Astro Bot's director sounds much more open to Final Fantasy bots than before, but it's still a "we'll see" situation

Astro Bot
(Image credit: Sony)

Astro Bot was absolutely stuffed with references to games across PlayStation's three-decade history, from deep-cut first-party characters to third-party icons like Crash Bandicoot. But there was one series in particular that was curiously omitted, despite being hugely important to Sony's consoles over the years: Final Fantasy. It now seems there's at least some hope that a Final Fantasy-cosplaying bot might show up in the future.

Astro Bot's roughly 300 collectible cosplaying bots don't cover every notable game and character in PlayStation history, but a Final Fantasy rep was sorely missing since the series was exclusive to Sony's consoles for almost two whole console generations, and Cloud's adventure in particular was a huge reason why the PS1 soared in the first place.

Director Nicholas Doucet previously said "it's difficult to comment on" why a Final Fantasy bot didn't pop up, perhaps suggesting that Square Enix was hesitant to do so. He now seems much more open to the possibility, though.

When asked about Final Fantasy representation by TheGamer, Doucet simply said, "Well, we'll see," apparently while smiling to his colleague. That certainly doesn't confirm anything - heck, it barely hints at anything - it's just way more open to the possibility than his previous comments.

Team Asobi has added a bunch of post-launch levels and bots to the game in the months since its release, but those extra goodies have since wrapped up. If Doucet and Co. do have botified versions of Cloud or Tifa or a Moogle up their sleeves, then they could come in the form of more Astro Bot DLC or (fingers crossed) even a sequel.

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Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.

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