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

gamingnexus.com:

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 –