Journey’s appeal was its simplicity and the unique way it connected two different people and made them feel dependent on each other. It was game that not many publishers would risk green lighting, and recently Chen mentioned that the project almost bankrupted them, but they stuck with it and it paid off for them in terms of recognition.
Now with the advent of next gen consoles, Chen believes that competition will be exciting and the best console will survive. Being an indie developer, he believes there will be a cheaper console out there which will help indie games grow better. He is obviously referring to the Ouya.
“In consoles, it’s very difficult to create a fair competition at this point, but with all these new consoles coming out, it’s very exciting. I’m sure we’re going to get the best out of them. I don’t think they all will survive, but the best will. And we will have a cheaper console out there that’s going to be indie-friendly digital distribution,” he said.
Trailer from Journey.
He also seemed a bit skeptical about the next gen consoles stating that they won’t be as revolutionary as the Wii.
“It seems like it will be the high-end console with a better graphics card and stronger computing power. But I don’t think there will be anything that’s going to be revolutionary like the Wii, for example”, he told to GIBiz. He makes a valid point since Nintendo actually brought in a new audience that were previously not interested in video games, hence broadening the gaming demographic.
It will be interesting to see what he churns out with his next project.
Stay tuned for more news and updates.