Astro’s Playroom was one of the standout titles of the PS5 launch, even though it was a free game packed in with every system. And with that success, comes growth. Team Asobi is expanding following the release of Astro’s Playroom and now being considered as a part of PlayStation Studios.
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Team Asobi announced this news through the PlayStation Blog. Studio Director and Creative Director Nicolas Doucet said the developer is “spreading its wings and growing bigger” but its mission remains the same: bringing “PlayStation magic, innovation and put smiles on your faces with fun, colorful games for all ages.” Team Asobi also unveiled its new logo, which is a slight callback to the original PlayStation logo.
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Team Asobi is well-versed in PlayStation and its history, especially considering how Astro’s Playroom was a thorough love letter to all things PlayStation. This makes the news of Sony “acquiring” Team Asobi a little odd since many probably already thought it was an internal Sony developer like Naughty Dog or Sucker Punch. Team Asobi is a spin-off of Sony’s Japan Studio that was established in 2012, but became its own thing after that team dissolved in April 2021. Given how it was a part of a Sony studio that has since been closed, this acquisition sounds like a semantic point and that Team Asobi is just getting a larger role within the grand scheme of Sony’s studio lineup.
Sony had teased that something Astro Bot-related was in the works. At the end of the Q&A with Herman Hulst, Hulst said he hopes we haven’t seen the last of Astro Bot because he “loves that guy.” With Hulst’s wording, the growth of Team Asobi, and the positive reception of the PS5 launch title and PSVR game Astro Bot Rescue Mission, it’s very likely that we have not seen the last of the little white robot.