Astro Bot is PlayStation’s mascot of the past, present, and future

There was a time when Sony Interactive Entertainment, or PlayStation for short, had a relative wealth of popular mascots – Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Parappa the Rapper, Ratchet & Clank, and Sly Cooper, to name a few. Then came the more mature mascots, if you will, such as Kratos and Nathan Drake. Kratos has since returned with the modern God of War games, as have the duo of Ratchet & Clank, while Nathan Drake is seemingly retired. We’ve also grown to love (or hate, depending on who you ask) Ghost of Tsushima’s Jin Sakai, and The Last of Us’ Joel and Ellie. But somehow, a diminutive, charming automaton named Astro Bot has managed to capture the hearts of PlayStation fans, and perhaps embody the very soul of an entire ecosystem.

Yes, the recent Ratchet & Clank games have been acclaimed by both critics and fans alike, but those characters don’t quite lay on the charm like the beloved Astro Bot. While the former is a tether to PlayStation’s illustrious mascot past, the latter is the face of PlayStation for a new generation, as well as the current one. In fact, I would argue that despite all its tens-of-million-selling blockbuster action games – God of War, Spider-Man, The Last of Us, and so on – this charming little robot is PlayStation’s most important intellectual property, now and for the foreseeable future.

Why? Because Astro Bot has found a way to bridge the gap between 1994 and 2024 for PlayStation in a way that no other property has. This ties-in to what I call PlayStation’s “Nintendo problem”, which is the ability of Nintendo to continue releasing games from the same franchises they’ve been making for decades, yet still being able to attract new (younger) players – something PlayStation cannot do, per se. PlayStation doesn’t have a Mario, or a Zelda, or even an Animal Crossing. And they may never have one of those, but Astro Bot seems to be the best shot they’ve ever had.

Though Astro Bot was first introduced in PlayStation 4 pre-loaded launch game The Playroom – meant to showcase the PlayStation camera – and he later starred in 2018’s Astro Bot Rescue Mission for the original PlayStation VR, the little guy finally hit it big with 2020’s PlayStation 5 pre-loaded launch title Astro’s Playroom. Playroom caught fans and critics by surprise, as what was thought to be merely a tech demo for Sony’s latest console turned out to be an amazing game and is arguably still one of the PS5’s best exclusives. Beyond just being an excellent video game, Astro’s Playroom paid homage to decades of PlayStation history and lore, leaving long-time fans smitten with nostalgia, but more importantly, bringing younger generations of gamers into the PlayStation fold with its light-hearted nature.

Developer Team Asobi deserves heaps of credit for Astro’s success and establishing the IP as a cornerstone of PlayStation Studios. With Astro’s Playroom, and now with its sequel, Astro Bot, they have made extraordinary in-roads to solving PlayStation’s Nintendo problem. You see, Sony no longer even owns original mascots Crash Bandicoot or Spyro, and while Ratchet & Clank’s revival has been excellent, it is no Mario. Neither is Astro Bot, to be clear, but what Astro Bot has and can do is pull together all 30 years of PlayStation’s portfolio and leverage it in a way that only Astro and Team Asobi can. It makes old gamers like me feel the warm embrace of the PlayStation of yesteryear, but also stands on its own as a family-friendly entry to the ecosystem. In that regard, Astro is a sorely needed shot of levity to the PlayStation Studios portfolio, standing in stark contrast to its other tonally dark and thematically mature franchises. On the contrary, Astro can let new generations of gamers create their own PlayStation memories alongside a charming new robot mascot who just so happens to touch every corner of PlayStation fandom, past and present.

But what about God of War, and The Last of Us, and Ghost of Tsushima, and Death Stranding? All those franchises are huge in their own way, of course. But the fundamental problem with PlayStation’s mature franchises is that for some families, they may not be a good gateway into PlayStation. For instance, when my own son is ready to take up video games, I can assure you that his first foray will not be any of those games. That’s not where I started either. Nope, I started with Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and later Crash Bandicoot on PlayStation. There are entire generations of gamers who may want to introduce their children to video games, and for that there must be video games that speak to them. So, while yes, God of War and The Last of Us are outstanding gaming experiences, they simply cannot be the front porch of PlayStation if the company wants to continue reaching future generations of gamers, and ultimately fostering player longevity within its ecosystem.

With that in mind, I think what sets Astro Bot and its modern PlayStation multiverse apart is its undeniable charm. Astro is not as nondescript as PlayStation’s original attempt at a mascot – Polygon Man – but something about him is so darn cute. How does a voiceless character have this effect on millions of people? What is it about him that is so appealing? Perhaps it’s the way he moves, his adorable emotes, his facial expressions, or a combination of all three. But I think Astro’s, and by extension Team Asobi’s, secret sauce is how the entirety of PlayStation’s portfolio meets Astro where he is. In other words, Kratos isn’t making a cameo in Astro Bot looking like he came from his game world; no, he is coming as a robot that’s dressed like Kratos – it’s brilliant, really. The result is that Astro now finds himself as the tie that binds all of PlayStation together not only for gamers of the last 30 years, but perhaps gamers of the next 30 years as well. Who knew all it would take is one pudgy little robot from Japan?