Support NeoGAF

[nial]

Hermen, given the outpouring of enthusiasm around the title and the character, are you considering putting more resources behind the development of more family-friendly titles?

HH: I think it’s massively important that PlayStation Studios develops games in various genres and the family market is really important for us to focus on.

At the beginning of the project we talked a little bit about platformers. So many great ones have come out of Japan. [Team ASOBI’s] delivering a massive game that plays like some of the best in that genre. And again, it is so accessible that the audience for that will range from new players to young players, but also, players of my age that keep enjoying challenges.

There's more stuff in this piece if anyone wants to check it out.

PlayStation Podcast Celebrates the Launch of ASTRO BOT

To celebrate the launch of ASTRO BOT, we recently had the chance to chat with Team ASOBI Studio Director, Nicolas “Nico” Doucet, and Sony Interactive Entertainment’s CEO of the Studio Business Group, Hermen Hulst, to talk all things Astro and what it takes to create and deliver an instant...

sonyinteractive.com

 

[Trogdor1123]

So what I’m hearing is another killzone is coming…

 

[R6Rider]

Family?

 

[Zacfoldor]

Awe hell yeah! We eatin' boys!

Who said Nintendo wasn't a competitor now?

 

[Mownoc]

Yes it is. Bring back Motorstorm and Sly Cooper.

 

[Loomy]

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

and don't put it on switch you stupid cunt

 

[Killjoy-NL]

But Gaf told me Hulst wants to shut down Team Asobi and doesn't want Astro Bot?

 

[SEGAvangelist]

So what I’m hearing is another killzone is coming…

LEGO Killzone

 

[Nankatsu]

They really love their family, to throw 100M $ down the drain in one specific case, lmao.

I would very much like to know Astro Bot's development cost in comparison.

 

[GymWolf]

But Gaf told me Hulst wants to shut down Team Asobi and doesn't want Astro Bot?

Maybe he is bipolar?!

 

[Pelao]

During the PS3 era they had so many franchises running at the same time, multiple in the same genre even but each with their own twist.
Now it's almost all the same movie game format.
I hope they can go back to the glory of those times.

 

[gow3isben]

Shut up and make more linear single player games

 

[Killer8]

>SIE blog interview

Even Sony interviewing themselves are not so subtly hinting they need to put more money into single player...

 

[MSduderino]

hot take - family friendly games > GaaS games

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Maybe he is bipolar?!

That's possible.

Or it's typical Gaf flavor-of-the-day logic.

Best part of the interview is Hulst stating they are expanding their library to be more than just their liniear story-driven games.
As it once was.

 

[DR3AM]

Astro Bot live service extraction shooter game incoming

 

[Rocco Schiavone]

With the budget for Concord, you could definitely have developed 2-3 Socom games.

You suck Hermen.

 

[SplunkyMunkey]

Killzone battlefield!!

 

[mansoor1980]

family friendly games?

 

[Physiognomonics]

Give me a break. First you have no right to congrat yourself for Astrobot because without Shu support there would not be Doucet's team and this game. Second you failed and should just quit.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Sack boy, Spider-Man and Kratos tells the world you’re taking everyone into consideration, at some point Horizon 3 will come out, I think Sony thinks of everyone.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

This is good and I hope Hulst & the rest of SIE follow through on this. The Jason Schreier article that went up today is a good companion piece to this; SIE could be serving so many segments simultaneously with more 1P AA productions like Astro Bot, or those leveraging legacy IP. They don't have to just keep pushing for big AAA Hollywood-style pieces or GAAS stuff like Concord (which, well, that one clearly didn't work out).

There is a rumor of SIE working with SEGA & Bandai-Namco to bring back some legacy IP as AA stuff, like Wipeout; I hope that rumor ends up being true. And while at it, no reason they can't bring back some other IP like Boku no Natsuyasumi, Parappa, Jet Moto etc. as 1P AA traditional or in a couple cases even as (well-managed) live service games. They're obvious complements to the Spidermans, God of Wars, Horizons etc.

If SIE got that figured out and scaled back on redundancies in budget with some of the AAA stuff (i.e stop hiring costly, worthless "consultancy firms", less reliance on Hollywood writers and VAs when there's plenty of talent outside of that space for the same tasks, etc.), and fixed their multiplatform strategy (I am NOT saying they cease ports to PC or even other platforms like Switch altogether, BUT they need to be a lot more conservative with what games get ported and when), they'd probably be untouchable.

 

[Hohenheim]

Isn't this the geezer that had his ps5 upside down in a photo he put out some time back?

 

[mckmas8808]

LEGO Killzone

YO! That would be

 

[CompleteGlobalSaturation]

YO! That would be

Or just release Killzone 2 and 3 in 4K60 + the original multiplayer.

 

[Stamps1646]

I know ND doesn't want to make another Jax and Daxter, but what about other Sony studios?
I would love to see this series returned.

 

[mckmas8808]

They really love their family, to throw 100M $ down the drain in one specific case, lmao.

I would very much like to know Astro Bot's development cost in comparison.

65 devs working on it for 3 years in Japan. We can guess the ceiling of the budget and it's no more than $60 million.

 

[Physiognomonics]

Now sure you realize how important Atrobot is, but did you show the same confidence you gave Concord and the other woke garbage that is going to be released? Where is the interview where you state Astrobot would be the most important game on Playstation or something similar? Go away and let passionate gamers in charge.

 

[Hrk69]

I know ND doesn't want to make another Jax and Daxter, but what about other Sony studios?
I would love to see this series returned.

Why? The people that made the original games are long gone.

 

[mckmas8808]

This is good and I hope Hulst & the rest of SIE follow through on this. The Jason Schreier article that went up today is a good companion piece to this; SIE could be serving so many segments simultaneously with more 1P AA productions like Astro Bot, or those leveraging legacy IP. They don't have to just keep pushing for big AAA Hollywood-style pieces or GAAS stuff like Concord (which, well, that one clearly didn't work out).

There is a rumor of SIE working with SEGA & Bandai-Namco to bring back some legacy IP as AA stuff, like Wipeout; I hope that rumor ends up being true. And while at it, no reason they can't bring back some other IP like Boku no Natsuyasumi, Parappa, Jet Moto etc. as 1P AA traditional or in a couple cases even as (well-managed) live service games. They're obvious complements to the Spidermans, God of Wars, Horizons etc.

If SIE got that figured out and scaled back on redundancies in budget with some of the AAA stuff (i.e stop hiring costly, worthless "consultancy firms", less reliance on Hollywood writers and VAs when there's plenty of talent outside of that space for the same tasks, etc.), and fixed their multiplatform strategy (I am NOT saying they cease ports to PC or even other platforms like Switch altogether, BUT they need to be a lot more conservative with what games get ported and when), they'd probably be untouchable.

They've already talked about this. Sony said this earlier this year. This is from their PowerPoint Presentation

 

[adamsapple]

Cooking Mama: Forbidden West

 

[Killjoy-NL]

They've already talked about this. Sony said this earlier this year. This is from their PowerPoint Presentation

This clearly shows that Sony (and Hulst) is very much aware of what makes Playstation a strong brand, hence the focus on their main studios doing what they're supposed to do.

 

[Physiognomonics]

Cooking Mama: Forbidden West

They'll never do something in the same quality of any Nintendo production. They didn't listen the complaints from gamers in their last Horizon. (Melee) Combat still sucks, RPG tree is even more useless, No balance whatesover in crafting, exploration is becoming more and more uninteresting and useless, and worse the game is becoming more and more woke, which wouldn't be a problem if the rest was OK but it starting to make stories shit and cliche.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

They've already talked about this. Sony said this earlier this year. This is from their PowerPoint Presentation

Yeah, I remember this part of the investor's call, but these are still just bullet points. Not too much in terms of details they could squeeze on those slides.

Things I'd still like to know from SIE:

-Has the earmarks between GAAS and traditional games been adjusted? Last I saw was 60% GAAS/40% traditional for FY '25; is it now the inverse?​

​

-How much of the budget for internal production is split between AAA and how much for AA?​

​

-How many planned releases in that funding window are for existing IP vs new IP?​

​

-Have plans for ports to platforms like PC or other consoles changed? If so, how?​

Those are some important questions to answer still, IMO.

 

[digdug2]

This clearly shows that Sony (and Hulst) is very much aware of what makes Playstation a strong brand, hence the focus on their main studios doing what they're supposed to do.

I think that they fully understand, but game development takes ages now. And if they were to take a different tack, say last year, we aren't looking to see these tentpole games for years.

 

[Rudius]

All genres, except woke gaas, for fvck's sake!

 

[R6Rider]

All genres, except woke gaas, for fvck's sake!

Well you're in luck, because GAAS isn't a genre.

 

[[Sigma]]

 

[semiconscious]

herman hulst 'strategy': wait & see which sony game is massively successful, & then announce that the market for that type of game is massively important...

works every time...

 

[nial]

But Gaf told me Hulst wants to shut down Team Asobi and doesn't want Astro Bot?

The studio was literally established under Hermen Hulst's watch.

Give me a break. First you have no right to congrat yourself for Astrobot because without Shu support there would not be Doucet's team and this game. Second you failed and should just quit.

Man, why are you letting your hatred for this guy stop you from thinking in a rational way? As I said above, Hermen Hulst was the one driving force behind getting Doucet's team to become its own department at SIE, and look at the production values of the game. Isn't that enough support for you?
And yes, as the main supervisor of the game, he has every right to be proud of it.

 

[ReyBrujo]

That's the correct approach, even if there are fans who are too macho for them.

 

[PixelatedBeast]

I know ND doesn't want to make another Jax and Daxter, but what about other Sony studios?
I would love to see this series returned.

I think thats what the Bluepoint or the Days Gone devs just went through 2 years ago. There were reports of those studios saying they dont want to be seen as support studios anymore, so not likely to be an in house team that will make it.

 

[CamHostage]

Why? The people that made the original games are long gone.

Sure, and the people at ND now want to do things besides Jak & Daxter even if they were connected with the originals.
But the gameplay and characters are fun, and the concept is flexible to expand play systems/story in a sequel. It could work.

Granted. I only really loved 2 of the 5 J&D games (the Orig and Daxter PSP are great; 2 was uneven and 'grrrrr' but had some fun levels, 3 I was oddly cold on due to its barren and 'metal' concept and some design choices I wasn't enjoying but I should give it more of a shake, and Lost Frontier had a good notion to go back to color and adventure but it suffered some core camera failings and physics wonkiness which made it hard to play.) So I'm not crying that it's gone. But if Hulst wants fam games, this is a good place to start IMO.

 

[Last Hearth]

Basically hoping parents are the last batch of normies who will buy anything for their kids, oblivious to all the woke element their developers inject into them, let's see how hopping on the Disney plan will work out for them.

 

[squidilix]

I don't trust Hermen when he was ok to kill Japan Studio and sayign "nah, Concord and Firewalk is damn good, we gonna buy it"

This guys is the new Phil Spencer.

 

[Negotiator101]

But Gaf told me Hulst wants to shut down Team Asobi and doesn't want Astro Bot?

Who said that then?

 

[nial]

I don't trust Hermen when he was ok to kill Japan Studio and sayign "nah, Concord and Firewalk is damn good, we gonna buy it"

This guys is the new Phil Spencer.

I have no idea how many times this needs to be said, but Japan Studio's Internal Development Department was just restructured into becoming Team Asobi. How can you even look at Astro Bot and think that Sony is against these types of games?

 

[ElCasual]

Why he is still there? Is a F clown

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

But Gaf told me Hulst wants to shut down Team Asobi and doesn't want Astro Bot?

He's like a politician, capitalizing on other people's success.

If it were for him, Team Asobi would be Team Aloy, with the only mission of bringing everybody's favorite redhead to every living room and screen across the globe.