Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
Team Asobi has earned more than a little praise for the fun and funny way it does games. Titles like Astro’s Playroom have been wonderful galleries for what PlayStation hardware and peripherals can do when their capabilities are stretched. We’ve heard previously that Team Asobi is working on its most ambitious new project yet, and in a recent interview, it not only reiterated that the project is still underway, but Asobi is also looking at opportunities to start other projects.
Team Asobi creative and studio director Nicolas Doucet shared details on what comes next for Asobi in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz. Doucet spoke to both the culture of the studio and how that opens multiple paths for projects in the future, particularly when it comes to R&D at the company. Doucet reiterated the next game at Asobi will be the company’s “biggest to date,” but there’s more to it than that.
“We have a current production, and that’s going fine,” Doucet said. “But we want to have another group for R&D, and we want enough in this group to explore as many areas that are interesting. And to potentially start other projects.”
Doucet would go on to share that he believes Asobi’s strength lies in the experiments it does with various hardware and technology, giving it an edge when it comes to designing interesting new gameplay.
“Any new technology, we like to take it for a spin,” Doucet continued. "There's the obvious way to use it, which is the first thing we are going to try, and then we are going to try to use it in ways you're not supposed to. That leads us to interesting places.”
To that end, Doucet shared that Asobi needs to have a rotating R&D team that can come up with unique ideas that may lead to projects while the production team works on what’s already established.
“In order to keep this freshness, this R&D team needs to be rotated quite often. People go into production, and then after that maybe go into R&D for some time.”
Ultimately, it may lead to Asobi getting new projects underway even after its upcoming “biggest” yet. Certainly, games like Astro’s Playroom have done well to put Asobi on the map. As we continue to follow the studio for updates on its next game, stay tuned here at Shacknews.