Astro Bot is set to arrive on PS5 this coming September 6, 2024, and it’ll be the second game in the Astro series to be entirely themed around PlayStation and the platforms history of characters and IP.
Which almost seems to suggest that Astro can’t exist outside of the PlayStation framing. But that’s not how Team Asobi sees it, and studio head Nicolas Doucet doesn’t think it would be “a problem” if Astro’s next game was just all about Astro, and not at all PlayStation themed.
In a recent interview with VGC, Doucet explains how the studio talked about Astro’s theming, and how they see the relationship.
“When we started this game we had discussions about whether we should or shouldn’t lean on PlayStation. There were various opinions, with some questioning whether we should fly with our own wings and not be held back, but actually we decided it was the case that we were already doing that, but then also adding this layer of PlayStation because we can – and why not?
That was our mindset. If, in the future, we had an adventure that was all Astro and PlayStation wasn’t part of it, I don’t think that would be a problem. As long as the core elements and qualities of the game are great, then I think anything is possible.
It’s a very flexible IP and that’s one of the things that I love about it. We approached with a light heart and didn’t write a backstory: we’re not precious about details too much, other than the design of the character, which needs to be respected. The rest is really open, and thanks to that, we can feel quite relaxed about where it’s going next.”
The Astro games we’ve gotten so far have been excellent, and there’s no reason to think this won’t join those ranks, and there’s no reason to believe Team Asobi couldn’t keep making amazing games without the PlayStation theming.
Hopefully they do get that shot, as it would be interesting to see what new games the team could bring into the world.
Source – [VGC]