Team Asobi's Nicolas Doucet makes the case for small games done right
Summary
At GDC 2025, Astro Bot director Nicolas Doucet championed small-scale game design as a deliberate competitive strategy
Astro Bot shipped in 3.5 years, with budget controlled and quality intact - proving the model works
Core argument: completable, focused games are a meaningful advantage in a saturated, time-scarce market
"A lot of the choices we made with Astro Bot could be labelled double-A or maybe lacking in ambition - but we still made a game that made people really happy"
01
Small scope as a strategic choice - not a compromise
Team Asobi's studio handbook opens with "we aim for quality, not quantity" - a philosophy baked into the project from day one
Keeping scope small gave the team direct control over quality and execution speed
Budget was managed by extending the timeline with fewer developers rather than scaling up headcount
The game shipped only 6 months over its initial estimate - a rare result in modern AAA development
02
Completability as a player retention argument
Doucet frames a 12-hour completable game as a genuine competitive advantage in an oversaturated market
"The prospect of a game you can actually complete is a really, really positive argument"
The team was willing to cut to 8 hours if it meant consistent quality throughout
03
Simplicity applied across design, controls, and narrative
DualSense has 18 buttons - Team Asobi deliberately used as few inputs as possible, relying on short and long presses
A three-size sponge mechanic was cut to two sizes after playtesting revealed player confusion
Guest hero abilities (Aloy, Kratos) were simplified versus their source games to match Astro Bot's broader audience
The game contains only 4,292 words of text and zero voice-over dialogue
Cutscenes total 12 minutes 30 seconds - leaving players active 98.3% of the time
04
Simplicity as a shareability and audience growth driver
No skill tree and one-shot mechanics mean any player can pick up mid-campaign and have a normal experience
"All of these efforts towards simplicity - they've actually made the game easier to share"
Frictionless design directly supports word-of-mouth and new audience conversion
05
The "quiet beach" positioning strategy for developers
Doucet argues chasing blockbuster scale in a crowded market often leads to worse outcomes than owning a focused niche
"Instead of joining the cool trendy party on a crowded beach, how about you just look for a little quiet beach and have a cool picnic over there?"
Simplicity is often perceived as uncool in AAA culture - but Doucet sees that bias as an opportunity for studios willing to reject it
His forward message to developers: a "good spot in second league" beats a "bad spot in the top league" in both sustainability and player impact
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