'Compact games are a good way to go' – Nicolas Doucet on what publishers can learn from Astro Bot

In celebration of Astro Bot’s Game of the Year win at this year’s BAFTA Games Awards, I spoke to game director Nicolas Doucet about the PS5 exclusive’s continued positive impact.

Everyone loves an underdog story, and in the world of video games the best example of one we have right now is, unequivocally, . Is it a AAA exclusive title supported by ’s high-budget marketing machine and a 75 million strong install base? Yes. But then it’s also a much smaller title that shares more in common with 3D platforming classics of the old-school era than, say, the live service multiplayer obsessions of most other publishers or the onslaught of lavish open-world RPGs seemingly released on a monthly basis.

Astro Bot is a return to simplicity and charm in the best way, and proof that modest scale exclusives can still be a success when made with care, love, and a relatively small team oozing talent and passion.

Astro Bot released at the tail end of last year to instant critical acclaim, quickly going on to continue its industry victory lap by winning Game of the Year at last year before beating out the likes of , , and for the title of ‘Best Game’ at the 2025 Games Awards earlier this week.

To learn more about what this continued success means for developer Team Asobi itself – as well as what lessons the industry as a whole should take away from Astro Bot – I spoke to the game’s creative director, Nicolas Doucet, just ahead of the loveable platformer’s seemingly inevitable BAFTA awards win.

“It became a generation bridge,” says Doucet of Astro Bot’s inherently broad appeal. “A lot of parents play this game with their kids, and they like the characters because they’re fun and colourful. But then the parents can tell them, ‘Hey, when I was your age, I played with that character. That’s PaRappa’. So that generation bridge is a really nice and beautiful thing, and we were happy that it was one of the side effects of the game”.

There’s no denying that all the different kind of guest characters form much of the enjoyment found in Astro Bot, because in addition to creative platforming, excellent haptic feedback implementation within the controller, and catchy techno soundtrack, there’s an innate sense of wonder that comes from not knowing who or what beloved icon from history might make an appearance next. Without this, the so-called ‘generation bridge’ Doucet references simply wouldn’t exist, and would mean so many familiar characters crucial to gaming’s past wouldn’t get their time in the limelight.

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I am Astro Bot

While first-party characters like Ratchet, Kratos, and Nathan Drake were no trouble to include, you’d think convincing third-party publishers to bring their characters to the toybox would be trickier. “The negotiations were not so difficult, because every company that we approached was actually surprisingly super happy to be part of it,” Doucet continues.

In fact, despite certain characters such as ’s Cloud Strife being absent, Astro Bot features a jamboree of familiar faces from the likes of , , and . “If you asked me years ago how many we’d get [I would have said], ‘maybe like half or a third’. So it wasn't necessarily tough, but it was nice to be able to include characters that made the history of PlayStation. Some of them are from Japan, some of them are from the US, some are from Europe. We got a good mix”.

Just as exciting as the game itself, of course, is also what it represents. At a time when a lot of publishers are shuttering studios due to over-investment and ballooning development budgets, Team Asobi is living proof of the kind of magic a creative team can achieve when publisher expectations are more sensibly managed. It’s no surprise, then, that while not the answer to all of the video game industry’s current woes, Doucet thinks that there’s something appealing about a game that isn’t intended to soak up a colossal amount of players’ time.

“A lot of people don't have time these days to finish their game,” says the Astro Bot creative director. “It gets harder and harder to make these big and expensive games, so that can be a message – that compact games are a good way to go”. That said, just because Astro Bot is in the spotlight right now, Doucet thinks there are other recent examples of the kind of success games of a sensible scope can achieve.

“It Takes Two is also a good [example of] a game that you can finish in four or five sittings, and these games still get to the big stage, so that can be a comfort for teams”. Indie games also play a huge factor in proving this tact. “This year was amazing, like Balatro and Animal Well… All these games are made by very few people, but they’re amazing, unforgettable games”.

With Astro Bot’s award sweep currently in full swing, one can’t help but wonder whether the future of Team Asobi lies in another sequel, or perhaps another, totally different IP entirely. According to Doucet, this is something that’s not set in stone, but that he and the rest of the studio back in Japan are always actively thinking about.

“We always look at so many things,” he says. “We always prototype many things. Some things may suit something like Astro Bot, but something may suit another [type of] game and we always try to find a way. But Astro Bot, of course, having become something special, we want to take it to the next step, of course, but it's not the only thing we're ever going to make I don’t think”.

Astro Bot’s future mightn’t be guaranteed but that said, it’s hard to imagine the space-faring bot not gracing PlayStation in some fashion again soon. Perhaps, one hopes, as a potential PS6 pack-in game?