Asobo Studio

Asobo Studio is a developer.

Asobo Studio Webpage, Facebook

An independent French studio based in Bordeaux. The team develops games for both PC and consoles, and throughout its history, it has partnered with major companies like THQ, Ubisoft, Codemasters, Microsoft, and Focus Home Interactive.

History

Asobo Studio was founded in 2002, starting out with a small team of just twelve employees. The developers quickly dove into their first project, which led to the release of Super Farm for PlayStation 2 in 2003.

A year later, they released Sitting Ducks and The Mummy: The Animated Series. The latter was published by HIP Interactive, which also released Asobo Studio's next project a year later: the third-person shooter Nemesis Strike.

In 2006, the French studio developed a film adaptation titled Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties. Between 2007 and 2008, the studio not only released Ratatouille and WALL-E for THQ but also experienced rapid growth. The latter release didn’t end Asobo Studio’s work with THQ – a year later, Up, based on the film, also hit stores.

In 2009, the racing game Fuel was released, published by Codemasters. In 2010, the studio released its first game published by the French giant Ubisoft. Racket Sports Party for the Nintendo Wii marked the beginning of a long-term collaboration, leading to titles such as Racket Sports (a PlayStation 3 port of Racket Sports Party), The Crew for Xbox 360, and Monopoly Plus.

Meanwhile, the developers released Kinect Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure for Microsoft. In the following years, Microsoft commissioned Asobo Studio to work on a variety of projects, including games for the HoloLens (Fragments and Young Conker), as well as assisting with Quantum Break, ReCore, and Zoo Tycoon: Ultimate Animal Collection, and developing Disneyland Adventures.

In early 2017, Asobo Studio revealed one of its most ambitious projects, A Plague Tale: Innocence, which was published by Focus Home Interactive. The title was slated for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The game launched on May 14, 2019, receiving positive reviews and high scores. In October 2019, the publisher confirmed that the game had been a success both artistically and commercially, and by July 2020, the developers revealed that it had sold over one million copies. It's no surprise then, that by December 2019, unofficial reports suggested that the developers had already begun work on a sequel.

Meanwhile, in June 2019, Microsoft unveiled Microsoft Flight Simulator, developed by Asobo Studio. The game was designed for PC and Xbox One, and thanks to full integration with Microsoft's cloud, it was able to generate a world built from petabytes of data sourced from Bing Maps. Microsoft Flight Simulator was scheduled for release on PC on August 18, 2020, with the Xbox One version planned for a later date.

Microsoft Flight Simulator officially debuted on PC on August 18, 2020. The game received very high praise. It's no surprise, then, the industry analysts quickly predicted that the game would drive increased sales of computer hardware, ranging from high-end components to specialized peripherals such as joysticks. Because the project supported fan modifications, players quickly got to work, producing such mods as enhanced major cities. The Xbox Series X/S version of the game was announced by Microsoft in December 2020, with a planned release for Summer 2021.

Following the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator, the Asobo Studio team immediately began work on new projects. In June 2021, Asobo Studio announced a sequel to their acclaimed game, titled A Plague Tale: Requiem, planned for release on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. The game debuted on October 18, 2022, and was very well-received, earning an average Metacritic score of 81–85/100 depending on the platform. On Steam, the game boasted "very positive" reviews from players.

In March 2022, it was announced that the A Plague Tale series would be adapted into a television series. Mathieu Turi, who had previously worked as assistant director on Inglourious Basterds was supposed to lead the television adaptation.