According to multiple unnamed sources, VGC reports that Sony Japan Studio is shutting down and spinning off ASOBI Team (the Astro Bot devs) into a new standalone studio. The news comes mere days after the confirmation of a next-generation PSVR designed for PS5.
In the report from VGC, their sources say that the studio is currently winding down and it seems legitimate. Several key members of the studio have departed in recent months. According to source, the studio hasn’t been profitable in recent years and changes in leadership hadn’t helped recently. A Bloomberg report from late last year mentioned expiring contracts and the studio falling out of the spotlight of focus for the PlayStation brand.
There is of course precedence for this sort of thing happening. Last year, almost a year ago exactly in fact, it was revealed that the mysterious UK-based studio Sony founded to work on a “AAA” PSVR game was shut down before its project was even revealed. When Evolution Studios closed, DriveClub VR was shut down and pulled from the PlayStation Store. A similar situation occurred with Starblood Arena. And of course Guerilla Cambridge, the developers behind RIGS: Mechanized Combat League, was shut down shortly after the game first launched on PSVR.
While this is unfortunate news for one of the most storied Sony studios with a stable of talented developers, the good news seems to be that ASOBI Team is living on in its wake wit hopefully more resources to continue building Astro Bot games.
Let us know what you think down in the comments below! We’ve reached out to Sony for comment and will update this story if we hear back.
Nicolas Doucet, the Creative Director and Producer behind PSVR exclusive ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission (2018), has been promoted to Director of Sony Interactive Entertainment’s JAPAN Studio.
As first reported by Gematsu, Doucet is said to continue his work as a creative director at SIE Japan Studio in addition to his new role. Doucet previously worked for Sony’s London Studio and Saffire Corporation.
Initially born as a spin-off of a mini-game called ‘Robots Rescue’ from The Playroom VR, Astro Bot Rescue Mission tasks you with guiding a patently adorable robot named ASTRO as you recover his robot pals who have been scattered among the stars.
The plucky little VR-native platformer has garnered some pretty impressive review scores since its launch in October 2018, boasting a Meta Criticcomposite score of [90/100], a [4.5/5] star user review rating, and a rare [10/10] score from our full review.
Astro Bot was also lauded with a few awards, including the best VR/AR game of 2018 Game Awards and the VR Game of Year at The Edge Awards in 2018, and notable nominations by BAFTA and SXSW.
Outside of The Playroom VR and Astro Bot, SIE Japan Studio is known for developing PS platform classics Ape Escape, Shadow of the Colossus, and The Last Guardian. Other VR games produced by the studio include Déraciné and Everybody’s Golf VR.
At the time of this writing, it’s unclear whether Doucet’s promotion signals a greater focus on VR games for the studio. Having an experienced VR producer at the helm may prove beneficial however as Sony makes strides to release PlayStation 5, and later, the second iteration of PlayStation VR.
Nicolas Doucet, the Creative Director behind 2018 PSVR hit Astro Bot: Rescue Mission, is now head of Sony PlayStation’s Japan Studio, it’s been announced.
An HR announcement from Sony itself confirmed the news this weekend. Doucet now carries the title Japan Studio Studio Director. The developer previously headed up Japan Studio’s ASOBI Team, which developed Astro Bot as well as its predecessor, The Playroom VR. The Playroom launched for free alongside PSVR in 2016 and featured several mini games, including one that grew into the full Astro Bot game.
We’re hopeful that this means Japan Studio’s future involves yet more PSVR projects. To this day, Astro Bot remains one of the best PSVR games available. The third-person platformer is bursting with charm and innovation, offering an absolutely delightful and powerfully immersive gameplay experience. In fact, the game currently sits at the top of our list of best PSVR games.
There’s plenty of potential for an Astro Bot sequel, for example. In fact, scrapped plans for the original game included local multiplayer, which we’d still love to see integrated into another title.
Of course, Sony’s PlayStation 5 is on the horizon, set to launch this holiday season. It’s very likely that Japan Studio is working on projects for the new console; could it perhaps also be preparing VR games to launch on the device? We know PS5 will support the original PSVR and we also know Sony is prototyping a potential new headset, but we’re yet to see a PSVR 2 formally be announced.
What would you like to see Sony’s Japan Studio work on next in VR? Let us know in the comments below!
Astro Bot Rescue Mission (2018), the VR platformer that’s still wowing PSVR users well after its October 2nd launch, took home the title of ‘Best VR/AR Game’ at last night’s Game Awards.
The category specified that the winner would be crowned this year’s “best game experience playable in virtual or augmented reality, irrespective of platform.” Other games competing in the category were Beat Saber, Firewall Zero Hour, Moss, and Tetris Effect.
Developed by Sony Interactive entertainment’s JAPAN Studio, Astro Bot is essentially a full length spin-off of a mini-game called ‘Robots Rescue’ that was part of The Playroom VR, a free collection of co-op mini-games bundled with PSVR.
The charming, well-realized platformer puts you in control of a robot named Astro, tasking you both with collecting his missing buddies with the help of an ever-growing array of unique tools that pop out of your DualShock 4 controller.
In our review, Road to VR Executive Editor Ben Lang called Astro Bot a “superb game; the promising result of tasking a group of clearly talented game designers and developers with building a game around a brand new medium like VR.”
Continuing:
The game expertly executes every idea it brings to the table. There’s charm throughout, derived from excellent animation, art direction, FX and SFX, right down to the interactive credits sequence. Astro Bot Rescue Mission claims our first 10 out of 10 because it’s full of smart VR game design, and plays to the platform’s strengths while avoiding its weaknesses. In addition to having the right amount of content to leave the player with a truly satisfying experience, it’s hard to imagine many ways in which the game could have been better made.
The Game Awards 2018 held its much-coveted event last night in Los Angeles, awarding accolades to some of the best videogames available over the last 12 months. The show has grown so much in scale that it’s now used as a platform for big announcements, with Ubisoft revealing Far Cry: New Dawn, and Epic Games officially launching the Epic Games Store. When it comes to virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), these technologies are still on the fringe, with the only mention being the winner of the VR/AR category, PlayStation VR exclusive Astro Bot Rescue Mission.
It was almost a given that Astro Bot Rescue Mission would likely come out on top thanks to all the positive reviews the videogame has had, demonstrating that VR doesn’t necessarily need to be in first-person to offer an engaging and immersive experience.
That’s not to say that its competitors were of a lesser calibre, with Tetris Effect, Firewall Zero Hour, and Moss all deserving of a place. And Beat Saber did well considering its still an Early Access title on PC, and only just arrived for PlayStation VR.
In VRFocus’review of Astro Bot Rescue Missionwe gave it a solid four stars, saying: “While Astro Bot Rescue Mission isn’t quite as charming as Moss, or as superbly crafted as Mario Odyssey, it is a great old-school platformer for the VR era, bringing some of the best features of both 2D and 3D platformers of old and incorporating VR in a way that doesn’t feel awkward. This is a fun, lighthearted way to spend some time in VR, and worth checking out.”
Hopefully, in future years VR and AR will gain a more prominent place in the videogame industry and at these type of award shows. Until then VRFocus will keep championing the technology.
Unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in June, FromSoftware and Japan Studio’s upcoming virtual reality (VR) title Déraciné is due to hit PlayStation VR next week. Ahead of launch Masaaki Yamagiwa, Producer, SIE Japan Studio, has revealed a few more details about the adventure videogame, regarding both the story and how it came to fruition.
Via the PlayStation Blog today Yamagiwa explains that: “Déraciné got its start as the Japan Studio and FromSoftware team tried to see if we could provide players with an entirely new experience by creating a classic adventure game using the VR technology.
“When director Hidetaka Miyazaki first experienced VR, he felt an impressive sense of presence – as if VR characters existed while simultaneously feeling absent and disconnected from our world. Déraciné is a game that tries to capture this strange feeling that is unique to VR and create an interesting experience by making this concept the core of its setting and world”
As for the story: “Players take on the role of an invisible faerie who appears in an old secluded boarding school where six students, and their aging headmaster reside. As players explore a world where time stands still, they will gather various bits of important information that will help unfold a mystery.”
VRFocuspreviewed Déraciné at E3 2018, finding the title to be ‘enthralling through its aesthetic design and narrative driven gameplay’, however ‘there’s a question over how linear the entire experience will eventually be and how much control you’ll actually have.’
“Déraciné is a game that may not have been made if it was not for the VR platform, and shows our take on what a VR game can be,” Yamagiwa adds.
Déraciné will launch for PlayStation VR on 6th November 2018. It is available for pre-order on PlayStation Store with two bonuses; Déraciné Dynamic Theme – Classroom and Déraciné Avatar Set (6 PSN Avatars). For further updates on Déraciné keep reading VRFocus.
One of the most highly anticipated virtual reality (VR) titles to come to the PlayStation VR was none other than Astro Bot Rescue Mission. Developed by Sony Japan Studio the title has been on many peoples radars for sometime and now following its release it seems that it has been somewhat of a success, as it now stands as the highest rated VR videogame of all time.
As reported by gamingbolt, Astro Bot Rescue Mission is doing surprisingly well on a number of different aggregator websites. This includes Opencritic where the title has a rating of 89 and is one of the highest rated titles of the year. On top of that the aggregator VR Game Critic has the score for the title at 91 making it the highest rated VR videogame on their record. If that was not enough than Metacritic, one of the more popular aggregator sites, sees the title again standing as the highest rated VR videogame of all time with a score of 90 and a user score of 9.0 from over 200 ratings.
These numbers go to show just how magical the title is and how much of a success the launch as been. Though there is no information available at this time regarding sale numbers, it is clear that it has done well with those playing it regardless of how many that might be.
VRFocus’ Staff Writer Rebecca Hills-Duty reviewed Astro Bot Rescue Mission giving it plenty of praise and saying: “While Astro Bot Rescue Mission isn’t quite as charming as Moss, or as superbly crafted as Mario Odyssey, it is a great old-school platformer for the VR era, bringing some of the best features of both 2D and 3D platformers of old and incorporating VR in a way that doesn’t feel awkward. This is a fun, lighthearted way to spend some time in VR, and worth checking out.”
If that was not enough, the title has also been confirmed to have a demo coming soon as well which will give players who have yet to try it out a chance to experience the adventure for themselves. Though only a small taste of the full journey, starting on October 16th PlayStation VR owners can download the free demo and joy the fun.
VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on Astro Bot Rescue Mission in the future so make sure to stay tuned for more.
Astro Bot Rescue Mission (2018) is objectively an overwhelmingly great VR game, earning our first ever [10/10] review rating for good reason. Starting next week, you’ll be able to find out why when a free demo lands on the PlayStation Store.
On October 16th, you’ll be able to strap into your PSVR and play a little bit of the charming single-player VR platformer, which exclusively uses DualShock 4 controller.
In our review, Road to VR’s Ben Lang calls Astro Bot “a genre-defining moment for VR platforming on PSVR,” and says it has “tremendous polish and excellent game design.” Check out our full review of Astro Bot Rescue Mission to see just why it scored so highly.
And we know what you’re thinking; Astro Bot was created by Sony’s Japan Studio, so that means it’s a definite platform exclusive.
This week saw the long awaited release of Sony Japan Studios virtual reality (VR) platformer Astro Bot Rescue Mission. Featuring the lovable robot character which first made its appearance in PlayStation VR Worlds, the adorable character now gets its own fully realised adventure and what any experience it is. So naturally VRFocus recorded some gameplay footage to show you what it’s all about.
If you’ve somehow managed to miss all the coverage regarding Astro Bot Rescue Mission the title features 26 levels across five different worlds ranging from city, sky, water and fire stages. Each has its own puzzles to solve, plenty of collectibles to find and boss battles to face at the end. Fully controlled using the DualShock 4 gamepad, Astro Bot: Rescue Mission furthers the immersion by putting the controller in the videogame, using it to not only collect Astro Bots but help the main character as well.
The title has already seen universal acclaim from media outlets, with VRFocus giving it an impressive four star review, saying: “While Astro Bot Rescue Mission isn’t quite as charming as Moss, or as superbly crafted as Mario Odyssey, it is a great old-school platformer for the VR era, bringing some of the best features of both 2D and 3D platformers of old and incorporating VR in a way that doesn’t feel awkward. This is a fun, lighthearted way to spend some time in VR, and worth checking out.”
The gameplay video showcases plenty of action, with Astro Bot traversing thin ledges, taking out enemies and collecting those all important coins. Also there’s the all important human interaction, not merely controlling the little robot but also getting the controller involved to help solve puzzles, there’s even points where you have to head butt obstacles.
Astro Bot Rescue Mission is out now exclusively for PlayStation VR. It can also be found in a new bundle which became available yesterday for North American customers for $299.99 USD (MSRP) / $379.99 CAD (MSRP). For further news or updates on Astro Bot Rescue Mission, keep reading VRFocus.
The release of ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission, coming Tuesday, will be a genre-defining moment for VR platforming on PSVR. The game is expertly designed, animated, and rendered. Full of charm and the right amount of content, Astro Bot Rescue Mission is the first title we’ve scored 10 out of 10 since the launch of PSVR nearly two years ago.
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment Developer: JAPAN Studio Available On: PlayStation VR (PS4, PS4 Pro) [Exclusive] Reviewed On: PS4 Pro Release Date: October 2nd, 2018
Gameplay
Astro Bot Rescue Mission is a spin-off of a mini-game called ‘Robots Rescue’ that was part of The Playroom VR, a free collection of co-op mini-games bundled with PSVR and created by Sony Interactive Entertainment’s JAPAN Studio. While the co-op is gone, Astro Bot Rescue Mission brings a heaping helping of single-player fun as you guide the adorable ASTRO, the captain bot, on a quest to recover his bot friends who have been scattered among the stars.
Gameplay in Astro Bot Rescue mission is most closely related to a platformer, but instead of typical side-scrolling, you’ll actually be traveling forward through each level as you follow behind ASTRO (who is controlled with the PS4 gamepad). Even though you’re on rails yourself, levels happen all around you as you guide ASTRO up, down, under, and over in clever ways that do a great job of taking advantage of the rich depth and scale afforded by VR.
Hearkening back to seminal platformers like Donkey Kong Country (1994), Astro Bot Rescue Mission lures players around the environment with shiny coins to collect from one platform to the next, with eight of ASTRO’s little bot friends hiding in each level waiting to be found.
While the path forward is usually easy to see, observant players will find secret passages in places that others didn’t think to look. For the most part, the majority of the bots to be found in every level are easy to see if not hear, but a few are usually tucked away in these secret spots, making it almost a guarantee that you’ll revisit some of the levels to find the bots you missed the first time around.
The game is constantly introducing new mechanics and scenarios to the underlying platforming while managing the keep gameplay highly intuitive and not overwhelming the player, making the whole bout feel engaging and fun throughout.
Some of the most interesting and interactive gameplay comes with the virtual tools that are equipped to your gamepad in certain stages. You’ll come across a grappling hook, a water gun, a shuriken launcher, and more, all of which task you with aiming your motion tracked gamepad into the game world to help ASTRO along his way.
Light combat also graces the game, giving ASTRO two ways of damaging enemies: punching or lasering (with the lasers that shoot out of ASTRO’s boots, also functioning as a double-jump). There’s only a handful of enemy types, most of which die in one shot. While there’s a few sub-varieties of each enemy type, I would have liked to see a greater variety of enemies facilitating a wider range of player tactics.
Players will need to have collected a certain number of bots to unlock the boss of each world they visit, though in my playthrough I never once had less than the number of bots needed to unlock the boss, so this will probably only restrict less experienced gamers. Even so, after completing the game I revisited several levels to find some of the missing bots; the gameplay is so enjoyable that it doesn’t feel anything like a grind, and instead feels like a fun challenge.
Each of the six boss fights is a remarkable encounter with a giant baddie bot, expertly animated and filled with personality. The encounters put typical boss-battle structures to great use in VR, as bosses establish attack patterns that ramp up in complexity throughout the fight, escalating through several stages as the boss takes damage. The battles involve both ASTRO and the player, as you’ll need to use one of the virtual tools to help defeat the boss. While the game normally gives the player just one hit point, you’ve got three in boss battles. Hitting the right notes of fun and challenge, it’s very satisfying to win the fight on the first try.
Each level also has a single chameleon hidden somewhere which is collected by looking at it long enough to activate it. The chameleons blend in to whatever surface they’re on, but make a signature sound which will give you a good idea of where to start looking. Each chameleon you find unlocks 1 of 26 Challenge stages.
The Challenge stages are a significant addition to the game’s content, and instead of being mere filler (like timed or reversed versions of existing stages), most are completely custom mini-levels—some even including gameplay which doesn’t exist in any of the main levels—many of which are genuinely challenging and will have you trying over and over again to achieve either a silver or gold rank. The only repeated content in the Challenge stages are the game’s six boss fights in which you’re tasked to defeat the bosses without taking any damage. Frankly, the boss fights are so fun that this didn’t feel like filler either as they’re worth experiencing more than once.
The bots that you rescue in each level are all gathered back at the ASTRO BOT ship, which you can visit at any time. Inside you’ll find all of the bots that you’ve rescued, and you’ll be able to run, jump and play around with them as they follow ASTRO wherever they go. With hundreds of bots to be rescued, it becomes increasingly fun (and impressive from a technical standpoint) to watch the little critters swarm around the room, jumping on trampolines and going down slides in pursuit of ASTRO.
Screenshot by Road to VR
Inside the ship you can also spend the coins you’ve collected to activate a virtual claw machine where you can fish for differently colored spheres, each containing a miniature vignette of the game’s environments and enemies. Each color corresponds to a treasure chest in the ship which upon activation replaces the ship’s interior with a play set that that ASTRO can explore. Unfortunately when the chests are loaded the rescued bots disappear, but as you collect more pieces of each set, the scenes become increasingly interactive with enemies and articulating elements.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Astro Bot Rescue Mission was a $60 game given its tremendous polish and excellent game design. And yet it’s priced at $40 which feels like an especially good value for what’s included. It took me nearly nine hours to complete all of the stages, including unlocking all of the challenge stages and achieving at least a silver rank in each. While I missed a few of the chameleons (which unlock the Challenge stages) in my first go through the main stages, it didn’t feel much like a chore to go back and find the remaining holdouts, especially because the reward was new Challenge stages to play.
Immersion
Image courtesy SIE JAPAN Studio
Astro Bot Rescue Mission makes excellent use of scale and space. Not only will levels have ASTRO running on the left and right of the player, often times the bot will be high above or way below, forcing you to look far down you to see where you’re guiding ASTRO. These moments make great use of the headset’s stereoscopy, especially at times when ASTRO jumps on a trampoline and comes rocketing back up to the player’s level. Every once and a while you’ll need turn around, nearly facing backgrounds, to guide ASTRO to a secret. Sometimes you’ll need to lean forward to get a new perspective when it seems like there’s no way forward.
While the bulk of the action in Astro Bot Rescue Mission involves guiding little ASTRO around each level, the player exists in the world too, and the game creates fun scenarios which remind you of this fact. Importantly, the player’s PS4 gamepad, tracked by the camera, is always represented inside the game. Not only is this a smart and simple way to make sure players can see which buttons to hit as they are coming to grips with the controls, but it’s also used a smart opportunity to let the player feel like they’re reaching right into the game world.
That’s especially apparent in some levels where a chest appears in front of the player and asks to insert the gamepad as a key to unlock the chest. Upon doing so, the gamepad gets locked into the key slot as the chest opens up and reveals a virtual tool that will become equipped to the gamepad for use throughout the level.
Image courtesy SIE JAPAN Studio
One of the more frequently used tools is the grappling hook. Flicking the touchpad on the PS4 gamepad ejects the hook in the direction the gamepad is facing. Players will use the grappling hook to defeat enemies, reveal passages, and occasionally as a tightrope for ASTRO to climb across.
Your head is also at times an important tool, as you’ll be asked to headbutt certain obstacles, or look at which target that you want ASTRO to throw a ball. Thoughtful effects grace your visor, like water droplets that roll down your view after being submerged in water, or goo balls shot by certain enemies which obscure your vision (shake your head to throw it off!).
Although the player is made to be present in the world, I didn’t find any instances in the game where taking damage yourself (as opposed to ASTRO) would result in any real consequences. That said, if you get hit by something that would hurt ASTRO, a ‘broken screen’ effect is shown on your headset which gives you the small consequence of slightly obscuring your vision before it fades away.
Screenshot by Road to VR
While Astro Bot Rescue Mission doesn’t quite incite Presense (the feeling that the virtual world around you is actually real), it does create a rich and engaging world. Levels are flush with environmental details that respond to seemingly everything you do; whether that be the way that ASTRO’s lasers make ripples in lava or how enemies react to getting sprayed with water, everything feels alive.
From top to bottom, Astro Bot Rescue Mission is impeccably animated and rendered. Objects gleam with realistic reflections and glow, and explode or react with beautiful effects and sounds that are consistently satisfying, from collecting a chest full of coins to discovering a secret passage by destroying a false wall.
Image courtesy SIE JAPAN Studio
While spatial audio is used to help the player locate some of the more challenging hidden bots and chameleons, the audio channel is at times overcrowded with everything that’s happening, sometimes making it difficult to understand where sounds are coming from. Some levels start with no music and minimal sound effects, a nice respite from the otherwise heavily populated audio channel.
While the game’s music is certainly catchy in the moment, I didn’t find that it established particularly memorable themes, which is a shame considering that a great game deserves a great soundtrack. Still, the music was at least fitting throughout, fitting the game’s fun and cheerful theme.
Comfort
Screenshot by Road to VR
Although ASTRO winds up running all over the place, for the most part the player is floating forward at a steady rate along a perfectly straight invisible rail. Every few levels will have ASTRO and the player get on an elevator that takes them diagonally up or down to a new section of the level. While this could bother some of the most sensitive players, for me the slow and consistent pace of the movement was easily tolerable and I never found myself feeling any amount of nausea.
If you’re keen on digging up all of the game’s secrets, you’ll have to occasionally crane your neck straight up, down, or look directly behind you. This can be a little uncomfortable depending upon your seating arrangement, but it happens infrequently enough that it isn’t a bother.
Astro Bot Rescue Mission relies somewhat heavily on 3D depth to help players judge jumps, especially when ASTRO is far away from the player. Players without strong stereo vision may find the game more challenging than others. Smart cues like ASTRO’s lasers (which shoot directly downward from his legs while double jumping), are useful to help gauge landings.
