While we’ve seen Sony in recent years pivot their strategy by releasing a bunch of live-service titles – both to great success and monumental failure – the console maker has taken note of the popularity of last year’s Astro Bot. As a result, the company has announced plans to release more family-oriented games…alongside new live-service titles.

As part of the company’s latest fiscal earnings call (and reported on by VGC), Sony’s president Hiroki Totoki shared his thoughts on Team Asobi’s Game of the Year winning 3D mascot platformer ‘Astro Bot’, saying:

“At The Game Awards 2024, our first-party title Astro Bot won four categories, including Game of the Year and Best Family Game – the most of any title.”

Totoki continued, “In addition, the live service game Helldivers 2, which was released in February last year, won Best Ongoing Game and Best Multiplayer Game awards. The fact that titles in genres we are planning to expand in the future, including titles for families and live service games, have received these awards is a major stride towards building a broad title portfolio.”

While Totoki made it clear that Sony will continue to pursue its live-service endeavours, it is encouraging to see that the success of the single-player Astro Bot has resonated with the company. Hopefully the console maker manages to strike the right balance between the two.

In the meantime, Team Asobi have announced their latest update for Astro Bot, introducing 5 new levels, PS5 Pro support and more.

KitGuru says: Was Astro Bot your 2024 GOTY? What do you want to see next in terms of ‘family games’? Is the age of the mascot platformer once again on the horizon? Let us know down below.

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