RANT: Astro Bot is the Most Frustrating Sony Game of 2024

Went on a long ass rant about how Astro Bot frustrates me. Not because I think it's going to be bad or because I hate it, but because it's the safest possible game Team Asobi could've made. Yes, it is most likely going to be a lot of fun just like Astro's Playroom... and that's the issue. It is just a bigger version of Astro's Playroom. Another single-player platformer that you play by yourself alone in your room. After almost 4 years, Sony & Team Asobi are delivering the least surprising game possible. They pretty much just saw that people liked Astro's Playroom and said "well people liked that, let's just do that exact thing again but as a $60 game again." This reflects the risk-aversion of modern Sony and their refusal to do anything different to diversify their game lineup. Of course, compared to Sony's other games, Astro Bot looks like a huge diversion. As such it's gained massive praise from people, mainly because it's not another live service shooter or a cinematic third person adventure game. But even then, it's still a 3D platformer - a type of game the PS5 has plenty of. Meanwhile, the PS5 is severely lacking in a type of game that Team Asobi would've been a perfect studio to tackle: party games. There are almost no party games on PS5: the kind of game you play with other people in the room. Astro was the perfect IP and character to build a party game around, but instead, they just picked the safe option. Astro has been presented since the beginning as the PS5's mascot character. Yet more than halfway through the generation, Astro has a total of two games, both of which are almost the same experience. What kind of mascot is that? Of course, we can't expect Team Asobi to pump out games every year. Which is why Sony should've licensed out this IP to other game studios - like Bandai Namco, Tose, or others - to create more and different games. Instead, they only allow their one PS Studio to touch it - something which I believe is the biggest reason it looks like the PS5 has no games. I'm certain Astro Bot is going to come out, get good reviews, people will like it, and then Sony will make Team Asobi make another 3D platformer just like it. But we will still have a drought of party games, or games that deliver an experience different to a standard single player adventure. And that is frustrating.