Astro Bot PS5 Fans Wonder Where All the Square Enix Characters Are

It is pretty weird, especially after a round of timed console exclusive deals with PlayStation.

A Final Fantasy character or two are of course a given, but 2B in particular also feels like she gets a cameo in just about everything, yet she's not in a game with upwards of 150 guest appearances.

They could probably do some sort of dlc that would involve different characters from Square Enix. If they wanted to somewhere down the road 🤔

Loving all the pushsquare spoilers today.

Went in as blind as possible.

So once again.

Thanks.

I did notice that. Hopefully we'll see some in expansions. Read on another site that EVE might be joining the game, which is cool.

'Due to some of the deep cuts present, fans are theorizing...'

Theorising. I'm theorising that there's no end to what fans theorise. My preferred theory is that Phil Spencer has acquired the bots. Oh, and thanks for the spoiler.

Square Enix continues to be the industry's most baffling big publisher.

Definitely feels weird not having them there when Square and Sony have had so much history.

I imagine it probably is Squares fault. On a side note, it was super cool to see some more obscure faces in there like Raziel.

Let's hope Cloud will drop in future DLC but otherwise, definitely a weird decision from Square to not let Cloud or other SE characters considering his Buster Sword was on Astro's Playroom and how iconic FF7 has been in the history of Playstation.

Yes. Given the buster sword was in Astro's Playroom no reference to anything square enix is very noticeable by its absence. I really do hope it isn't down to a falling out between Sony and Square Enix.

Square has made some odd comments recently and there seem to have been some grumblings holding Playstation accountable for FF16 and 7 rebirth not hitting sales targets.

Of course it's equally too easy to read too much into this until either party makes a statement 😅

The amount of fan art of Astro Aigis from Persona is insane. Imagine the number of people going nuts over FF characters or 2B. Also, if Sony doesn't make Funko-like collectibles from AstroBot they are missing out.

Just standard Square Enix nonsense I'm afraid

I'm having too much fun to care.

Love the idea of publisher-specific dlc!

This is Astro bot not ready player one.
Just some characters appeared doesn't mean that all of them will appear!

Square-Enix heard it was gonna sell less than 17 billion copies and has zero NFTs in it, so weren't interested.

This is next level “first world problems” lmao. Is this really a thing? Like, there’re a ton of characters that didn’t show up. Crazy to gripe about something you don’t have instead of celebrating the things you do have.

@hypnotoad attatoad!

I wouldn't be surprised if Sony have fell out with Square Enix, especially as they are rumoured to be bringing FF7 Remake and 16 to Xbox and have said they want to stop exclusivity going forward (apart from with Nintendo 🙃).

They did the same with PS All Stars, Cloud was the most glaring omission there. Although that game had many other obvious ones missing, so Square's absence is even more noticeable here.

"Astro Bot PS5 Fans Wonder Where All the Square Enix Characters Are"

I'm guessing... in Squenix games? Maybe Team Asobi didn't want to add them in their game?

I'm guessing Mario and Link and Bowser are Zelda are in the game since we didn't get another article about how there aren't any Nintendo characters in the game. Unless there are but spoilers. 😂

I know the internet is full of nonsense but this is some pretty serious non-sense.

@Rob_230 Playstation marketed the hell out of those two games so it's definitely not Sony's fault they didn't sell well, plus it's not like releasing on Xbox would have boosted sales much anyway. A lot of people have lost faith in Square Enix, especially in Japan.

I won't be surprised if Square removed their characters if they had any. Probably in an attempt to distance themselves from Playstation and show their Multiplatform stance.

Foolish either way given how well the cameos have been received by everyone

@UltimateOtaku91 yup. Outside of dragon quest I don't think Square has a good reputation there anymore.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Absolutely agreed. You can try to avoid spoilers as much as you like, but when they're so obviously visible on PushSquare's front page, it's just impossible.

PushSquare, this is just disappointing stuff. Saying stuff is NOT included is just as much of a spoiler as saying that it is included. You could've handled this a lot better.

Square enix probably wanted to be paid for their cameos.

@rjejr S-E have a deep, long-standing connection to PlayStation, especially characters like Cloud, Tifa, etc. Nintendo (outside of the obvious) and their connection have zero connection to the platform. How do you not see the difference?

Don't know what happened but it seems Sony x SE relationship became sour after PS5 exclusives like FF XVI, Rebirth, and Forspoken didn't sell a gazzilion copies like SE wants.

And with SE new president Kiryu said they're going full multiplat (except with Nintendo which i'm sure they will make plenty of exclusives for Switch 2), SE probably wants to distant themself from Sony...

Friendship ended with squareenix, now chinese AAA developers is my best friend.

Some playstation executives, probably.

@PuppetMaster I think so and it still won't give Square the results they desire because most of their games are disappointing and mismanaged.

SE, you still have a chance with the DLC. Please don't mess it up.

@AinsleyE Gimmie that Amaraterasu bot from Okami. Would love a physical model of that

It's great to see that Square Enix doesn't want to be bothered with this insignificant game about some white robot

The way the game groups bots, it could just be a level cut in the interest of quality, which accidently caused all square enix characters to be cut without anyone realising.

Maybe said level will be fixed up and added as dlc.

@UltimateOtaku91 No, I completely agree! Sony can't be held to account for lower than expected sales (read NOT poor sales). They marketed the heck out of the Final Fantasy titles. FF16 even got its own State of Play. Even Foamstars was heavily represented

@PsBoxSwitchOwner yep yet again more interested in clicks

@PuppetMaster don't forget about Babylon's Fall 😭
Really wished that game was succesful man

@Cherip-the-Ripper Ah yes Babylon's Fall...and also Foamstar, Valkyrie Elysium, and Diofield Chronicles. SE really wasted a lot of potential with their games...

@wiiware Don't forget Korean devs 😁. It seems Stellar Blade, Wu Kong, Lies of P, Genshin, ZZZ, and The First Descendant generate better money for Sony compare to what SE produced 😁

Coming as live service I guess

@UltimateOtaku91 What recent indication is there that they're going to continue doing exclusivity deals with Nintendo?

@rjejr
Square Enix PS exclusives the last 4 years:
FF7 Remake
Babylons Fall
Valkyrie Elysium
Forspoken
Final Fantasy 16
Foamstars
Final Fantasy Rebirth

Nintendo PS exclusives: 0

A lot of their characters are almost synonymous with playstation, and there are a lot of other 3rd party characters in the game, cause theyre likely celebrating the most iconic characters in the history of 30 years playstation both 1st and 3rd party.
Not to mention the long history of collaboration between the two companies.

Nintendo has never published a game on playstation therefore their characters dont have a history with playstation.
So your comparison with how people arent complaining about nintendo characters not being in there seems a bit silly

Btw, people are just wondering, its not a big deal

Cheers for the spoilers lads. Much appreciated.

I mean, Sony doesn’t own Square Enix. That’s why none of their characters are in the game. They probably only wanted to include first party (or former first party) characters. Not that hard to understand, really.

@Yagami No it's awful, Sony paid off all critics and players, including those on a Playstation focused site, to talk positively about it.

awww..i didnt know they were not included great headline. thx.
you look like amateurs with headlines like this

@Yagami I wish i got paid to talk about games, especially good games.

@MasterChiefWiggum Sony doesn't own Capcom, Bamco, Konami, Sega, Atlus, ArcSys, Activision, Ubisoft, and plenty of 3rd party studios. But their characters appear in this game.

John Garvin advised them not to sell out and become shills in the amazing little game (of the year/decade/universe) Astro Bot.

Or maybe there's an unlikely scenario B at play here...

Sorry kinda off topic but some report says Astro Bot is sold out in Amazon Japan and some retailers in Tokyo.
https://gamingbolt.com/astro-bot-has-sold-out-on-amazon-japan

But it also no 1 in amazon US, UK, Germany, and some countries.
https://x.com/Zuby_Tech/status/1832404729898344902?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1832404729898344902%7Ctwgr%5E05703d854c9fe6d721c13c80aa2f2ea208f484c7%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsystemwars.net%2Fbb%2Findex.php%3Fapp%3Dcoremodule%3Dsystemcontroller%3Dembedurl%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.twitter.com%2FZuby_Tech%2Fstatus%2F1832404729898344902

Maybe some PS staff could write a story about this report

Square being Square. They go about things in strange ways

@rjejr I don't understand your argument here. What does Nintendo have to do in this? Square is a 3rd party company that has been working with Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft for years.

This isn't about which games are exclusive to PS, but rather to pay homage to the Playstation legacy and the abscence of any SE series, particularly, FFVII is such a confusing decision since it's one of PS's most iconic 3rd party games.

@Yagami It is actually fantastic. Some of the best platforming outside of Nintendo (though I wouldn't say it sits with Nintendo's best).

But besides that, not like there's much else to talk about in the realm of PlayStation right now. Concord's already been talked to death, and the biggest 3rd-party games this year are weirdly caught up in culture war nonsense.

Considering how often 2B’s costume gets flaunted around other games it is a bit odd.

I was secretly hoping for some FF or NieR related moment (okay, I know NieR was always unlikely, but it would have kept at least on Astro-botter happy)… just let Yoko Taro design his own level and see what madness he can come up with… I’d pay good money for that 😄

@Ralizah Apart from Fantasian, nothing new has been announced yet but I can't see their partnership with Nintendo ending as it's a place for their lesser projects like Harvestella, Triangle Strategy, Bravely Default, Live a Live, Dragon Quest Monsters and Treasures. Hopefully I'm wrong and those titles make the jump to other consoles.

Square enix feared that astro bot would not meet there sales expectations even though they did not develop the game , so they said no.

@UltimateOtaku91 Japan also lost faith in PlayStation.

@bossuche9 Go and touch grass outside.

Not the first time Square declined, they did it back then with PlayStation All-Stars.. but surprised the Buster Sword got a cameo on Astro's Playroom.

Still it'd be cool if they appear on DLC srlsy Square its a celebration on the console that made your franchise popular in the 90s. On a rather underrated note kinda wish maaaybe a Parasite Eve Aya would appear or even Mio and Mayu from Fatal Frame..

@PuppetMaster Korean(Stellar Blade) and Chinese*(Wukong, ZZZ, Genshin, HSR too) also that Wuthering Waves is coming to PS which, even though F2P, I dig the combat and I hope it gets properly optimized for PS5.

@PuppetMaster I haven’t played it so I didn’t realize that! OK, now that IS strange!

@PuppetMaster Yeah I forgot about korean devs lol, stellar blade and the first descendant is good. I prefer stellar blade though since I like single player games more.

If SE can do crossovers with shovelware like powerwash simulator, then Sony and SE should figure out a way with Astrobot

@wiiware and right now they (China and Korea) are way better partners than Square that is for sure lol.

From all their partnerships SE is the only one that is losing money, at some point they need to understand who is the problem and the problem made Forspoken lol.

@UntilRespawn Square Enix is the publisher of powerwash simulator, it's not like the devs paid them to be in the game lol.

And no, Sony doesn't need to figure out anything with SE. If SE doesn't want to be in the game then is on them, they lost the chance to be in one of the best games of the year.

In my country we have a saying,

"A la fuerza ni los zapatos"

basically means that doesn't matter how hard you try if the other party doesn't want to it won't happen.
If the character of SE aren't in the game is because SE doesn't want to or they were asking too much.

Personally I don't care about SE games lol and after what their suit guys said about the PS5 when their games are the problem they don't deserve the marketing.

@Ashina "Square is a 3rd party company"

I think you answered your own question.

How much do people really know about Sony 1st party IPs then the 3rd parties they played so much on PS1-3. Says a lot doesn't it. It's not supported to be a crossover in the third party sense. Fans and licensing, their heads explode too much how much they don't pay attention to that.

Companies have their reasons for the cameos/likeness/elements of the characters/music and more. If Square doesn't want to that's on them. If Sony wanted just their IPs to be focused on in the game, that's fine by me. I prefer it that way too. More focus on what needs to be, more pushing of IPs they haven't in a while and less 3rd parties to mix in which costs a fair bit to include and doesn't need to be there regardless of world/mechanics potential and fans going WOW these are in the game. I am fine with 1st party only, it works fine as it is.

Business decisions are a thing for a reason. Sales or how they present them and other factors. The game is fine without them. Whatever other cameos as brief or particular of toes they have to avoid stepping on.

Nintendo had Nintendo Land, fans want another one or something similar to celebrate things (I think it suited the WIi U fine and the IPs fairly, but I care for gameplay then characters/IP attachment). Nintendo doesn't have to. Just because most people know more 1st party Nintendo IPs or play more third parties or whatever their childhood of PS1-3 were or PS4/5 focus is 3rd parties as well and not knowing licensing, then they do 1st party legacy Sony IPs is on them as players.

It's a 1st party IPs focused game, not a 3rd party characters mixed in one like a Mario Sports Mix on Wii (was Square Enix that's why mentioned it) or PS Allstars and it's 3rd party inclusions.

They didn't make 3rd party deals here, that's totally fine. Square have their goals now for multiplatform with some games then those exclusive and what sales/otherwise came from that of talks. That's what it is. Just move on.

That'd cost a bit to the game then whatever IPs they still have at PlayStation they will use of their trademark or likeness or whichever. They aren't counting voice actors for those games after all just their likeness and other core elements that were in those games/worlds.

I think it's fine without them, it allows focus/flexibility for them to keep it to the core goal of the project and the IPs they have to work with & those worlds/characters.

People need to not be that emotional/that fixated on THEIR favourite IPs and forget oh licensing is a thing, oh 3rd parties. That's the answer.

@rjejr You wouldn't guess which 3rd party characters had some cameos in Astro Bot. Characters from Capcom, SNK, Atlus, KONAMI, Namco Bandai

@wiiware Yesterday i downloaded The First Descendant just to see if it's deserve 3/10 like PS review. I thought the game is okay with graphic looks nice, standard story, and nothing revolutionary in gameplay.

I had some fun for a couple of hours but gyattttt d*mn the female characters are eye candy af lol. It's like every single one of them is a super model with 2B cake haha. Well the male characters also good looking too lol except Ajax caus i can't see his face 😆

@PuppetMaster Yeah, I already played it and I think it's a 6-7 game, interesting but I still have so many backlog so I won't play it now. It's not a 3 game, imho.

@GymratAmarillo Squareenix is a weird company, the fact that yoko taro game like nier didn't sells but they still try with him and put him with platinum games to make nier automata is great, I don't think any other publishers will try that (nintendo is the only exception).

But like I said, they're a weird company so after selling millions rather than making the sequel, they made yoko taro make a card game, and platinum make live service games. I mean, why?

@UltimateOtaku91 I guess we'll see, but their change in strategy sounded like a broader shift in general away from timed exclusivity. Although didn't they also announce they were going to focus more on core properties and have less of these smaller projects in the pipeline?

We'll see what happens. Hopefully, in the future, their games launch across all platforms capable of hosting them.

It was very weird to see the absence of FF and KH bots and for me personally no Drakengard cameos (Drakengard has literally never been on another platform other than Playstation to this day so a Caim and Angelus cameo would've been appreciated)