Gamers are continuing to fight back against Sony’s decision to cease physical disc production, and now one of the company’s most prominent exclusives in the last few years, Astro Bot, has been successfully emulated on PC.
Astro Bot may not have sold millions and billions of copies, but it’s a beloved franchise now. Astro is a Sony mascot, and his presence, along with a helping hand from Sony’s lineage of legends, helped Astro Bot become a well-reviewed success.
A PC port was never issued for Astro Bot, and with Sony no longer commissioning single-player exclusives for PC or anywhere else, it’s a big move to see it emulated on PC—and some believe it’s a counter move to the disc controversy.
You Can Play Astro Bot on PC via Emulation
Discord user RSantila has apparently managed to get Astro Bot working on PC using SharpEmu.
SharpEmu is described as ‘An experimental PlayStation 5 emulator project,’ but clearly one that works.
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The news was reported by @techdroider, and an X post clearly shows Astro Bot being started up using the emulator on PC. Obviously, it’s unclear how stable the game is or how well it runs, but it’s a major hurdle cleared for potential PS5 to PC emulation.
X user @Gilgamesh8443 said underneath the main post:
‘The funniest thing is that this emulator probably wouldn’t have gotten so popular and have gotten the recent support it did if Sony hadn’t made the recent decision to become supervillains. They’ve turned into Nintendo and now they’re being treated like Nintendo.’
They are likely referring to the recent news that Sony will stop producing discs for new PlayStation games in 2028.
Outrage and ire are just a couple of ways to describe the blowback from the announcement.
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A ‘Don’t Kill The Disc’ petition against Sony PlayStation was launched, and we also learned that Sony is staring down a $457 million lawsuit amid the chaos.
This emulation move could be one of many as players vent their anger. But, if you haven’t played Astro Bot, here’s the game’s launch trailer.
Do you think Sony will ever reconsider its stance on discs? Let us know via the official Insider Gaming Discord Server.
For more articles from Insider Gaming, read ‘Former Sony Veteran On Digital vs. Disc Gaming and PlayStation Stars Failure.’ Don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter.
Andy is Insider Gaming's Senior Evergreen Editor and has been in the games journalism sphere in one way or another for over 7 years. His video game taste is as…
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