Astro Bot Bagging Yet Another GOTY Award Speaks Volumes About What Consumers Actually Love

Astro Bot… I wonder where to start with this game. Team Asobi’s masterclass action-adventure continues to drive home success with its remarkable quality, and how could it not at this point? After bagging what is single-handedly the most prestigious award in the gaming industry, Astro Bot is out for more. During this year’s DICE Awards show, it’s been confirmed with a celebratory notion that the title in question has won Game of the Year, again. 

And not just that, here’s a glimpse of the rest of the categories in which Astro Bot has trumped the competition, leaving the likes of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Batman: Arkham Shadow, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and even Balatro in the dust.

• Outstanding Achievement in Game Design
• Outstanding Technical Achievement
• Outstanding Achievement in Animation
• Family Game of the Year

It’s a total blast, I tell you, and there’s no argument around it. But still, how is it that we find ourselves rolled up in the same situation over and over again where corporations are trying to sprint out ahead in the live service race, essentially ignoring what really makes consumers like me happy and sound? It’s a strange world we live in.  

Astro Bot’s Remarkable Quality Leaves A Lot To Be Desired In The Industry

I understand that Astro’s Playroom — the “tech demo” of the PlayStation 5 that came loaded onto the console from factory — set pretty high expectations for the forthcoming action-adventure when it came out in November 2020, but no one really anticipated just how well Team Asobi was going to pull it all off. I’d say that this is bad in a sense.

Astro Bot has spoiled me in so many ways, I’m going to have a hard time enjoying anything that comes next from here on out in the action-adventure space. Everything from the gameplay and visuals to those little quality-of-life touches that amplify the overall experience is just so remarkably done, you can’t help but remain genuinely interested in this game throughout the campaign length. 

Soon after launch, Astro Bot turned up as a best-seller in the United States—no surprises there obviously—and ever since then, the title just continues to impress day in and day out. PlayStation took the courtesy of adding in a truckload of cameos in Astro Bot, emphasizing the legacy of this company along with the golden-grade video game characters it’s built right from the ground up so far, including Kratos, Ratchet, Nathan Drake, and others.

In the end, you feel like you’re cruising through not just a game, but an entire experience. 

It’s the sheer sincerity of the developers toward Astro Bot that makes this game stand out like nothing else. In a way, it raises your expectations and makes you demand like-minded quality from other IPs.” 

Now, how often is it that games tend to follow a similar pattern in terms of value and quality? You probably know the answer already, which is unfortunately not how it currently should be. We’re talking about a masterfully crafted platformer here that’s gone ahead and one-upped the giants of the industry. That shiny Game of the Year trophy is no joke, I tell you. 

Gorgeous art style? Check. Incredible graphics? Check. Terrific level design? Check, check, and check! Oh, and don’t get me started on Astro Bot’s tight, intuitive controls, which are so unique yet so simple to immerse yourself in. And whatever enjoyment gets left out during the regular levels is filled up right to the brim with the title’s electric boss battles.  

If you’ve got kids at home, Astro Bot will serve as a bonding experience for you and your loved ones. Everything in the game just makes sense, despite the title not making the gameplay too obvious for you. Now, how often do you see this reflected in other big hits? Not a lot, right?  

The Live Service Emphasis And It Misfiring In The Worst Way Possible 

Sony and PlayStation Studios are two of the cornerstones of the gaming industry, and without them, the industry wouldn’t have been as good in terms of innovation and pure entertainment as it is right now — credit where it’s due — but money can sometimes be a bad motivator. We’ll take the fairly fresh example of Concord to expand on this point. 

A project that was 8 years in the making, comprising a budget of a colossal $400 million (yes, you got that right), failed to come to fruition, but the failure wasn’t just any failure, it was one to remember for ages. What happened to this live service shooter should serve as a wake-up call for developers who are knee-deep into the live service business, because Concord not only just took a terrible nosedive on launch, it shut down two weeks after. And the developer studio? Out into its grave as well.

The talent at Firewalk and the level of individual craft is truly world-class, and teams within Sony Interactive Entertainment and across the industry will be fortunate to work with them. Please reach out to Recruiting at PlayStation for inquiries, and thank you to all the very many teams, partners and fans who supported us along the way,” said the studio on X.

Unfortunately, Awards Don’t Mean Too Much At The End Of The Day

I mean, sure, getting prized with the Game of the Year award puts absolute respect to your name as a video game, but when the presentation sheets come up at the next investor’s call, everyone’s only looking at the numbers, and this is what’s driving the immense live service craze ever since Fortnite started making the big bucks. 

Yep, you could that this particular shooter started the trend, even though many came before it, but none of them were able to hold onto the mantle of success quite like it. A title like Astro Bot getting crowned with GOTY should be a sign for devs across the world, but awards don’t make you money—a successful live service product does, and that’s how it is. 

No wonder why this survey last year showed that more than 95% of video game developers in the industry have a live service title either in the works or planned for the near future. It’s volatile, but super lucrative if you hit all the chords right. Helldivers 2, being a good example, has doubled down on the action gameplay formula by mixing humor with brilliant ragdoll physics, putting together a solid combo that players have gone on to absolutely adore. 

Each aspect of Helldivers 2, from its combat to the progression, feels so unique that I can’t help but continuously gush over it,” writes Moiz Banoori in his eXputer review of the game.

But there you have it—it’s hard to capture lightning in a bottle twice like that, especially in the live service domain. That’s why so many of these shut down not long after release. 

The Last of Us Online, the multiplayer-focused iteration of the iconic The Last of Us franchise, was canned in its earlier stages because it did not align with the future ambitions of the studio. Solid call on that, I believe. 

We realize many of you have been anticipating news around the project that we’ve been calling The Last of Us Online. There’s no easy way to say this: We’ve made the incredibly difficult decision to stop development on that game,” affirmed the studio in December 2023. 

Then there’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League as another case to look into. Rocksteady confirmed late last year that the shooter’s fourth season is going to be its last and that no more new content will be coming out for it, period. 

Sony’s Got A Line Of Other Old Franchises To Tap Into

Kicking it off with The Playroom, Astro Bot’s rise to success has come from the fact that Sony decided to lock into a part of one of its older IPs. The character in question grew out of a VR game, and was then later given more attention thanks to another VR title coming out in 2018 called Astro Bot Rescue Mission. Finally, it was in 2021 that Astro got the biggest exposure it had ever gotten in its life, all thanks to Astro’s Playroom, the default video game for the PlayStation 5. 

My point is, Sony can rinse and repeat with a plethora of other IPs too that it’s got under the belt. To name a few, you’ve got The Order: 1886, the Infamous series, the Killzone franchise, Jax & Daxter, Legend of Dragoon—I could go on and on here. Single-player experiences are almost always better as compared to live service titles rehashing the same old stuff over and over again, but we don’t live in a dream world just yet, and more of the latter are bound to pop up here and there.