ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission (2018) is one in every of hottest PSVR exclusives up to now, nonetheless Sony-owned builders Workforce Asobi are releasing its broadly hyped PS5 follow-up Astro Bot with out the addition of VR assist. Don’t maintain out hope for a VR port both, because the studio has now confirmed it’s merely not within the playing cards.
Speaking to Digital Trends, Workforce Asobi studio head Nicolas Doucet confirmed the upcoming Astro Bot can’t (and received’t) ever be a VR recreation attributable to its distinctive improvement for TVs.
“We’re focusing 100% on PS5,” Doucet instructed Digital Traits. “Rescue Mission was nice enjoyable to make. Each medium has its robust factors. Within the case of a third-person recreation, whether or not you’re employed on TV or VR is radically completely different. This concept that we might add a VR mode just isn’t relevant to this type of recreation. It’s relevant to some first-person video games like racing, however not for this type of recreation. So our selection was to go 100% for TV to actually have as many individuals as potential taking part in this recreation.”
Chatting with Push Square, Doucet fleshes the choice on why it wasn’t developed with a hybrid TV/VR mindset:
“Sure video games can afford to be hybrid, like first-person video games, as a result of there’s a more in-depth similarity. However in our case, the design philosophy for each are very, very completely different. So, , it was a choice to develop on the world of Astro’s Playroom and convey Astro to the large stage. So from the start, that was actually our focus.”
Granted, Astro Bot’s origins have been first rooted in flatscreen from the start, with the character’s improvement stretching again to 2013 when PlayStation’s now defunct SIE JAPAN Studio launched the bundled mini-game demo THE PLAYROOM for PS4, which was created to indicate off the console’s then-newly launched PlayStation Digicam.
Later displaying up in 2016 on the unique PSVR, Japan Studio launched The Playroom VR, one other bundled set of mini-games, this time tasked with displaying off the headset’s capabilities.
This may finally spur Japan Studio, the place Doucet was Inventive Director and Producer of Astro Bot, to launch the full-fledged Astro Bot Rescue Mission in 2018. It’s been broadly celebrated as one in every of, if not the most effective VR video games to come back to PSVR. The truth is, we favored Astro Bot Rescue Mission a lot, we scored the VR native platformer our first [10/10] in our full review.
Then, in 2020, simply previous to Japan Studio’s closure, the studio launched Astro’s Playroom, which served as a tech demo to PS5’s DualSense controller. Workforce Asobi would dwell on, headed by Doucet, whereas Japan Studio can be shuttered by PlayStation in 2021.
Notably, Astro Bot Rescue Mission has by no means acquired a PSVR 2 port, highlighting but additional the headset’s lack of backwards compatibility with unique PSVR video games.
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Perhaps this “one for flatscreens, one for VR” sample will proceed on, however we’re not holding our breaths for now, because the studio is little doubt full steam forward on hyping the upcoming PS5 unique, which we now know for positive won’t ever come to VR headsets.