Nicolas Doucet, the Creative Director and Producer behind PSVR exclusive ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission (2018), has been promoted to Director of Sony Interactive Entertainment’s JAPAN Studio.
As first reported by Gematsu, Doucet is said to continue his work as a creative director at SIE Japan Studio in addition to his new role. Doucet previously worked for Sony’s London Studio and Saffire Corporation.
Initially born as a spin-off of a mini-game called ‘Robots Rescue’ from The Playroom VR, Astro Bot Rescue Mission tasks you with guiding a patently adorable robot named ASTRO as you recover his robot pals who have been scattered among the stars.
The plucky little VR-native platformer has garnered some pretty impressive review scores since its launch in October 2018, boasting a Meta Critic composite score of [90/100], a [4.5/5] star user review rating, and a rare [10/10] score from our full review.
Astro Bot was also lauded with a few awards, including the best VR/AR game of 2018 Game Awards and the VR Game of Year at The Edge Awards in 2018, and notable nominations by BAFTA and SXSW.
Outside of The Playroom VR and Astro Bot, SIE Japan Studio is known for developing PS platform classics Ape Escape, Shadow of the Colossus, and The Last Guardian. Other VR games produced by the studio include Déraciné and Everybody’s Golf VR.
At the time of this writing, it’s unclear whether Doucet’s promotion signals a greater focus on VR games for the studio. Having an experienced VR producer at the helm may prove beneficial however as Sony makes strides to release PlayStation 5, and later, the second iteration of PlayStation VR.