[GameSpot] - Astro Bot Developer Team Asobi Currently Working On "Most Ambitious Game Yet"

[343iBot]

When Sony and PlayStation shut down Japan Studio earlier this year, one of the groups in the organization, Team Asobi, became its own standalone studio. The developer is best known for the Astro Bot series, which has so far spawned Astro Bot Rescue Mission for PlayStation VR, The Playroom for PlayStation 4, and Astro's Playroom for PlayStation 5.

Asobi recently launched a new website and the About Us section states, "We're currently hard at work on our most ambitious game yet!" No further details about the game have been mentioned. The studio is also looking to hire for several new roles. The Jobs section lists openings for a gameplay programmer, game designer, and audio designer.

Additionally, the engine and art departments there are looking to greatly expand. The engine team is looking for VFX, graphics, and animation programmers, while the art team is looking for environment, concept, 3D character, UI, and FX artists as well as an animator and technical artist.

Back in June, studio director Nicolas Doucet said that Team Asobi was "growing bigger". He also teased that the developer's next project will take advantage of the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller's unique and innovative features. Astro's Playroom was already a showcase for the PS5's features so it makes sense that the studio's next project will lean further in that direction.

Hopefully, we see something soon from Team Asobi. In the meantime, PlayStation fans will have the God of War sequel and reportedly Horizon Forbidden West to look forward to in 2022.

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