Following a myriad of leaks and rumors, Sony officially announced Astro Bot at the latest State of Play show. The follow-up to 2020’s Astro’s Playroom, this is the full-fledged Astro Bot game fans have been waiting for, complete with much deeper gameplay mechanics and more of the PlayStation Easter eggs fans have come to love and expect. Set for release this Holiday season, this is sure to be an exciting title and a refreshing change of pace from PlayStation’s current first-party approach.

While this announcement was arguably the most exciting part of the State of Play show, one topic of conversation around the show was that the game would not feature any PlayStation VR2 support. Given that Astro Bot’s first major game was 2018’s Astro Bot: Rescue Mission on the PlayStation VR, some were hoping to see the newest game feature some VR2 compatibility. Without question, it’s sad that the game will not feature such support, but it’s probably for the best that it doesn’t.

Astro Made His Name in VR

In his earliest stages, the Astro Bot character first truly began making a name for himself in the world of virtual reality. While Team Asobi’s robot mascot made his debut in 2013’s The Playroom, a free PlayStation 4 app serving as a test of the PlayStation Camera, this would later receive an expansion in the form of The Playroom VR. This title even featured a mini-game called Robots Rescue, where you controlled Astro Bot in platformer-like sections that tasked you with saving other robots.

This was perhaps the standout mode in the game, so much so that fans and writers expressed their hope for the minigame to be turned into a full-fledged title. Team Asobi listened and fleshed out this mode into 2018’s Astro Bot: Rescue Mission, a full-blown 3D platformer featuring the titular character saving his crew of lost robots across a variety of worlds. It was quickly lauded as a standout title on the PlayStation VR, and planted the seeds for the franchise to continue into 2020’s Astro’s Playroom, as well as the aforementioned Astro Bot set for release this year.

One of the biggest commonalities between all of these titles is that they all served as demonstrates of some kind of Sony tech. The Playroom was an early showcase of the DualShock 4 and – more notably – the PlayStation Camera, while The Playroom VR and Astro Bot: Rescue Mission showcases the potential of the first PlayStation VR headset. Meanwhile, Astro’s Playroom was bundled with every PlayStation 5 console as a showcase of the PlayStation 5’s faster load times, as well as the new features of the DualSense controller, such as the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers.

Thus, given that the series has always done a fantastic job showing Sony’s tech, there was some hope that a new Astro Bot title would demonstrate some of the power of the new PlayStation VR2 headset. After all, Sony has not released a first-party VR2 since 2023’s Firewall Ultra and has gone about closing studios that specialize in virtual reality titles, so an Astro Bot game feels like it would’ve given the headset a much-needed jolt of life. Unfortunately, while VR2 support could be added post-release, the fact that it doesn’t appear to be there right from the start may just be another nail in the coffin of Sony’s headset.

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But It’s Better If You Do…Without VR

Truly, the lack of VR2 compatibility in Astro Bot is very sad. Sony has made an impressive piece of hardware with the PlayStation VR2, one that I feel surpasses the first VR headset in almost every conceivable way. They set themselves up for a perfect opportunity to expand their chances in the VR landscape with this new headset, only to then completely forget to have their own first-party publishers make games for it. It’s like they fumbled the ball in the end zone with two seconds left on the clock when the ball was right in front of their faces.

Team Asobi seemed like the developer Sony could trust to make a great PlayStation VR2 game with their eyes closed. Further, with the Astro Bot character being so familiar with the world of VR, it seemed like a brand-new game could benefit from being in that world. If nothing else, it could’ve been a hybrid game, where the VR option was available but gamers could choose to play in flat mode if they desired. It’s sad to see that this may not even be the case, but all in all, it might be for the best that Astro Bot is sticking to being a strictly flat title.

No matter the type of content it has, interest in virtual reality is down exponentially right now. Even if you release the greatest game of all time on the PlayStation VR2, it’ll be hard to convince many people to buy a VR headset, especially when the asking price is close to the asking price of the PlayStation 5 itself (and the launch price was higher than the console itself). Furthermore, Astro Bot has been touted as Team Asobi’s biggest project yet, and even if it appears to be on a smaller scale than Sony’s other first-party titles, that doesn’t mean it won’t be expensive to produce. After all, even a game like 2021’s Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart cost a pretty decent penny to make.

Releasing a game like this for a “niche” add-on like the VR2 might cut into its sales, and stop it from reaching as many customers as possible. Thus, it’s probably the best idea for Sony and Team Asobi to keep it as a proper PlayStation 5 title, and potentially add in some VR functionality later if they are able. After all, VR or no VR, Astro Bot will likely become one of 2024’s most creative and inventive titles and a game that will play well to audiences of all kinds. As a game that deserves to be played by as many people as possible, sacrificing VR for a fantastic overall game might be the best course of action.

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