Astro’s Playroom developer Team Asobi formally becomes newest internal PlayStation Studios team

Astro’s Playroom developer Team Asobi formally becomes newest internal PlayStation Studios team
Ben Borthwick Updated on by

Posted in News

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Sony Interactive Entertainment has formally made Astro’s Playroom developers an official internal PlayStation Studios studio.

In a PlayStation blog post welcoming the Tokyo-based developer, Creative and Studio Director Nicolas Doucet said “Following the release of Astro’s Playroom for PlayStation 5, Team Asobi is now spreading its wings and growing bigger! This is a very exciting time for the team, and we are very much looking forward to this next chapter. We wanted to take this chance to thank all of you, the PlayStation fans, for your kind words of support over the years, especially since Astro made its big debut on PlayStation 5 alongside the DualSense wireless controller.”

“While we are growing and challenging bigger things,” Doucet contiunued, “Our mission at heart remains the same as ever: bring you PlayStation magic, innovation and put smiles on your faces with fun, colorful games for all ages.”

The team was first established in 2012 as a offshoot of Sony’s Japan Studio and mainly worked on tech demos showcasing the capabilities of the at-the-time new PlayStation 4 hardware, including creating The Playroom which launched with the console in 2013. By 2018, the team would be responsible for Astro Bot: Rescue Mission for the PlayStation VR and then created the wonderful Astro’s Playroom for PlayStation 5.

It was reported back in February that Sony would be closing the Japan Studio from which Team Asobi spawned, with the remains of the long-time first party studio being “re-centered” around Team Asobi, “allowing the team to focus on a single vision and build on the popularity of Astro’s Playroom.”

There’s no word on what Team Asobi are working on right now, although of course E3 is literally right around the corner, and there’s also the small matter of the next-generation PlayStation VR headset which will be heading to the PlayStation 5 hopefully by next year, so maybe we’ll hear more soon.