A new rumor claims that Sony is gearing up to announce a new Astro Bot game for PlayStation 5 soon. The rumor comes from Dealabs and reliable leaker Billbil-kun, who claims that Sony and developer Team Asobi will officially reveal the next adventure for the cutesy robot soon — possibly within the next two weeks.
With the Summer Game Fest kicking off in just a few weeks on June 7th, it's possible that Sony could have some announcements up its sleeve. Nothing official has been announced yet, but Sony could be planning to hold its own PlayStation live stream event showcasing new and upcoming games for the PS5.
Created by Team Asobi, which formed in 2012 as part of Japan Studio before spinning into its own independent studio within PlayStation Studios in 2021, Astro Bot has become a sort of the defacto mascot for PlayStation. The cute little robot is mostly used to showcase various tech innovations from PlayStation, although he was noticeably missing for the launch of the PS VR2.
Since 2013, there have been four "games" featuring Astro Bot. 2013's The Playroom was a casual collection of augmented reality mini-games that came pre-loaded on all PlayStation 4 consoles to demonstrate the use of the PlayStation Camera and DualShock 4. 2016's The Playroom VR consisted of a series of mini-games that were designed to demonstrate the feature of the PlayStation VR on the PS4.
2018's Astro Bot Rescue Mission was really the first time it felt like Astro Bot got his own proper game — not just a tech demo. Available for PS4's PlayStation VR, Astro Bot Rescue Mission is a 3D platformer in which players must rescue Astro's crew scattered around various worlds.
The most recent game starring the mascot was Astro's Playroom, considered by many to be one of the greatest pack-in games ever. The game was pre-installed on every PlayStation 5 and while it served as a tech demo to showcase the DualSense controller, it really did feel like a full-fledged game release.
In the 3D platformer, players controlled the title character, Astro Bot, navigating a series of worlds that explore the history of PlayStation. The game not only featured varied level designs, but tons of collectibles scattered across five worlds that are themed after each component of the console.
Astro's Playroom garnered favorable reviews and sits at an impressive 83/100 on Metacritic. A new Astro Bot game probably wouldn't garner the excitement of a AAA blockbuster, but it could be a fun casual platformer that continues to build on the series.