Missing Cameos in Astro Bot (spoilers)

[mibu no ookami]

A lot of people are making a big deal about missing cameos in Astro Bot.

Here's why we shouldn't:

At the end of the day it comes down to licensing. Sony probably asked everyone if they could license these character at no charge and while many agreed, this is not a normal business practice. IP is one of the most valuable things companies have and many companies probably have strict policies on licensing of characters and the cost associated with it.

Crash and Spyro might have been agreed to before Microsoft purchased Activision otherwise, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

The two most obvious ones are Marvel (Disney) and DC (Warner Bros) and we see Spider-Man and Batman aren't in Astro Bot. We also don't see Kingdom Hearts (Disney, but we'll get to that later) or Harry Potter in this. Simply put you have to pay to use these characters.

I'm sure Sony charged WB for Kratos to be in Mortal Kombat and Soul Calibur.

Some pretty big names missing

Agent 47 - IO Interactive
Rayman - Ubi Soft
John Tanner (Driver) - Ubi Soft
Frogger - Konami (somewhat surprising since they okay'd
Max Payne - T2
GTA characters - T2
Red Dead characters - T2
Croc - Argonaught? (might have been difficult to get in touch)
Sub-Zero/Scorpion - Warner Bros
Any WWE/WCW wrestlers - WWE (Sports in general is just really difficult, because it all comes down to licensing, they have a cameo for Tony Hawk, but it isn't Tony Hawk)
Tenchu (FromSoftware, somehow)
Sonic - Sega
Goku - Shueisha/Bandai Namco
Need for Speed - EA
Star Wars - Disney
James Bond - Amazon
Geralt - CDPR


What was more surprising was the lack of inclusion of Gabe Logan (Syphon Filter) and Sweet Tooth (Twisted Metal), though we know they might feature in DLC along with Fat Princess. Nothing from SOCOM, The Getaway or Resistance either. A lot of these also simply just fit the tone of Astro Bot and might not make for easily recognizable or cutesy characters. That said they did manage to get a cordicep bot.

Square Enix is probably the most disappointing, but they make sense if that is their policy. They have to pay for licensing with Kingdom Hearts and they probably normally charge for Cloud to be in games.

I doubt they even asked for Star Wars, DBZ, James Bond, and Harry Potter, but I bet the others said no or licensing for the characters is complex like with the Witcher.

PS I don't recall seeing a bot for dynasty warriors either which is surprising.

 

[voke]

Resistance protagonists Nathan Hale and Jo Capelli were the odd exclusions for me.

 

[Bryank75]

Cole McGrath from Infamous. Didn't see him anyway...

 

[voke]

Cole McGrath from Infamous. Didn't see him anyway...

He’s in iirc

 

[Entropi]

Cole is in, along with the Second Son protagonists.

 

[Yurinka]

Regarding missing ones, I think the main ones are:

• Sony
  • Motorstorm
  • Resistance
  • Twisted Metal
  • Rollcage
  • Jet Moto
  • The Order
  • Helldivers
• Ubisoft
  • AC
  • Rayman
  • Far Cry
  • BGE
  • Rainbow Six
  • Just Dance
• Square Enix
  • Final Fantasy (multiple, mainly FFVII)
  • Kingdom Hearts
  • Nier
  • Dragon Quest
  • Star Ocean
  • Mana
  • Parasite Eve
  • Xenogears
  • Valkyrie Profile
• Bandai Namco
  • Dark Souls
  • Elden Ring
  • Soul Edge/Blade/Calibur
  • Taiko no Tatsujin
  • Tales of
  • Armored Core
• Take 2
  • GTA
  • RDR
  • Bully
• Sega
  • Sonic (multiple Team Asobi devs worked there before)
• FromSoft
  • Tenchu
  • Sekiro (if they own the IP)

A lot of people are making a big deal about missing cameos in Astro Bot.

Here's why we shouldn't:

At the end of the day it comes down to licensing. Sony probably asked everyone if they could license these character at no charge and while many agreed, this is not a normal business practice. IP is one of the most valuable things companies have and many companies probably have strict policies on licensing of characters and the cost associated with it.

Crash and Spyro might have been agreed to before Microsoft purchased Activision otherwise, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

The two most obvious ones are Marvel (Disney) and DC (Warner Bros) and we see Spider-Man and Batman aren't in Astro Bot. We also don't see Kingdom Hearts (Disney, but we'll get to that later) or Harry Potter in this. Simply put you have to pay to use these characters.

I'm sure Sony charged WB for Kratos to be in Mortal Kombat and Soul Calibur.

Some pretty big names missing

Agent 47 - IO Interactive
Rayman - Ubi Soft
John Tanner (Driver) - Ubi Soft
Frogger - Konami (somewhat surprising since they okay'd
Max Payne - T2
GTA characters - T2
Red Dead characters - T2
Croc - Argonaught? (might have been difficult to get in touch)
Sub-Zero/Scorpion - Warner Bros
Any WWE/WCW wrestlers - WWE (Sports in general is just really difficult, because it all comes down to licensing, they have a cameo for Tony Hawk, but it isn't Tony Hawk)
Tenchu (FromSoftware, somehow)
Sonic - Sega
Goku - Shueisha/Bandai Namco
Need for Speed - EA
Star Wars - Disney
James Bond - Amazon
Geralt - CDPR


What was more surprising was the lack of inclusion of Gabe Logan (Syphon Filter) and Sweet Tooth (Twisted Metal), though we know they might feature in DLC along with Fat Princess. Nothing from SOCOM, The Getaway or Resistance either. A lot of these also simply just fit the tone of Astro Bot and might not make for easily recognizable or cutesy characters. That said they did manage to get a cordicep bot.

Square Enix is probably the most disappointing, but they make sense if that is their policy. They have to pay for licensing with Kingdom Hearts and they probably normally charge for Cloud to be in games.

I doubt they even asked for Star Wars, DBZ, James Bond, and Harry Potter, but I bet the others said no or licensing for the characters is complex like with the Witcher.

PS I don't recall seeing a bot for dynasty warriors either which is surprising.

Yes. Paperwork for licensing IPs and requires a ton or work, it's a pain in the ass. Even in IPs of the company made by other team. They require a lot of approvals, and following a lot of very strict rules, etc.

I mean, if Spyro hasn't been adapted in its artstyle like the the rest of the characters very likely it has been because they were mandated to keep it exactly like that.

This multiplied by a gazillion cameos is a lot of work and time spent.

And well, in any case they had to save cameos for DLCs or seguels. In fact, I think it was in the game credits there are copyrights from certain important 3rd parties that don't have cameos in the game, which means their cameos will be added very likely somewhere after launch in some dlc.

Regarding the type of cameos, I think it's better to make only cameos of gaming IPs that were iconic for PlayStation history or were hidden gems.

I wouldn't include IPs that had popular games but came from other places (Marvel, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Goku, James Bond...) to differentiate it from games like Fortnite where they put anything. In the same way, I'd differentiate it from Smash by including only PlayStation games. I wouldn't do like Smash, where they put there games that aren't on Nintendo.

I'd keep Astro as a celebration of the history of PlayStation. The previous one with hardware and accesories, this one with characters. Maybe in the next one doing both.

Cole McGrath from Infamous. Didn't see him anyway...

He’s in iirc

Yes, he's in. The 3 Infamous characters are there.

 

[Yobo]

Fat Princess not being in is not a surprise and it sure as hell won't be a DLC. Why the hell it was so heavily featured in PlayStation All Stars will never make sense to me. It wasnt even a good game, a first party developer or a good character. Maybe the director had a fetish

 

[mibu no ookami]

Fat Princess not being in is not a surprise and it sure as hell won't be a DLC. Why the hell it was so heavily featured in PlayStation All Stars will never make sense to me. It wasnt even a good game, a first party developer or a good character. Maybe the director had a fetish

For the same reason people aren't surprised that mister mosquito is referenced. Many studios developed Fat Princess not just once, but Sony is the IP owner.

 

[Ezekiel]

Regarding missing ones, I think the main ones are:

• Sony
  • K-N-A-C-K
  • Motorstorm
  • Resistance
  • Twisted Metal
  • Rollcage
  • Jet Moto
  • The Order
  • Helldivers
• Ubisoft
  • AC
  • Rayman
  • Far Cry
  • BGE
  • Rainbow Six
  • Just Dance
• Square Enix
  • Final Fantasy (multiple, mainly FFVII)
  • Kingdom Hearts
  • Nier
  • Dragon Quest
  • Star Ocean
  • Mana
  • Parasite Eve
  • Xenogears
  • Valkyrie Profile
• Bandai Namco
  • Dark Souls
  • Elden Ring
  • Soul Edge/Blade/Calibur
  • Taiko no Tatsujin
  • Tales of
  • Armored Core
• Take 2
  • GTA
  • RDR
  • Bully
• Sega
  • Sonic (multiple Team Asobi devs worked there before)
• FromSoft
  • Tenchu
  • Sekiro (if they own the IP)

Yes. Paperwork for licensing IPs and requires a ton or work, it's a pain in the ass. Even in IPs of the company made by other team. They require a lot of approvals, and following a lot of very strict rules, etc.

I mean, if Spyro hasn't been adapted in its artstyle like the the rest of the characters very likely it has been because they were mandated to keep it exactly like that.

This multiplied by a gazillion cameos is a lot of work and time spent.

And well, in any case they had to save cameos for DLCs or seguels. In fact, I think it was in the game credits there are copyrights from certain important 3rd parties that don't have cameos in the game, which means their cameos will be added very likely somewhere after launch in some dlc.

Regarding the type of cameos, I think it's better to make only cameos of gaming IPs that were iconic for PlayStation history or were hidden gems.

I wouldn't include IPs that had popular games but came from other places (Marvel, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Goku, James Bond...) to differentiate it from games like Fortnite where they put anything. In the same way, I'd differentiate it from Smash by including only PlayStation games. I wouldn't do like Smash, where they put there games that aren't on Nintendo.

I'd keep Astro as a celebration of the history of PlayStation. The previous one with hardware and accesories, this one with characters. Maybe in the next one doing both.



Yes, he's in. The 3 Infamous characters are there.

Knack is in

Astro Bot - All Cameo Bots And Secret Characters List

Astro Bot hides over 300 secret bots, including 171 cameo bots from other games spanning PlayStation's long history. Check out all the hidden bots here.

www.gamespot.com

Also worth mentioning that the licensing probably had to include a lifetime licence for the character, otherwise Sony would need to patch them out later on, which would need readjusting from Asobi Studio.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

so Kat is a cameo?

 

[Loy310]

License to get these in would have prolly cost too much and most of the ip owners prolly did not want to do sony any free favors.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

Cole McGrath from Infamous. Didn't see him anyway...

All 3 Infamous protagonists are in, even the DLC girl (which later turned to a standalone IIRC).

so Kat is a cameo?

Kat and Raven, yes.

 

[MaxParrish]

so Kat is a cameo?

Both Kat and Raven

 

[Yurinka]

Knack is in

Astro Bot - All Cameo Bots And Secret Characters List

Astro Bot hides over 300 secret bots, including 171 cameo bots from other games spanning PlayStation's long history. Check out all the hidden bots here.

www.gamespot.com

Also worth mentioning that the licensing probably had to include a lifetime licence for the character, otherwise Sony would need to patch them out later on, which would need readjusting from Asobi Studio.

oh true, I forgot Knack is in

 

[Bryank75]

Both Kat and Raven

I have them, not sure about any of the Infamous crowd though.

 

[ethomaz]

I got Platinum in the game and didn't even take note of the cameos... it was like collectives to me.