Astro Bot has sold 1.5 million copies, but Sony says the platformer's real strength is grabbing people who didn't care about games like God of War Ragnarok or Marvel's Spider-Man 2
Nov. 8, 2024The little robot that could (get people to buy first-party games again)
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
In itsQ2 financial results report,Sonyclaims that of those 1.5 million players, 37% hadn’t bought a first-partyPlayStationgame in at least two years. That means they weren’t enticed by the likes ofGod of War Ragnarok,Marvel’s Spider-Man 2,Horizon Forbidden West, or the variousLast of Usremakes and remasters. Amidst a sea of triple-A leviathans, a lot of you just wanted a cute little robot.
As well as enticing new and lapsed players to the console, “The percentage of younger age groups and families purchasing the title was much higher than other titles, and the title is contributing significantly to a widening of the user base through the acquisition of new users and the expansion of our title portfolio.”
I grew up on PlayStation’s smaller (by today’s standards, anyway) games, so it’s nice to see its platformers still win the hearts of kids the same way they used to. Sony has also said it “gained a lot of experience” fromthe recent failure of Concord.
Astro Bot has also helped maintain PlayStation’s reputation as a home for critically acclaimed games, as Sony’s report proudly notes it has a “Metacritic score of 94 and has garnered high praise from the gamer community.” The report also describes it as “a hit”, which is good to see afterSquare Enixhas said some of its gamesfailed to meet expectationsthis year.
If you haven’t secured the platinum trophy yet, read our guide on where to findall the Astro Bot collectibles.
Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
I’m Issy, a freelancer who you’ll now occasionally see over here covering news on GamesRadar. I’ve always had a passion for playing games, but I learned how to write about them while doing my Film and TV degrees at the University of Warwick and contributing to the student paper, The Boar. After university I worked at TheGamer before heading up the news section at Dot Esports. Now you’ll find me freelancing for Rolling Stone, NME, Inverse, and many more places. I love all things horror, narrative-driven, and indie, and I mainly play on my PS5. I’m currently clearing my backlog and loving Dishonored 2.
Antonblast review: “Explosively reinvents the destructive energy of Wario Land”
The joyous momentum of 16-bit Sonic is finally recaptured in 3D thanks to Penny’s Big Breakaway, once you learn its fantastic and unique controls
As the wait for Switch 2 news continues, a possible leak has some Nintendo fans convinced a blurry image features our first look at the new console
