBeat that Ares Interactive is looking to expand this roster further in the future, potentially by licensing the likenesses of retired players and other historical baseball legends.
“The MLB Players Association has been great partners with us, and the players are super important in this type of game, because it’s about roster management and building your dream team,” Jenkins said. “So, that is a very fundamental part of the game.”
“Baseball Hits 26” is slated for a full launch next, and the Ares Interactive team is planning to roll out a full-bore user acquisition marketing campaign, replete with a paid and organic influencer strategy and “hundreds and hundreds of different kinds of creatives,” according to DeLaet.
“It’s been spreading mostly organically. There are a lot of people who are big fans of ‘Tap Sports Baseball’ who are like, ‘oh shit, “TSB’s” back,’ and they’re telling their friends word-of-mouth,” DeLaet said. “So, it’s spreading that way — but long-term, we are going to use marketing to target for that old audience, in addition to new players.”