Team ASOBI is one of the rising stars of PlayStation Studios. Originally assembled as a research and development division within Japan Studio, the team has quietly established itself as a fully-fledged first-party outfit following the success of Astro Bot Rescue Mission and Astro’s Playroom. Led by ex-London Studio brain box Nicolas Doucet, the team is tasked with making the most out of Sony’s hardware.
While this video is very much a fluff piece, it delves into the team’s creative ambitions and working culture. Unlike many Japanese studios, the group has largely eradicated overtime, and has created a “fun” work environment which is reflected in its games. Its goal is to extract as much as possible from PlayStation technology, and the likelihood is that it’s currently working on a new title for PSVR2 – presumably in the Astro Bot series.
What do you think the future holds for Team ASOBI? Triple-jump into the comments section below, and let us know.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 25
Amazing studio, can't wait to see what they cook up for PSVR2.
After Astro Bot Rescue Mission I consider these guys to be gods.
What a wonderful video to watch. Really seem like such a friendly and fun workplace. Also I like how they mention being able to balance work and personal life. Hope they get their proper breakthrough soon, cause everything they have released so far has been incredible. And for some reason, tons of people ignore them (probably cause VR, but still..)
Can't wait to see what comes next for them!
Really amazing team I really REEEEEEEEALLY hope they don't get stuck just making VR games it would suck to have one of the only actual Japanese PlayStation Studios relegated to just VR stuff
I hope it's a new astro bot and it's not vr only. The pack in game for ps5 is probably still my favorite game on the system. So much fun.
@Keyblade-Dan I agree, hope its not only vr. Astrobot was so much fun, would love a full size game
@Keyblade-Dan
Astro Bot Rescue Mission is the greatest platformer ever made. This is from an 80s kid who grew up with Nintendo.
VR is the greatest platform for platformers, I’m ruined for flat gaming platformers now. Without proper 3D depth perception it’s just not the same.
I hope they are “stuck” with VR and many other developers are moved to it too.
If anyone gets the chance play rescue mission. It’s well worth the price of the hardware on its own.
It's a shame Japan Studio got shut down, while not every game was a hit they made so much wacky output that gave PlayStation tons of unique games. But thankfully we still got Team Asobi who have proven themselves with Astro Bot. Astro's Playroom alone makes me glad that I have a PS5 and looking forward to seeing what they cook up next. I really want to see a full on PS5 Astro title with multiple worlds full of collectibles and fun mechanics but as they are the go to studio for showing off PlayStation tech it's pretty much guarantee their next game will be a VR2 title.
@Keyblade-Dan They're not being "relegated" to VR. Listen to what they say in the video: the entire purpose of the studio is setup to push the limits of Sony's hardware, whatever that may be. With Astro Bot 1 it was PSVR, with Astro's Playroom it was DualSense...
Probably safe to assume their next project will be related to PSVR2 in some way.
@thefourfoldroot1 I said at the time it came out that if Astro Bot 1 had been a Super Mario game from Nintendo, it would have gone down in history. I stand by that now.
Hopefully one day we get a full blown Astro's Playroom game with challenging gameplay.
Even though I loved the pack in game (and I understood why it was short) I thought it was way too easy. I don't see why even if it was basically a showcase of the Dualsense why it had to be so easy.
This is the last true PlayStation studio in the sense that PS1/2 fans know PlayStation studios to be.
Lovely video. Great to get a glimpse into the studio and team. I know the restructuring of Japan Studio was a bitter pill for many but i'm glad to see Team Asobi grow and look forward to what magic they will bring us next.
@GreatAuk definitely agree that this needs a full game….make it more challenging, but with adjustable difficulties for people like me.
@thefourfoldroot1 @get2sammyb Facts!
@get2sammyb I love Mario, but I was thinking the same thing about the playroom if it had more content. Rayman is also a worthy franchise….
@themightyant Saying Japan Studio was "restructured" is like saying the Titanic got a little wet.
I swear I will delete that Astro game from my PS5 machine once I get the machine in the future. That game is already banned in my gaming area. Good news, I can have extra free 60 GB without that Astro game.
@Anti-Matter Why? It's fantastic fun.
@Anti-Matter if nothing else it’s a really cool demo….
@get2sammyb So essentially this is a tech demo studio who's only purpose is to show off new Sony hardware? 😅
@Anti-Matter Why? Astro Bot is a kid friendly game, and more importantly it's rated E for everyone.
@get2sammyb @rockodoodle @KidBoruto
The reason I banned Astro Playroom because the game have Easter egg characters from rated M games after I got informed from PushSquare.
I completely have zero tolerance with every single rated M stuffs and don't put those stuffs into kids games because from my perspective, putting those rated M characters with cartoon design into kids games was like promoting cigarettes / illegal drugs from kids games.
I don't want to like those rated M stuffs, I will always hate them. Don't even make them into cute Chibi form, it just made me even hate and disgusted more.
Maybe for you that enjoy playing rated M games will not having problem to see those Easter egg stuffs appeared on Astro Playroom, but for me it's very serious issue as I have traumatic experience by rated M stuffs in the past when I was kid. I will never want to deal or getting know with every single rated M stuffs, even I don't want to spell their names since it felt disgusting for me to say those names. Even just only hear their names by accidentally, it made me upset.
That was the reason I banned Astro Playroom when I get PS5 machine in the future.
Even the games are rated E Everyone, i still have to scan the possibility of harmful stuffs in disguise. And that's also the reason I banned Smash Bros games too, for having rated M game characters inside the game (I think you are already know who are they, don't even mention their names to me, I don't even want to know their existences).
@Anti-Matter Fair enough.
@Anti-Matter Understood, thanks for the lengthy explanation.
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