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Astro Bot has sold 4.3M copies, generating around $250M for PlayStation (@alineaanalytics estimates). The budget is likely under $100M, including marketing, so that's A LOT of profit. But Astro could also be a Trojan horse for PlayStation to reach an audience it's mostly conceded to Nintendo, if Sony can stick the landing and nurture Astro right. Despite a somewhat slow start by first-party standards, Astro won Game of the Year at @geoffkeighley's @thegameawards (boosting sales considerably, see the spike at the end of December there) and has in the past year become a proper evergreen seller. As covered in the Alinea Substack yesterday, Astro has shifted over 600K copies this year alone as per our estimates (almost $33M) and is still selling 100K a month well over a year after launch. Every single month this year, Astro Bot's top crossover game is Astro's Playroom, the thing pre-installed on every PS5. So two things are happening: new PS5 owners are buying Astro Bot in droves, and that free pack-in is doing a banging job of turning them into buyers. Every month, the #2, #3, and #4 crossovers are, without fail, Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft. So beyond the PS-diehard buyers who propped up the launch, Astro's true, evergreen demographic has been kiddos and families. That demo has been a huge gap in PlayStation's first-party repertoire. RIP Sackboy. Now, Astro Bot is quietly turning into one of PlayStation's only successfulfamily-friendly brands in the modern era, and I reckon Sony's only getting started. I'd bet on a film or TV announcement before long, Astro-ified PlayStation characters and all. In yesterday's SEC filing, Sony said it plans to further expand its films and TV shows based on PlayStation game IP. I'd also put money on an Astro sequel sooner than you'd think, timed around the incoming PlayStation handheld, which I'd wager Playroom ends up on too (as covered, that funnel has worked wonders). Team Asobi works fast and lean: Astro Bot took about 60 people three years, as per @Chris_Dring at @thegamebusiness (subscribe!!!). We're coming up to two years since Astro launched. Astro is IDEAL for a handheld: it's pick-up-and-play, visually showcases the hardware, and demonstrates the DualSense features Sony loves to show off. It's basically Sony's Wii Sports. They almost have to do it. It's no Mario, sure, but PlayStation's been chasing the family crowd for ages with not much to show for it, a few decent swings aside. Astro's the first real crack in that door. If Sony keeps growing the brand, Astro's a perfect on-ramp into the rest of the PlayStation catalogue, which is exactly what LEGO Horizon Adventures was meant to be and, by our estimates, sadly clearly wasn't. Maybe Astro Bot ends up being what that game never managed. Sorry, Herman! If I were Sony, I'd lean on that momentum HARD in the handheld marketing. There's a real chance to breathe life back into Ratchet & Clank and other IP gathering dust, and an obvious fit for PS Plus while they're at it. Once the brand's had a bit more love, an Astro: Horizon or Astro: Uncharted could be a brilliant way to nudge players toward the bigger stuff once they're ready to move past platformers. Astro Bot and Astro's Playroom have already done the groundwork. So yeah, the pieces are all there: the brand, the funnel, the timing, a handheld that's crying out for a mascot. Sony just has to not fumble it.

💣BOOM! Un directivo de Xbox declaró anónimamente: "los usuarios se merecen saber lo que está pasando" ▶️Aaron Greenberg mintió diciendo que nunca se trabajó en Gears E-Day para PlayStation y mintió cuando dijo que el videojuego no se canceló en el último momento. ▶️Double Fine está planeando independizarse, algo que obviamente ya acaban de saber por las filtraciones de la prensa. ▶️Ninja Theory fracasó con sus resultados y van a cerrar. Senua no verá la luz dentro de Xbox. ▶️Call of Duty Black Ops 7 ha sido un muy mal lanzamiento, y los responsables de Treyarch y Raven rendirán cuentas y los equipos se van a reducir. ▶️Halo Studios, anteriormente 343 Industries tuvo un desempeño nefasto con Halo Infinite. No solo faltaron a su cita en el lanzamiento de la consola de nueva generación cuando ya estaba impreso hasta el título en la caja sino que el lanzamiento cuando llegó no estuvo a la altura, por no hablar del fracaso del motor SlipSpace. El estudio será parte de los recorters. ▶️Gears of War E-Day será exclusivo de momento. El desarrollo para PS5 continua y la directriz es terminarlo. Si se quiere acabar es porque puede haber un cambio de rumbo en cualquier momento. ▶️El remake de Gears 2 sigue planeado como multiplataforma. ▶️Helix no verá la luz en 2027. Helix se está reestructurando. Los planes ya no incluyen tiendas de terceros, como Steam o Epic. ▶️Las exclusivas que se están evaluando son las que están bajo el paraguas de Xbox Studios. No son juegos de Bethesda ni de Activision. La prueba de Starfield falló y los datos mostraron que el juego no funcionó financieramente y nos perjudicó demasiado. ▶️Elder Scrolls y Fallout no están planeados como exclusivas por ahora. ▶️Halo no volverá a ser exclusivo todavía. Se necesitan más datos antes de considerar una decisión final. Y cada vez que alguien compra un juego de Xbox en Steam, los datos le dicen a nuestra directiva que el ecosistema de Xbox no es lo suficientemente bueno y que los juegos deben ser multiplataforma. ▶️Por último, quiero recordarle a los usuarios que Bethesda no es Xbox Studios, debido al acuerdo de compra ya que el contrato tiene ciertas cláusulas sobre su independencia, a menos que no cumpla con ciertas obligaciones financieras. #xbox #microsoft

Mexican theater chain Cinépolis reveals limited-edition 3D collectible 'Supergirl' cup (@CartoonsOTMoon)

Microsoft should sell Xbox before it ruins everything polygon.com/xbox-microsoft…