Astro Bot just might shape up to fill a void that Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet and subsequent spin-off games left behind on PlayStation.
TNS: Sony has had an interesting career with live-service games, making this new lineup of PlayStation releases all the more interesting.
It is not every day that I get to read an article pointing to a videogame that is releasing on PC, PlayStation, and XBox and another game published by Bandai Namco as proof of Sony's return to "quirky games."
Sony does need to return to their roots but since they've closed most of their studios that took those risks it will not be easy. It would also be nice to return to those times where we go more than 1 new first-party exclusive a year. It is hard to take risks if you are only releasing 1 game a year.
Plus, an updated Astro Bot Limited Edition DualSense wireless controller is coming later this year.
I thought for a moment they will announce a VR version
It’s the only thing I’m waiting for to buy that psvr2
Omg i’m so glad i read the blog! I can’t wait to see what the special surprise is when you finish all the levels, i’m hoping we unlock a level similar to Winter Wonderland or something like that..
Where you collect FF bots ;))
"an updated Astro Bot Limited Edition DualSense wireless controller is coming later this year"
Music to my ears
Hogwarts Legacy has remained in first place on the UK retail charts, according to GfK data for the week ending April 19, 2025.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, following the release of the PS5 version, came in second place.
Astro Bot dropped one spot to third place, while Monster Hunter Wilds remained in fourth place. Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate is up one spot to fifth place and EA Sports FC 25 is up six spots to sixth place.
Playstation owners buy games.
Strange seeing Hogwarts there as I downloaded it for my son from PS Plus a couple of days ago.
Not really. It's directly contributed to having the healthiest console and ecosystem. Not really debatable.
The alternative is a console platform holder whose least important customers are the ones who own their console. That's why it's Microsoft games studios now not Xbox in all but name.
Microsoft needs PlayStation, PC and Nintendo players now more than they need Xbox players. They're a dying breed.
Not really. That's why Xbox is going under consoles wise. PS gamers purchase stuff that's why console and game sales are always high. Xbox gamers want games for 'free' on gamepass and to enter at the lowest price point (series s)
@InUrFoxHole said “Playstation owners buy games? That's a wild badge of honor my boy.”
This Tuesday after The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion was finally revealed I saw a tonne of conversation on X/Twitter of people gleefully mocking PS5 owners who said they were buying the game, as they were getting it for free with Game Pass. Yes, that’s great value for people with a Game Pass subscription - but do you still not see how it has impacted the Xbox hardware platform? It’s the reason Indiana Jones and Oblivion and Forza Horizon 5 aren’t exclusive anymore.
InUrFoxHole, its wild that you think that's wild lmao. 🤯. You buy your food from the grocery store?? Ugggh. You should get Factor. Who pays for food anymore when you can pay a subscription to receive food for "free". Disgusting.
Sound stupid? It is.
@Bathy
That's some cope there. You think the healthiest console is the one that doesn't even provide their gamers with their exclusive games? That crazy talk man. The healthiest is Nintendo and that's 💯 not even a debate. MS provides gamers with games. Sony provides you with MS games. Enjoy
@andy
You have broke brain. Gamepass isn't free. It's a sub service. Jesus n4g knows how to pick'em
@InUrFoxHole notice I put free in ' ' these? Doesn't take a genius. Every game that comes out on Xbox you'll see this comment "is this coming to gamepass".
2nd on the charts for a game such as Indy ain’t great.
Releasing half year after xbox version probably cooled off some demand.
This is a very good game, deserves the best chance to do well.
The real great performer here is Astrobot. keeping that rate of sales for a last year's game that is not GTAV, CoD and FIFA (now Hogwarts too). outselling MH Wilds and EA FC is kinda wild for Astrobot!
Hogwart's, Indiana, Astro Bot & Monster Hunter - that's a pretty nice top 4 once again.
I bet MachineGames are quite happy about the sales pouring in.
Little Big Planet had great potential.
Lmao took it? It ran with it 🤣 sony doesn't want to bring back little big planet like that or the infamous series, sadly will be getting ignored like days gone
Interesting how the Kotaku article shares similar sentiments and is seen as the ultimate enemy of every playstation fanboy, because the author dared to criticize the company for letting go to waste so many classic experiences.
But I agree here with gamerant (and I actually read the articles here on N4G, as opposed to reading a headline and slugline and commenting like 99.9 do here).
Little Big Planet came at a perfect time, and Media Molecule embraced the creativity and celebrated DIY levels and aesthetics from their franchises as well as the company itself.
I remember wanting ModNation Racers to be the kart racer version of LBP, but it just didn't do it for me.
I'm not going to regurgitate every other person's line of "I just miss fun games! not games with dlc or empty open worlds, or 'cinematic experiences'", because those games have their place. But it shouldn't be a majority.
Devolver did a wonderful thing by bringing back AA game development and celebrating it as such.
We need to get back to mechanically interesting games, and hopefully Astro Bot spurs on enough momentum to get the heads at Sony back in the game and find a way to revitalize 3d platformers.
EDIT: something to note: I always found it interesting how so many people would lament the death of the mascot platformer, yet Nintendo keeps on trucking along making the types of games that both Sony and Microsoft have all but killed off.
What Sony and MS don't seem to understand is that we aren't looking for Yooka-Laylee. We don't need an exact emulation of a n64 platformer, because those games (if people take off their rose-tinted glasses to revisit them as I did as a 33 year old millennial) have massive problems.
We don't need a hub and spoke model to house a litany of fetch quest collect-a-thons. We want silky smooth rendered worlds that use the core action of jumping in new and exciting ways. And it doesn't need to be just super cartoony, either.
But for anyone who remembers the very opening of Mario 64, when you are outside the princess's castle, the simple act of controlling mario, having him flip from side to side, dive into dirt, climb trees, swim, even just running and jumping felt so strangely organic and intuitive. The same way that CastleVania and Metroid games are often considered "pixel-perfect" in their mechanics. If you die, it was your fault, not because of the game.
Hopefully we get more titles like Astro Bot, but they did what basically everyone was shouting at a studio like them to do: harness the power of your next-gen ("current gen") console to incorporate new ideas into an existing framework, and expand outword to reinvent a type of subgenre that has been all but decimated but defined by the perjorative tropes of earlier iterations.
I don't think so. Astro isn't a level creating game, and that was a huge aspect of LBP. You literally can't fill that void with Astro because there are thousands of levels that were made all the way back on the PS3 and all through 3 games that are now unaccessible forever. If anything LBP is what could ultimately happen to Astro, and most likely will happen.