Journey dev negotiating ‘beyond just PlayStation’

Developer Jenova Chen from thatgamecompany explains how game design constraints caused by technical limitations often spur the creation of more elegant solutions.

February 27, 2012 1:00 PM3

With such creative and unique titles like flOw and Flower under its belt, development studio thatgamecompany knows that expectations for Journey–its upcoming experiment in online adventuring–are quite high. The game is headed exclusively to the PlayStation Network on March 13, and will mark the end of a three-game relationship between TGC and Sony. It will be the biggest game ever from the studio: “twice wider, twice longer,” according to creative director Jenova Chen.

However, the studio’s next game may be even bigger and more ambitious, as it promises to take online play “a step further.” We speculated TGC was building a service that would work outside of the PlayStation Network, given their plans to build “a full scale online service available to hundreds of thousands of users” with “account management, data tracking, player matchmaking… [and] cloud services.”

It appears TGC is ready to spread its wings. “thatgamecompany had a three game contract with Sony, so the past three games had to be Sony exclusive,” Chen explained to Push Square. “Right now we are very much exploring ways to bring our games to a bigger audience, beyond just PlayStation.”

“We are still in the process of negotiating, but I hope that we can announce it [soon]. But right now it’s still in the process,” Chen added.