EntertainmentAstro Bot: How the “game of the year” tried to please everyone (and succeeded)The consecration of the PlayStation 5 exclusive at The Game Awards seemed unexpected to many people, but the Team Asobi studio had secret ambitionsBy Editorial Staff

In early December, Astro Bot came out as the big winner at The Game Awards (TGA) ceremony, the most prestigious award in the Western video game industry. The PlayStation 5 game, created by the Team Asobi studio, won four trophies, including “Game of the Year” and “Best Direction”, as well as “Best Action/Adventure Game” and “Best Family Game”. It was an impressive feat for a relatively new franchise, which certainly didn’t go unnoticed by the public – fan communities on social media were divided between praising the victory and complaining about the lack of merit in the consecration.

Not coincidentally, Astro Bot it was the PS5 exclusive title with the greatest critical success in 2024 (average of 94 on the aggregator site Metacritic) and also the best-selling (1.5 million units in two months – sales should rise after the victories at TGA). Although they didn’t seem that impressive, the numbers were enough to put Astro Bot in protagonism, even more so given the visible scarcity of blockbusters published by Sony itself during the year.

Astro Bot represents a type of product that is rare today: a combination of a game for children and adults to play together, packed with advanced challenges for the more experienced, along the lines of the classics from the beginning of the 3D era – notably, a format established in the 1990s by the main Japanese rival from Sony, Nintendo. Furthermore, the title starring the friendly robot Astro also gave Sony a much-needed mascot, something that strangely the manufacturer had difficulty establishing during its three decades working in the games industry.

Last June, three months before the release of Astro Botthe Rolling Stone Brazil talked to Nicolas Doucetdirector of the Team Asobi studio. At the time, he didn’t have high expectations for his game’s acclaim, but he seemed sure of its potential to impact far beyond his target audience. Check out excerpts from the interview:

Rolling Stone Brasil: Astro Bot is a kind of continuation of Astro’s Playroom, a technical demo that was given “for free” to those who bought the PlayStation 5. How challenging was it to give this new game the price of a blockbuster?

Nicolas Doucet: We had this discussion internally. The big risk is being a victim of your own success. And with Astro’s Playroomwe created something that a lot of people liked. How can you do something even better after that? We needed to evolve in every possible aspect.

Astro Bot It’s a much bigger game, and size matters. But we also needed to bring new ways of using the [joystick] Dual Sense, new physics elements to the gameplay, new characters… Basically, making a much bigger game, so that when people think about the price, they realize that this is a complete product, which justifies the higher price.

What cannot be forgotten is that, even though it is free, Astro’s Playroom it was built into the price of the console, so it’s not like people didn’t pay for it. When people bought the PS5, the game served as a kind of “thank you” for the investment. It was a message we needed to convey in the right way, and I hope the demo did a good job of achieving that.

Astro Bot’s difficulty level is already demanding right from the start of the game. How did you work through this learning curve?

Potentially, Astro Bot it will be played by people like you and me, people used to challenging games. But it will also be many children’s first game. We care a lot about reaching both audiences: it’s not just a title for beginners, and it’s certainly not just for experienced gamers. It’s supposed to be for everyone.

When we created the stages, any challenges that stood in the way of the main story were set up in a way that would allow anyone to complete them easily. But we left the most difficult parts as optional, because we didn’t want to create barriers that were impossible to overcome. Balancing these two factors at all times was very important for us. I think our hearts have always been with the mainstream audience, because we want to make games that are fun to play, not frustrating.

At the same time, as this is a platform game, we were also able to explore accuracy. And thanks to the features of the PS5 controller, we’ve added challenges that are more difficult. But this came at a second stage of development. The tests we did at the beginning told us that the game was too easy. So we made these optional missions more complex, to create a balance.

Our goal is to create games that work like toys. If you find a tree in the corner of the scene, you’ll want to look behind it, because your curiosity tells you that maybe there’s something there. Therefore, it is our job to ensure that whenever the player thinks about doing something, we can reward them. So, whenever you climb to the top of a building, it will take time to get to the top, but you will gain something valuable. This was something we made a point of ensuring at every stage – creating that feeling of reward.

Astro Bot has apparently become the mascot of the PlayStation brand. Was this something planned? Why did it take so long for Sony to choose a mascot?
I can’t comment on why it took so long. But speaking on behalf of our team, it’s clear that if people see Astro as the mascot [da Sony]this is incredible, this is a huge achievement. But it’s not something we want to announce or decree. When a character becomes the face of a company, it is because their games are good over a long period of time, and players end up “deciding” this, because of this association. Sure, you can say that Sonic and Mario were the official mascots [da Sega e da Nintendo]but it’s because their games proved their qualities in their times.

In that sense, I think it’s the same thing for us: we’re not trying to get ahead of ourselves. We want to make a quality game, with a solid foundation, and move on from there. Now, if this game ends up being seen as [estando] at the same level as God of War, Horizon, Ghost of Tsushima and all the great PlayStation series, for us it is an incredible achievement. But I feel like this mascot thing ends up happening naturally. You can’t determine and shove it down people’s throats.