Sony could release a new Astro Bot game this year, it’s claimed

Sony could be planning to release a new Astro Bot game this year, it’s been claimed.

The company revealed on Wednesday that it has no plans to release any new entries in “major” franchises like God of War of Spider-Man during its next fiscal year, which starts in April and ends in March 2025.

However, Sony may be planning to release unannounced games from other established, albeit less high-profile IPs, according to Giant Bomb reporter Jeff Grubb.

“We already know Rise of the Ronin is coming, we know that Concord, one of the live service games, is scheduled to come out this year. That’s the stuff that’s scheduled for sure,” he said.

“And then it’s like, there might be new game entries in franchises that already exist, they just might not be major in PlayStation’s eyes when they’re talking to investors. They said God of War, they said Spider-Man, these are the franchises that sell 15 million copies lifetime or more.”

Grubb added: “I’ve heard maybe Astro does happen this year, so if that happens, that’s pretty big for me. I get why Sony’s not thinking that’s a major one for us, at least not yet, hopefully they could turn it into a major one and then a lot of this changes around.”

The last entry in the Astro series was 2020’s Astro’s Playroom, a 3D platformer which comes pre-loaded on every PS5 console.

While it’s a highly regarded game in its own right, the follow-up to 2018’s PlayStation VR game Astro Bot: Rescue Mission also served as a free tech demo for PS5’s DualSense controller.

Astro developer Team Asobi was spun off into its own standalone studio in 2021, after parent company Sony Interactive Entertainment dissolved Japan Studio, the historic PlayStation group it was previously a part of.

A job listing that same year suggested the Tokyo-based studio was working on a new 3D action game, and in 2022 the company said its next title would be its “biggest to date”.