Astro Bot director lauds the PS5: “It’s brought something truly special to gaming”
The creative director and studio head of Team Asobi, Nicholas Doucet, firmly defends PlayStation 5’s contributions to gaming, stating that the console has “really brought something special,” despite widespread criticism that it represents only incremental improvements over the PS4 generation.
Now, nearly five years since its November 2020 launch, the PS5 has faced scrutiny for its graphical upgrades, which appear subtle to many players, especially when compared to late-cycle PS4 titles like The Last of Us Part II and early PS5 games, where differences might elude untrained eyes thanks to more subtle upgrades in fidelity versus its predecessor.
Doucet recently acknowledged this in an interview with The Game Business, stating, “When you put graphics side by side between an end-of-lifecycle PS4 game and early cycle PS5 games, you could argue, to an untrained eye, that it’s hard to see the difference.”
He explained that true leaps are “maybe less obvious” than past generational shifts, such as the move to HD graphics, which were immediately visually apparent. Critics have pointed out that many PS5 exclusives are cross-gen or sequels to PS4 games, with titles like Fortnite and Call of Duty performing well on older hardware, thereby diminishing the perceived need for an upgrade.
However, Doucet mentioned how the PS5’s innovations extend beyond visuals, particularly through the DualSense controller and the ultra-fast SSD, which enhance gameplay in ways that require hands-on experience to truly appreciate.
Doucet stated:
But early on with the PS5, we got the DualSense prototypes, with this haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. And we tried to understand what could be different about having this kind of trigger… We tested all of that.
With the controller, you need to hold it in your hands and get a feel for it. With the SSD… I’m thinking of things like the Souls games, where you die a lot. And when you die, you used to have to wait a long time before you got a second try. With the SSD, that becomes really, really fast. So, in terms of just the pleasure of play, that’s really increased.
Astro Bot, developed by Team Asobi, exclusively for the PS5, has garnered critical acclaim for its innovative use of the PS5’s technical capabilities. Unlike its predecessor, Astro’s Playroom, which was a free PS5 tech demo bundled with the console to showcase every DualSense feature, Astro Bot integrated the controller’s features more selectively without feeling gimmicky.
Doucet further reiterated the studio’s dedication to PlayStation hardware, stating, “We really focus on PS5. We want to take full advantage of the DualSense and SSD. There is always a way to cross bridges if we ever need it. But really, the main focus is the PlayStation console.”
While Astro Bot remains exclusive to the PlayStation franchise at least in the near future, it has received plenty of accolades over time, the most significant of which is its GOTY win at The Game Awards 2024, where it was praised for it tapping into the nostalgia factor of previous console titles, making this an important counterpoint to critics of the PS5's offerings in 2025.
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