Astro Bot finds it "difficult to comment on" why Square Enix characters were notably absent

"We really respect the choice of each publisher."

Team Asobi says that while "almost 100%" of its most-wishlisted iconic Sony characters made it into Astro Bot, it finds it "difficult to comment" why Square Enix characters were missing.

Talking to journalist Stephen Totilo, Team Asobi studio head Nicolas Doucet said that despite hoping that "maybe half" of the characters the team approached would be greenlit, most "partners just raised their hand and said, "Absolutely'".

However, not all characters on the list made it in. When asked why there was no Final Fantasy 7's Cloud cameo, for instance - or indeed, anyone from Nier or Kingdom Hearts - Doucet simply said it "really respect[s] the choice of each publisher".

"It's difficult to comment on [why Square Enix didn't approve any cameos]," Doucet explained. "We really respect the choice of each publisher."

Acknowledging the delicate balance between accessible characters that almost all players would recognise and "deep cuts" that fewer people may remember, Doucet said that the team accepted that "at that point, you're talking to less people", but wanted to include more obscure characters because the players that know them "may have the fondest memories".

Sony and Team Asobi recently gave us our first peek at Astro Bot's upcoming - and free - DLC add on.

This DLC will include five new online speedrunning levels, as well as 10 new bots to rescue. While Team Asobi hasn't revealed all of them, we did get a look at the bot-version of Stellar Blade's Eve (a bot we suspected would be making an appearance) and a Helldivers 2 Helldiver in the new teaser trailer.

For more on Team Asobi's delightful platformer, some of us at Eurogamer have collected our favourite Astro Bot moments here.