Do You Want Astro Bot on PC? Creative Director Wants to Know

I've never played it, don't know anything about it. So probably won't be into it.

This is probably the only game that I would be completely against releasing on PC, due to the way it uses playstation hardware as in-game mechanics.

It would be funny if the Dual Speeder gets replaced by a keyboard speeder in the PC version

If this goes to PC then 100% of PS5's past and future library will make the jump in which case just release everything the same day on both platforms so we don't have to keep doing this same song and dance 🤷

Absolutely not!!!! if those PC scruffs wanna play it tell them to buy a PS5 like the rest of us

edit: I feel I should add a small disclaimer to clarify that I am just joking before someone gets offended and my comment gets deleted

It's funny how he immediately shut down any chance of PS VR2 support in that interview but remained coy about the chance of a PC port.

Now PC fanboys have the perfect soundbite to spread as evidence that a PC version is being considered and they've basically been given permission to be vocal about it. I'm sure it's convinced plenty of people to "just wait for the PC version" even if it never materialises, so good job kneecapping your PS5 sales!

PlayStation just keeps being more and more of an uninteresting system as time goes on. :/

YESPLEASE

I'm actually shocked they're officially asking about this, and asking before release no less! I'm trying to move entirely back to PCMR at this point, so if Astrobot went PC, I'd absolutely go that route. They want PC gamers to move to console with these ports, but IDK it benefits them having PC gamers buy a box they subsidize anyway just to buy a few of their own games. Sure they have to revenue share with Lord Gaben, but we all know a PS launcher is coming sooner or later, solving that.

Plus it would be modded to VR in like a week and may be the only way to play the game on PSVR2, so there's that....

Yes - as I’m sure somebody would soon produce a mod so it can be played in VR on quest or PSVR2 even though the developers seem to say it’s not possible…..

Playstation really just keep giving the middle finger to their own audience and diluting their brand don't they?

Not unless Sony want to start killing off their own console business (and from what i understand, no consoles = no Sony)...

It really does make me laugh how lots of people here will be complaining about a PC port.

Seeing as how I am transitioning to PC (pretty much fully replaced my Xbox), I'd love for this game to come to PC!

That being said, I do have the PS5 version pre-ordered because this game looks too good to wait for (plus my daughter loves Astro's Playroom so it's something we can play together on a comfortable couch instead of huddling around a PC monitor).

While I didn't click the "double dip option" it would definitely be on the table if the game lives up to the hype (admittedly I'd wait for it to hit like a Steam sale or something since I already paid full price once).

Well they dont seem to bother making new games to PS5 so why not create some more PC ports. Man, this brand is really dying.

No my ps5 is hungry for games.

The only way I would want astro on pc is if I game on pc. Which at this point, it's in the cards considering the decisions Sony is making

Besides why are they even asking, they're gonna do it anyway lol

I don't know what else the Push Square team expected from publishing this article on a news website where commenters are mostly console players.

Sackboy did terrible on PC so not sure astro bot would be ported

Yes, keep putting everything on PC and the PS5 is the last console I will buy.

I plan on getting it Day 1 on PS5, but I will gladly double dip if it comes to PC as well.

I really don't care. Most pc gamers will pirate it anyway. Why does everybody get upset about PlayStation games going to pc? We have pc games coming to ps5 and now it looks increasingly likely that Microsofts big name games are making the leap to sonys machine too..so what's all the fuss? Are we not in the better position?

@HotGoomba you've been here since 2018 and still have to ask?

Sure. But only because it will allow people to play in VR, which is the best way to play Astro (or any platformer) by far.

I want Rescue Mission on PSVR2! That's what I really want!

@CutchuSlow Have you got a PS5? If so then play the free Astro Playroom game and see if it's for you or not.

@breakneck Hulst did say their strategy with PC is to try to get PC gamers to buy consoles (won't happen, who'd buy a worse box to play a game on sooner when they could play it better later?) but as long as they're going with that strategy a game celebrating the console's history seems as good a marketing tool to PC gamers to buy consoles as any.

I do think they need to decide what their PC strategy is though. Getting PC players to buy consoles isn't going to happen in meaningful numbers, that's right out. Do they want to generate more revenue on their expensive games by targeting a different platform in a different market? Or do they want to go back to loss leaders that sell consoles to get more people buying 3rd party games on their store?

Having said all that, the money men have made clear they won't reach their profit goals selling their exclusives only on their platform, loss leaders to sell consoles aren't really needed much as Xbox isn't much competition and Nintendo is in a different market (that was all necessary back in the 3-way war with Nintendo/Sega/Sony for the same market slice), and the "console" business model was really centered around physical retail media. As the push to digital takes over, that model doesn't really fit anymore.

Looking at it from a different angle, Nintendo doing Nintendo, Xbox combining into PC....for a gamer that does invest into PC, there's not much incentive to buy a separate gaming box just to play a handful of games (which Sony makes less and less of and tries to sell for longer), and the old "exclusives" customer doesn't seem to be the bread and butter of console anymore. The exclusives, even GoW, sell "ok" on PS5. Not enough (Sony itself says so), and most of the money comes from being a prettier box to play Fortnite/Genshin on. The console customer has changed.

You're not wrong in terms of them hollowing PS, but I also think PS's market changed in ways most of the long term "core" doesn't realize yet.

@Northern_munkey "Most PC gamers will pirate"

Have you really been Yves Guillemot all this time? I never noticed! That's a terribly outdated stereotype. The fact that platforms like GoG and GMG (zero DRM, copy and torrent to your hearts content) thrive, based entirely on the honor system speaks to the honor of the average PC gamer. Yes, piracy is also big, especially in certain geographic regions, but not enough to thwart realistic sales. Heck, look at the sales of Wukong on PC in China, the piracy capital of the world where not enough rum and wenches could ever be produced to sate all the pirates, as a quick take proof. If you can have the #1 selling 1p game of all time in Port Royal of the East, sales are fine regardless of pirates.

@WhiteRabbit The last astrobot is famed for a level with a looping song singing about GPUs and has an entire level delving into the CPU, with PSUs stacking the backdrop. Are you sure Astrobot isn't already the platformer celebrating PCs? Remove the white on black theme and the game could be about a Razer laptop. No one would know the difference.

@HotGoomba To be fair, this gen going as it has has tilted a reasonable portion of us console players over to PC, so it's fair game ($).

I would, mostly so I don't need to plug my PS5 in after I redecorate. Especially since my PC is just as capable and in a more convenient setup now.

Um...NO. We want it on PSVR2 where it should have been since DAY 1. I absolutely can't with these people...

Just had visions of Astro Bot on SteamDeck....yes please

@NEStalgia I never said it would thwart sales I simply said most pc gamers would pirate it. I don't know one pc gamer that hasn't obtained a dodgy copy of a game. I myself always purchased from steam,GoG or cdkeys etc as the games I required were on my now defunct rig (R.I.P...we had some good times 😪) and please,please don't ever refer to me as Yves Guillemot ever again..no need for that 🤣

@Rog-X

How exactly would you be restricting yourself to 1 x AAA title??

I'm really sorry but you've completely lost me lol

I don't understand how having a PS5 in addition to your PC would restrict you.... surely having both would give you more options.... not less

@invictus4000 But this is just a backdoor way of asking if you want it on PSVR2. dOn'T yOu SeE? First they announce Astrobot, then they announce a PSVR2 PC adapter, then they cut the price of PSVR2 so people can afford it, just as the adapter launches, and then they port Astrobot to PC where it will be modded for VR instantly. This was the plan to bring Astrobot to PSVR2 from the beginning! The data's all here! Connect the lines, iT aLl MAkeS sEnSE!!!

@Northern_munkey LOL! Eh, I'm sure most PC gamers have acquired a dodgy copy of something somewhere along the line, for one reason or another (I used to download cracks for games I bought because the flipping Starforce DRM disc system broke every game and the cracked version worked fine lol! If you tell kids today that, they wouldn't believe you!) But given where Steam and all the others sit, I think "most" PC gamers buy the games they intend to buy, the "piracy" meme of CEOs as a real factor never really happened. At least once Steam made buying easier than pirating lol.

As I only own a PC, yes. Astro Bot looks cool as hell and I'd like to play it.

@WhiteRabbit

Sounds about right haha

It’s time for Sony and Microsoft to put everything on pc so we can finally all move to one platform. That’s the way it’s going eventually anyway. Maybe then we don’t get devs spending 8 years making clones of other games available on other platforms.

Future prediction.

Polling. Sways them to release of PC. They spend 6 months working on a PC build.

Sells less than 30k

Playstation only, thanks.

There is a reason demon souls and bloodborne are not on PC. Lots of fromsoft fans game on pc and would for sure concider getting a pc5 just for those games. Hey sony! Maybe a good idea to make bloodborne 2? Nah lets make lego horizon instead….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mmbOjOkmE4

Thats all.

This is a PS5 showcase so bad idea to share it. It is now like a trademark.

@WhiteRabbit Why not Switch then? Playstations do the same thing just shinier.

@WhiteRabbit ps5 is the worst console generation I’ve witnessed in 30 plus years of gaming.

I don't care this game going to PC but in the end it's a love letter to PlayStation with a ton of cameo's that would go over the heads of PC only gamers.

Sony must REALLY want the PlayStation to end up like the Xbox don't they.

Nintendo is the only smart gaming company left.

@NEStalgia "(won't happen, who'd buy a worse box to play a game on sooner when they could play it better later?)"

Wasn't there a study that most PCs aren't better than consoles? As in, sure, there is a minority that will buy the best specs but the average PC gamer can't afford that.

@GreatAuk I don't think it's a matter of being smart. They just have stronger franchises that they can milk to death. MS can't make Halo 258 and still sell tens of millions. Sony can't release a remaster of Kratos Kart and rule the charts for years.

Nintendo gets away with plenty of things that the rest of the companies could never.

I would love a pc version of this game. Steam deck compatible please!

So then we should wait for the definitive PC version of the game which will be cheaper, look and run better? genius marketing right here! must be the same marketing team of Concord 😒

@naruball The average steam specs are the most useful reference in this context for "a PS type of game". Yeah, there's a ton of people that have Steam accounts that play simple/old games that couldn't run, say GoW, let alone HFW, but that becomes a gray area of "people who play some games on a PC device" vs "gamers on PC." I think at least recently the 3060's were the "average" Steam GPU, which is roughly par or slightly better than a PS5 on the GPU front (launched at the same time and is low-midrange). So it places PS5, at least GPU-wise as the midpoint. A lot of people with better rigs, and a lot of people with worse.

There's also a little bit of difference in use in that PS5/XSX customers seem to care about "4k" for their "big TVs" even at the cost of low fps, where 1080p and 1440p and pushing fps is much more the norm on PC, meaning "weaker" GPUs can be "more powerful" for the target res intended per user needs. (I.E. a 1080p performance PC can be "weaker" than the 4k targeting console, but end up performing better with the lower target res by design, especially where Nvidia and DLSS is concerned. Not to mention the instant boost on any RTX card on anything with RT enabled.

So yes....and no..... The bigger question is if anyone already invested in a PC environment would rather spend $500 on a PS5 to sit next to their PC and take up another input or spend $500 on a 4070Super to put IN their PC and surpass it substantially assuming the rest is new enough to handle it. For someone that already plays on PC, that's kind of a no brainer.

@NEStalgia That was very informative. Thanks a ton!

Yes, I've already preordered it for PS5, but a future PC release would be great. They'd get more of a following and I'd be able to actually play it in native 4k ok my PC with better shadows than the meh ones the PS5 has.

I’d love to see it on PC the same way a lot of these comments that are vehemently against it cheered when Indiana Jones got announced for PS5.

I’m glad Sony is asking these questions and the gatekeeping is becoming a thing of the past. PlayStation isn’t going anywhere, at least not any time soon

I am getting it on PS5. I don't have an issue with it going to PC. It would still be a 'console' exclusive.

Not currently planning on buying a PS5, so it's the only way they're going to get my money.

That said, more broadly, I think it's smarter for console makers to keep their games exclusive to their platforms, but that ship has long since sailed for Sony, so why not port as many games as possible?

@NEStalgia Still have no idea why anyone would think the PC ports would draw people into their ecosystem. It does the opposite: shows that if you wait, the games will come to you instead of you needing to buy a $500 console for a few exclusives.

I'd have a PS5 by now if they hadn't started porting their games to PC lol.

@Ralizah I can only assume Hulst expects to withhold sequels to games on PC for long periods in semi exclusive staus to drive fomo like with tlou2 and expects that will push people to buy consoles instead but it's an absurd plan if so. Annoyed customers won't spend 500 to jump ahead. If they did Xbox would be booming 😂. And the money men probably won't want to delay returns.

@NEStalgia Well, Xbox games release day and date on PC, so there's even less reason to buy one of those consoles.

I could maybe see Sony porting a couple of cross-gen games with big sequels to incentivize buy in, but the moment they started porting major platform exclusives and big sequels, anyone with a lick of sense would conclude that they're all eventually going to PC anyway.

Sony's hardcore fanbase will still want that early access, of course, but anyone questioning whether to buy a PS5 or not at this point clearly isn't a part of that demographic.

No, this game should not come to PC imo. It's probably the game that use the PS5 controller the most, how would that work on PC? Dub down the experience for PC players or force them to use a PS5 controller? This is the one game that shouldn't be released elsewhere.

@TrickyDicky99 lol! 🤣

@Ralizah I can imagine Sony going back and forth in their PC support depending on what they want to push in hardware. It would be very Sony and also anger fans on PC. Otoh I can also see them launching their own store and trying to force exclusivity of their games to their store to relatively disastrous results, but it'd mean day and date

"Would you buy Astro Bot on PC?"

Not interested in what systems its on.

Is Sony stupid? Did they not just forget that a few months ago PC gamers were raging over creating a FREE PSN account....

And now they want to give them a game that celebrates PlayStations rich history and it's hardware. The same hardware they hate, refuse to buy, and want to see gone? ...Good lord.

Not to mention, the game was designed with the DualSense. Imagine spending months/years focusing on amazing DualSense implementation...just for someone to play the game with an Xbox controller or a mouse/keyboard. What a joke.

If this goes to PC then Sony really doesn't care about PlayStation at all anymore, they just see it as nothing but a cash cow. OG Sony respected and appreciated gaming as an art and care about the long term viability of PlayStation. Modern Sony only cares about the next quarter looking good and getting a huge bonus before they leave, even if it means PlayStation's future is ruined.

@NEStalgia Sony has been pretty good about supporting Steam. Can't imagine they're dumb enough to nuke their PC presence by releasing a launcher. Just forcing a log-in has been garnering significant pushback lol.

Wouldn't mind an Xbox version 🤣 game looks great though 😎

Sure, then I might be able to play it in VR eventually, if someone makes a mod.

Sure! More games for everyone.

I would love to play Astro Bot on my steam deck

@NeonMullet VR really muddies the plot in purchases, there's so many variables in play there. PCVR gives a lot of options you don't get on the consoles. But it's also a lot of work and fiddling and the performance still isn't great for those non-vr games modded to VR (lots of alternate eye rendering 60fps with repro etc). Triple edge sword really.

I'm not an expert in Canuckistani currency, so I'll go with the USD amounts, but, generally glancing at the PS5 Pro specs leaked I'd say it looks 4070-ish (raw performance closer to 4070 Super, but it's AMD so there's inherent difference there.) But with a worse CPU than even a middling PC. 4070S is about $500 alone - and sales aren't much of a thing in the GPU space these days since prices went insane.

The rest of the PC is so variable in price based on what you build. It depends on AMD/Intel storage preference etc. I'd think you could get PS5 Pro ish specs between $1200-1400. Maybe lower or higher depending on budgeting and parts if shopping frugally. USD. Add a million or two for Maple Yen.

if it’s on pc then there’s no reason for me to get it on playstation , there’s no rush or day 1 purchase for me with this

I'd probably get it on both honestly, but ready for it to be on PS5!

I'd totally double-dip if it released on PC, I love Astrobot that much!