A new Astro Bot game could be announced in the next two weeks, as rumours emerge for Sony’s expected summer showcase.
This comes from the very, very reliable games industry leaker Billbil-kun, writing on French deals site Dealabs. They have a remarkable track record of predicting announcements, typically revealing the monthly PlayStation Plus games just a little before Sony make the formal announcement.
A new Astro Bot game has been mooted by industry insider Jeff Grubb earlier this year, and it absolutely follows that Team Asobi would make a new Astro Bot game after the success and popularity of Astro Bot: Rescue Mission on the original PSVR and Astro’s Playroom, which is bundled in with every PlayStation 5 as a showcase of the console’s capabilities and love letter to all things PlayStation.
Team Asobi spawned out of Japan Studio, having been founded as an internal team at the studio back in 2012. With Sony’s decision to shut down Japan Studio in early 2021, Team Asobi was splintered off as a standalone studio within PlayStation Studios.
So when, exactly, will Astro Bot’s next adventure be announced? Well, Sony has yet to confirm a State of Play or PlayStation Showcase, but they typically do hold an online showcase around this time of year. With Summer Game Fest now settled into the old E3 window of early June, Sony stole a march last year with a PlayStation Showcase on 24th May. The latest rumours and speculation – coming from Jeff Grubb and Nick Baker – suggest an event could happen as soon as next week, 28th May. Except, Sony gave one week’s notice last time around and have been completely silent on the matter.
Astro’s Playroom was a simple bundle of joy for pretty much every PS5 owner. “Astro cements himself as the PlayStation 5’s mascot,” I said in 2020, “with a celebration of all things PlayStation that also showcases the full potential of the immersive new DualSense controller. Astro’s Playroom is the first thing you should play on PlayStation 5.”
