The Game of the Year nominees at The Game Awards were all deserving winners and Team Asobi only started believing that Astro Bot could win the most coveted award of the night after it won the Best Game Direction award.
Astro Bot game director Nicolas Doucet
In an Interview with Famitsu, the game’s director Nicolas Doucet only started preparing notes on his smartphone when the camera wasn’t on him. Still, the entire team was shocked that Astro Bot won the Game of the Year.
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“When they actually called out the name ‘Astro Bot,’ I couldn’t believe it, but I was also very happy and moved,” Doucet said. “The faces of the Team ASOBI members instantly came to mind, and I wondered how they were reacting.”
“Naturally, I didn’t know if I would be able to win Game of the Year, but the titles that are selected for Game of the Year are often chosen together with Best Game Direction. Since it was previously announced that ‘Astro Bot’ had won Best Game Direction, I thought that I might need to give a speech, so I was thinking about it while taking notes on my smartphone when the camera wasn’t facing me.
“That’s right. I thought about what to say and the order in which to say it so that I wouldn’t forget what I wanted to say in my speech. First, I expressed my gratitude to the team. Then, I expressed my gratitude to SIE and my partners, and then I wondered what to say after that.”
While receiving the award for The Game of the Year, Doucet took the audience down memory lane, to his childhood days when he received a gray box as a Christmas gift. He called it “a truly wonderful experience” to play with his brothers who now work in Tokyo, Japan. Asked why he didn’t mention names during his speech Doucet said he tries not to forget the games that influenced Team Asobi members and inspired Astro Bot.
“I didn’t summarize what I was going to say in my speech,” Doucet said. “But when I think about the history of the games we make, there is a history of various hardware besides the history of the PlayStation.”
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“I try not to forget the games that influenced the members of Team ASOBI, and when I think about the cycle to the next generation, I strongly feel that we need to think about what to give as a gift at the same time as the history. We worked hard to create ‘Astro Bot’ as a new innovation, and at the end of my speech, I wanted to convey my gratitude.”
It was also revealed that many of Team Asobi members cried after Astro Bot was announced as the Game of the Year. Talking about crying, some developers of Black Myth: Wukong were also caught crying after their game failed to win the top award of the night.
Between Astro Bot and Black Myth: Wukong, which do you think was more deserving of the Game of the Year title? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
