Astro Bot |OT| MC: 94

[Legend]

Will be funny if Astro Bot grows into a mario level franchise and makes more money than even stuff like Overwatch over its lifetime.


Really though I think it's mostly just telling players what to want verse giving players what they didn't know they wanted. Very hard to pull off, basically just good game > bad game, but Astro's success and Concord's failure have nothing to do with budget or genre.

[Legend]

Astro Bot finally ends the debate of how to pronounce the PlayStation symbol “X”

The “ecks” crowd should prepare for disappointment ???? pic.twitter.com/j5y2WZoaBU

— Hunter ???? (@NextGenPlayer) September 5, 2024

Oh, guess I need to rename my company. I've always thought it was Ecks button.

[nnodley]

It's so goooooood!  

[the-pi-guy]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-09-06/playstation-s-astro-bot-is-a-model-for-the-video-game-industry

Meanwhile, Astro Bot is now sitting at 94 out of 100 on the review aggregation website Metacritic. It has no microtransactions, live-service elements or cynical trend-chasing. It is simply a great platformer, one that surprises and delights you at every turn with smooth controls and all sorts of brilliant gameplay twists.

While Concord feels symbolic of the industry's woes, Astro Bot feels like a model for a more sustainable future. It was developed by a team of 60 people in three years, a stark contrast to the six-year productions staffed by thousands of employees that have become common in recent times. Rather than chasing endless gameplay, Astro Bot is delightfully compact and can be completed in around a dozen hours — a godsend for busy parents or people with massive gaming backlogs.

Throughout the process, the team behind Astro Bot would get together every two weeks to review their progress and play the game — an act that might seem obvious but is surprisingly uncommon during video-game productions.

"When you have a really big team, sometimes you forget why you're doing what you're doing," Doucet said. "For three years, if your job is to do backgrounds, you're not sure where those trees are going to go. It can lead to unnecessary work. To be able to always put it in context — why am I doing what I'm doing — is really needed."

Keeping the Astro Bot team at 60 people rather than swelling into the hundreds resulted in myriad benefits, such as offering all of Team Asobi creative agency and input. At the end of each two-week milestone, everyone on the team was tasked with picking one aspect of the game they liked and one that they wanted to improve — a process that made everyone feel like they were able to contribute.

[the-pi-guy]

Schreier is pushing really hard to push Team Asobi as a model for game development.

[nnodley]

it's kind of crazy there has been a lot of people saying they would never pay $60 for a game that can be completed in 15 hours or less. When literally in the ps4 era and earlier that was very common.  The age of bloated mindless content has affected people's perceptions of what they should pay for games too much.

Schreier is pushing really hard to push Team Asobi as a model for game development.

As it should.  There is no reason why most games should have 10's of millions or 100's of millions budgets to make games.  And the fact that many of the biggest games are janky and bug filled with thousands of devs touching the game.

[kitler53]

As it should.  There is no reason why most games should have 10's of millions or 100's of millions budgets to make games.  And the fact that many of the biggest games are janky and bug filled with thousands of devs touching the game.

i'm not going to lie.   i love games like spiderman and TLoU.   i also hear GTA is pretty popular.   

...not to idealize the train wreck that is movies but at least they understand that you can't release 104 movies a year to increase profit.   they reconize there is a cadance at which people consume movies and certain types of movies only do well when released in certain seasons.   they plan for this greenlighting only the amount of movies that can fit into that schedule and the release of each movie is basically known before the project starts and the project has a pretty set budget.

games needs to better understand that.   only soo many GaaS games can find an audiance.   Only soo many single players games can find success a year.   not every game can be a colorful platformer nor can every game be a dark zombie shooter.   

games need to better plan how much they are investing in a game.   they need to plan the release window better,..  it's okay to not launch a game just because it's finished if it would do better in a different launch day.   and you need a variety of games from huge system sellers to small niche fillers.   



astro is being soo well received in part because when was the last time a game like this launched?   ...not just on sony's platform.   it's been a long while since nintendo did a big 3D platformer too.  they had wonder last year but that was 2D.   they've had a few more minor games but I'd say mario odyssey was the last big new 3D platformer release and that launched in 2017. 

[the-pi-guy]

This just happened in #AstrosPlayroom for the Final Countdown to the release of #AstroBot ???????????? Amazing!
Well done @TeamAsobi @AsobiNico this was something else!! ???????????????? #PlayStation5 #PS5 pic.twitter.com/L7OwCBPZGN

— CMwalsh (@CMwalsh) September 5, 2024

It's just some lights lol. I expected something to open up.

Still cool though.

The silly thing is the door is already opened. It just doesn't let you through until the countdown is done.

[Dr. Pezus]

95 on opencritic now

[the-pi-guy]

The game has been a huge hit.

Wifey is even playing.

[the-pi-guy]

Who all is playing and when?

[Legend]

Who all is playing and when?

I don't buy games so never...

[the-pi-guy]

Astro Bot is gorgeous, brilliant and fun.

It is better than Astro's Playroom in every way shape and form.

The trickier comparison is relative to Astrobot Rescue Mission. I think when all is said and done, it'll rank above it for me. Which I have as my current #7 game.

[kitler53]

I don't buy games so never...

MS is killing the industry.



I started it but not far.   it's been a really busy weekend for me.  only 3 level in so far + some time messing around at the crash site.

[Dr. Pezus]

94
89
83

Wait I already predicted with higher scores smh

Did I predict?

95
92
87

Who won?