For years, Backyard Sports felt like one of those game franchises that was just gone. No new releases, no modern ports, and no real sign that it was ever coming back.
And then, out of nowhere, it did.
What makes that return even more surprising isn’t just the nostalgia behind it. It’s the story of how it happened. Because the push to bring Backyard Sports back didn’t start inside a game studio. Rather, it started in a classroom.
Lindsay Barnett wasn’t working in gaming when the idea first took hold. She was an elementary school teacher, trying to figure out how to adapt during COVID, when teaching suddenly became remote.
“What I didn’t anticipate was that we were going to have Covid and I was going to become a remote teacher,” she said. “I was going to have to wrap my mind around what many teachers during that time did, which was how do you provide content and good edutainment.”
What she saw wasn’t encouraging. Barnett said she had seen a shift from the time she started teaching to then, where the content kids were consuming was more violent and aged up than she’d ever seen. That realization sent her searching for something better. Something that felt like the kind of experience she grew up with.
“I couldn’t find the type of content that I really felt like my students needed,” she said. “So Backyard Sports came back into my mind because it was my favorite game brand as a kid.”
There was just one problem. It didn’t exist anymore.
“So of course I do what bored teachers do, which is start Googling and seeing if this is anywhere,” Barnett said.
“When it was nowhere to be found, I did what an even more bored teacher does, which is call a law firm and try to be Nancy Drew and see if I can figure out this mystery, and I wound up hiring a private investigator to track the rights down.”
Barnett spent the next two years working to actually acquire the rights to the Backyard Sports franchise, navigating a process that most people in the industry never even get close to. Once she found who owned the rights, Barnett says that she had to spend a lot of time convincing them that the vision of what she had for the franchise was sustainable. She also had to show that she was going to give it the proper care and not just buy it and put it on a shelf again.
Eventually, that vision turned into reality. And when the classic games started coming back on modern platforms, the response was immediate.
“I thought a few people like me who were super fans and love this brand are going to play backyard baseball ’97 again on their computer or on the phone,” she said. “I did not know that it was going to be the number one game on it. It knocked off Minecraft from the top spot on mobile.”
That moment reframed everything.
What started as a personal mission quickly became something much bigger. Not just a revival, but proof that Backyard Sports still mattered to a massive audience that had been waiting years for its return.
And now, that momentum is leading into a brand-new Backyard Baseball, set to launch July 9.
But even with a new game on the way, Barnett’s focus hasn’t really changed. For her, this isn’t just about bringing back a franchise. It’s about what that franchise represents.
“This is not just playing a game,” she said. “This is the amount of stories that I hear of people playing the backyard baseball video game with their kids and then going outside and playing together as a family or bringing you know people together.
“This is a legacy.”
In a gaming landscape that often feels focused on bigger, faster, and more competitive experiences, Backyard Sports is aiming for something different.
A game about being a kid. And now, thanks to a former teacher who refused to let it stay gone, a whole new generation is about to experience it for the first time.
This story is part of a deeper interview with Playground Productions CEO Lindsay Barnett and Mega Cat Studios founder and CEO James Deighan. The full interview with the pair will be released later in April.
Mike has been covering the gaming industry since 2012, and has reported on some of the largest events in the industry while also working as an investigative reporter. Outside of…
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