Astro Bot is a really good video game and a great reason to own a PS5. Its colorful visuals, myriad gaming references, and excellent platforming have already made it one of 2024’s best games. But there’s something else I love about Astro Bot: It only has one release date.
Yesterday, I bought Astro Bot on my PS5 so that I could download it and play it over the weekend. I was relieved to find that while there are two versions of the game, both options have the same release date of September 6. When later that day someone asked me when does Astro Bot come out, I could answer simply: Tomorrow. That’s become less and less common as more and more publishers lock their games behind early access taxes.
In 2024, at least 20 different video games—including Space Marine 2, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and Madden 25—have or will launch with different release dates depending on how much money you are willing to spend. Buying a video game was already a complicated mess, with pre-order bonuses, various editions, and timed exclusivity windows. Now, when talking about new games, I also have to think “Wait, is this out for everyone or just people who pre-ordered some fancy $100 edition?”
At least one game, Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown, has even made things more frustrating by offering two different early access options. Pay a bit more and you can play the game two days ahead of launch. Pay even more and you can play 7 days before launch. If you’re quiet, you can literally hear a greedy publisher somewhere counting money, looking at Solar Crown’s nonsense, and thinking “Maybe we can offer three tiers of early access!”
So that all makes me want to declare just how happy I am that Astro Bot has one release date. It’s weird that in 2024 having a single release date is something worthy of praise, yet here we are. The video game industry has become so addicted to “number go up” and endless growth that a single release date (you know how things have worked for decade) is becoming a rarity and something worth celebrating
And look, in six months, none of this will matter. The games will all be playable and their early access periods will be a distant memory. (Another reason to not pay extra for this shit.) But it does mean that for most games, the first week or so after launch has become a weird dance online as people try to talk about something that might not be out for everyone.
Astro Bot will get to sidestep all of this by not being forcing gamers to pay a ransom fee to play a finished game a few days before others. How nice and just one more reason to love Sony’s new PS5 platformer.
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