After Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) Japan Studio has shut its doors (which is still hard to understand), there was still a need to have a Japanese internal studio, which is what Team Asobi, known for the Astro Bot series, is going to be.

Here’s the introduction of the team on the PlayStation Blog by Nicolas Doucet, the studio’s director and creative director: „[…] Today, we have colourful news coming to you from Team Asobi, the Tokyo-based PlayStation studio responsible for the Astro Bot series. Following the release of Astro’s Playroom for PlayStation 5, Team Asobi is now spreading its wings and growing bigger! This is a very exciting time for the team, and we are very much looking forward to this next chapter. We wanted to take this chance to thank all of you, the PlayStation fans, for your kind words of support over the years, especially since Astro made its big debut on PlayStation 5 alongside the DualSense wireless controller.

While we are growing and challenging bigger things, our mission at heart remains the same as ever: bring you PlayStation magic, innovation and put smiles on your faces with fun, colourful games for all ages. To go alongside this news, we are proud to show our new logo which you will see in our future productions. We took inspiration from what Team Asobi meant to us. Some of the old-timers might recognize other influences from the PlayStation early days as well! To keep in touch, we are also launching our social channels on Twitter and Instagram to keep you updated on all things Team Asobi! Please follow them and don’t hesitate to engage with us. We have a million anecdotes to share about the making of our games so please come and say hi!

And in case you are not familiar with Team Asobi, let us tell you more about our origins. The team was first assembled in 2012, a bit more than a year before the launch of PlayStation 4. Back then, a handful of us was working away on tech demos showcasing what the new hardware could do. We sat down one day and decided we needed a name for our team; something that would work as a reminder to us of what we believed to be the most important part of any video game: great gameplay and that second-to-second enjoyment it can provide! In the Japanese language, the word “Asobu” literally means “To Play” and so we settled on “Asobi “. Those simple five letters were a surprisingly fitting name with a good sound to it and it stuck!

Fast-forward a few years, the team is still expanding, we launched Astro Bot: Rescue Mission in 2018 and Astro’s Playroom for PlayStation 5 in 2020. And now, Team Asobi has become the newest internal studio within the PlayStation Studios family. At the heart, our philosophy revolves around that quintessential joy in play, be it through pixel-precise character controls, exploiting a cool new controller in surprising ways or packing humorous animations in every nook and cranny, this is the stuff that excites us 🙂

So, who are the Asobis then? Well, since we are a PlayStation game development studio located in the cool and vibrant Tokyo, the majority of the team are Japanese. We also have several members coming from various other countries: England, Germany, France, Scotland, Korea, Spain, and Colombia. We need to have this mixed background to help us create universal games. And of course, we all share that same love for Japan: its craft, its pop culture, its gaming heritage but also its beautiful seasons, wacky innovations (so many!!) and delicious food!

Technology has also been a defining factor for Team Asobi. Many Asobis have a real love affair with tech but we also realize that technology in itself is only the starting point. It then needs to be turned into something magical and awe-inspiring to be meaningful. In that respect, working with the DualSense controller as of late has been great fun and we are continuing to enjoy experimenting with it at this very moment. But shhh it’s a secret! Finally, we inspire by crafted video games and all of Team Asobi members are keen gamers. We love all types of games including, of course, platformers that deliver that second-to-second joy where every single successful jump you make is a mini-story in itself.

That’s all from us today. Let’s face it, the last 18 months have been tough for many people around the world and we sincerely hope that through the joy of play, these hard times were made easier to bear. We would like to send you all our biggest wishes for your well-being. Thank you for being such a great community and we look forward to your comments. See you all very soon!”, Doucet wrote.

Team Asobi still has some big shoes to fill.

Source: Gematsu