PS5's Astro Bot Doesn't Support PSVR2 Because It Was Never Designed to Do So 1

While the general sentiment around Astro Bot, the upcoming PS5 platformer, is very positive, some of the character's more hardcore fans are a little disappointed to see a lack of PSVR2 support in his latest adventure. Indeed, the character got his start with Astro Bot Rescue Mission, a PSVR exclusive and an excellent platformer in its own right that really takes advantage of that immersive medium. So, how come the new game doesn't utilise Sony's current generation headset?

We asked creative director Nicolas Doucet about this during an interview at Summer Game Fest Play Days, and the answer is quite simple: it was never designed for PSVR2, and so that wouldn't make sense.

"So, we focused 100% on this one from the get-go after Astro's Playroom. [It] was the hope that if it was welcome, it could be a platformer that stands on its own feet, and we could go off to make a bigger version of it," he says, explaining that it was always the intention to follow up their pack-in tech demo with a full-blown PS5 game. "So no, [PSVR2] was not a consideration," he says.

"When we talk about VR versus non-VR, for a game like Astro, if you were to make a VR version, it has to be fully designed for that medium. And if it's not a VR version, it has to be fully designed for that medium," he elaborates. "Certain games can afford to be hybrid, like first-person games, because there's a closer similarity. But in our case, the design philosophy for both are very, very different. So, you know, it was a decision to expand on the world of Astro's Playroom and bring Astro to the big stage. So from the beginning, that was really our focus."

So, there you have it. The game doesn't support VR because it isn't designed to. It sounds like, if we're ever to get a PSVR Astro adventure, it'd have to be fully developed with that in mind in order to make it work to Team Asobi's satisfaction, and, frankly, that probably isn't going to happen. Never say never, though!

Are you looking forward to Astro Bot on PS5, or are you disappointed in its lack of PSVR2 support? Sound off (nicely) in the comments section below.