Astro Botgoes back to Sony’s roots, offering a simple, cutesy platformer amidst an ocean of sad cinematic dads, showing that PlayStation is capable of so much more than the one genre it spent two generations narrowing in on.
What’s especially impressive is that it took a mere three years to develop with a team of just 65 developers, a far cry from what we’re used to seeing, but it’s only an outlier within the world of Xbox and PlayStation. Nintendo figured this out years ago.
Speaking toVGC, studio head Nicolas Doucet said that Team Asobi doesn’t just look to grow the team for one project, but “for the future and to keep people”. As layoffs run rampant and studios are shuttered after one failure because of skyrocketing costs and ballooning development cycles spurred on by management chasing outdated trends, companies are hemorrhaging talent at an unprecedented level.
BioWare laid off the original Baldur’s Gate lead writer in 2023,Bungie fired Destiny 2: The Final Shape’s narrative leadonly two months after its launch, andthe incredibly influential Rocksteady recently suffered huge layoffsamidst the inevitable failure of its ill-advised looter shooter superhero spin-offSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Companies are unable to foster development teams who synergise well because of an unending culture of anxiety and uncertainty, spurred on by a revolving door of talent that never leaves room for studios to grow in any meaningful way.
Nintendo largely avoids layoffs, and that rings true even in its weaker generations such as the Wii U. This allows teams to grow closer, making for more efficient development, but also a more collaborative environment that results in better games. It’s not exclusive to Nintendo either, as we’ve seen the same story in FromSoftware, leading to the monumental success ofElden Ringand even cultivating the soulslike genre, and likewise with Larian Studios, growing a talented team of developers through the Divinity series who were confident enough in themselves to craft the seminal modern classic that isBaldur’s Gate 3.
It’s worth noting that Larian Studios doesn’t have shareholders, and in Japan (where most Nintendo and FromSoftware developers work), employers cannot fire workers without reasonable cause.
Laying off developers to save a quick buck might help to appease shareholders and steady the stock market in the short term, but the knock-on effect is that the team will inevitably degrade as those who are more experienced are pushed out while new talent is never given the time to find their footing. The games industry is eating its own tail for instant gratification, not thinking about where this will ultimately lead us.
Team Asobi is a unique case for Sony, behaving more like a Nintendo studio than a PlayStation one, and the most pivotal part of that mindset is its outlook on growth. It’s not about unrealistic scope and constantly moving goalposts, but nurturing a studio of talented developers who can make games in a reasonable time frame that arestillcritical darlings. Team Asobi has been this wayever since it was Japan Studio. But that’s not the only key to Nintendo’s success.
Naughty Dog and Insomniac were allowed to grow and foster talent during the PS2 era, and we can trace the lessons learned from Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon to today, but this new era of gaming would never allow for that to happen.
Where PlayStation and Xbox push evermore into photorealism and cinematic prowess, chasing the world of film, Nintendo looks inward at what makes games special: the interactivity and sandbox of mechanics that give players untold freedom.The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomunderstood this better than most with its meticulous blend of puzzles and building abilities — do you snap a minecart to the track to get over the lava, or fling yourself over with a precarious slingshot? Do you beat Ganandorf in a one-on-one sword fight, or box him into a pen and bombard him with explosives?
There should be room for both approaches — if every game looked like Astro Bot and Tears of the Kingdom, the medium would be a dull place — but outside of the indie scene, Nintendo is one of the only few to adopt this approach, developing shorter, double-A games that focus less on graphics and more on what the more advanced tech allows room for. Astro Bot doesn’t use the power of the PS5 to render the pores in Crash Bandicoot’s skin, it floods its worlds with tiny little objects like an ocean of golden popcorn. It’s plain and simple fun.
Astro Bot, among the myriad Nintendo runaway success stories fromSuper Mario OdysseytoAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, is another game that proves why this outlook is vital to gaming’s future. 65 developers, the smallest first-party studio at PlayStation, made one of its most beloved games in years, proving that you don’t need bloated budgets and ten years of development time. All that does is cause an avalanche of avoidable risk, turning duds into disasters. The best games come from developers who are given room to grow, and that’s why Nintendo isthrivingwhile the rest of the industry struggles under its own weight.
Astro Bot
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