Man, can you imagine: it’s been one whole crazy year since ASTRO BOT came out! The glories! Team Asobi developed one of the best jewels of a game, and no one really saw it coming. Then suddenly, the Game Awards decide to award an actual GAME OF THE YEAR trophy? In other words, an obscene honor upon a platformer that kind of flew in under the radar.
Gamers keep talking about it. The anniversary tweet blew up with reactions. Some super hyped claiming it a “dope game,” while others are sharing experiences of how they completed collecting every single bot in the game. Now that’s commitment, man. Other views…well, let’s just say haters will be haters. Then follows the traditional console wars, where Xbox fellas cry because it’s not on their platform and Play Station boys fire back is “keep coping Microsoft dork.” The same old story every time.
Now, the numbers say otherwise. Despite the Indigo critics faulting, Astro Bot has sold over 2 million copies at $60 each. Such big sums for a team with less than 60 developers. Someone did an estimate of $138 million in revenue, so I don’t think I would classify it as a “flop”. And if those who actually played it are to be believed, they would probably see this as “A truly fun game”. It wasn’t supposed to be a deep experience really – just a little bit of good platforming fun.
Hence, this discussion about whether it deserved to be the Game of the Year is now picking up steam in the replies. Some are calling 2024 a “dead year for gaming,” while the others just like that it wasn’t another predictable choice, like someone said-“if it couldn’t be FF7 Rebirth, they’re glad it was Astro.” Parents even share how they played it with their kids, pretty wholesome, really.
I suppose that’s one of the curiosities in the conversation, so defensive about this little robot. This one user, TheNewTomcat, is going around telling Microsoft fans to “keep crying and coping” in about five different replies. Meanwhile, Owen Miller comes in doing damage control with an explanation about how sales numbers make it a real success. There is passion on both sides.
Then comes the begging for a PC port. Of course, there must be at least this one guy asking, “PC WHEN?” even though everyone is explaining DualSense controller features are basically essential to the experience. Like, how would it even work on a normal Xbox controller? It would not. So, probably, never happening.
But there is a sincere love for this game. People aren’t defending the game only; they’re also sharing stories of 100% completing it, playing it with family, and just having a good time. In this world of live service games and microtransactions, Astro Bot was the kind of fun with which we were due.
No information is given yet about what Team Asobi is up to next, but after these sales numbers and critical acclaim? They’re definitely not going to stop now. Maybe a sequel; maybe something totally new. Either way, they’ve proven that pure distilled platforming joy still has a home in the modern video game landscape. And sometimes, that’s what need.
Happy birthday, Astro Bot. Here’s to many more years of bot collecting and smiling faces. And there’ll be some sourpusses who’ll carry on forever begrudging how it won that Game of-the-Year Award.
