Astro Bot‘s loveable platforming and gaming history collectathon reminded us all of the great games PlayStation used to make, and the console maker’s boss is now looking to revive some of those past classics.
In an interview with Famitsu, with translations from VGC, PlayStation co-CEO Herman Hulst showered the publisher’s recent game of the year contender with praise. “We are thrilled that it has been so well received by the gaming community, with a Metacritic score of 94 and a wide range of players who are truly enjoying the game,” he said, before explaining that it helped attract more families and younger players than the brand’s other recent releases.
Hulst was then asked about whether the company had any plans to leverage the countless dormant series that populate Astro Bot’s obstacle courses – Ape Escape, Gravity Rush, LocoRoco to name a few.
“The various IPs that we own are an important asset to PlayStation, and as part of our efforts to strengthen our portfolio, we are continually looking at opportunities to leverage past IP, as well as develop new franchises,” he said, hinting that it doesn’t matter whether these revivals come from within the PlayStation Studios umbrella. “Our goal is to publish games by the world’s best creators, both inside and outside of PlayStation, and we have achieved many successes so far by working closely with external development studios.”
Astro Bot’s director previously talked about wanting players to go back into the history books to play the older games featured in his platformer, but Astro Bot might have just kickstarted the return of a few of those, too. PlayStation has thankfully been making much of its back catalogue playable on PS5 as well, with all the Jak & Daxters, Sly Coopers, and even forgotten PSP SRPG Jeanne d’Arc all coming back on the console’s digital storefront.
Team Asobi’s gigantic 2024 proves it’s time to free Astro Bot from PlayStation’s past.