The award is a testament to the continued achievements of developer Team Asobi. The studio is known for the Astro Bot series, a franchise of games historically used to showcase PlayStation technology. The free game Astro’s playroom showcased the unique capabilities of the PlayStation 5 and was released as a free game on the console. Astrobota standalone title that builds on the team’s work in Playroomshowed that a smaller PlayStation studio was capable of creating a platformer that could rival the best Nintendo games.
There was no clear frontrunner for the Game of Year award in 2024. The list of nominations collected an eclectic group of games. This year the jury nominated the indie card game Balatroin addition to the DLC for Elden Ring. Sony had a strong year since two first-party games, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, And Astrobot were nominated. Astrobot And Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth led the pack with seven nominations each. Ahead of the show, Polygon predicted that PlayStation’s 3D platformer, Astrobotwould win.