Konami is selling its latest baseball game for $1 to try and reach a global audience

Konami is selling the latest game in its long-running ‘Power Pros’ baseball series for just a dollar, to mark its global debut.

The series, better known in Japan as Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu, started on the Super Famicom (SNES) back in 1994 and has continued to enjoy annual success in its home country.

However, very few entries have made it outside of Japan, and those that did failed to make any sort of impact.

In an attempt to gain a global audience for the series, then, Konami is selling the latest entry on Switch and PS4 for just $0.99 / €0.99 / £0.79.

WBSC eBaseball: Power Pros is a fully fledged baseball game, and despite its low price Konami claims it has no microtransactions.

This is in contrast to its football series, eFootball (formerly Pro Evolution Soccer / Winning Eleven), which is free-to-play and is monetised by in-game purchases.

“The global release launches at an affordable price of €0.99 with no additional charges,” a Konami statement reads, “in the hope that it will be enjoyed by many people around the world, especially with the game supporting up to four players on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 alongside single player online.”

The Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu series is known in Japan for its ‘chibi’, cartoon style players, but has remained a favourite among Japanese baseball fans for nearly three decades due to its solid gameplay.

The first attempt to bring the series to the west was MLB Power Pros, a 2007 Wii and PS2 title which added a Major League Baseball licence and was released in North America. Despite favourable reviews and a 2008 follow-up the series didn’t take off in the west and returned to being Japan-only.

WBSC eBaseball: Power Pros is Konami’s first attempt to release the series globally. It features a roster of over 300 original characters from the history of the Powerful Pro series, from which players can assemble their own team of 25.