Journey Dev: “The Game Industry is Still at a Very Young Phase”

Thatgamecompany co-founder Jenova Chen talks about doing more with emotions.

Posted By | On 26th, Sep. 2013

journey 3
Thatgamecompany co-founder Jenova Chen doesn’t strike you as a typical designer. He emphasizes art as much as technology and explores the emotion involved in ideas. Speaking to the [a]list daily, Chen talked about how there’s currently enough opportunity for developers to seek out new ideas for gamers.

“I like to look at business through emotion. Right now the game industry is still at a very young phase. There is a lot of space for people to go deeper on emotion. We actually went quite deep on the feeling of action and adventure. The feeling of killing someone used to be some pixel changed color, now it’s some guy’s guts are falling out. A lot of other emotions can go a lot deeper, and that will result in each genre becoming more and more sophisticated,” he said.

“Emotion can go wider. The new emotion that was not possible in the past should be possible in the future. What is the equivalent in a video game of a romantic film? A documentary? A drama? What is a family video game? There are family games, but they are mostly for the kids. What is the equivalent of a Pixar film in the video game industry, where adults and kids can have fun together? They don’t exist right now. They are all blue ocean, and they are huge markets.”

Of course, these new genres and ideas will also help attract new audiences, particularly female gamers. “Compared to the console game industry of yesterday, the difference is a bunch of people who never would have played any games are now one click away from games. Now the question is have you designed a game for them? What about the girls? I’m not trying to be sexist, but usually young females like to play things that have a lot of emotions and relationships. That probably explains why there isn’t a lot of female gamers that play console games. Candy Crush is more appealing to women because it’s social.”


Amazing Articles You Might Want To Check Out!

Keep On Reading!

Xbox Will Attend Gamescom 2025

Xbox Will Attend Gamescom 2025

Microsoft returns to Cologne, Germany, for the world's largest gaming trade fair, which runs from August 20th ...

Cronos: The New Dawn Dev Diary Outlines Combat Strategies and Enemy Types

Cronos: The New Dawn Dev Diary Outlines Combat Strategies and Enemy Types

Preventing enemies from Merging and becoming stronger is important in Bloober Team's upcoming sci-fi survival ...

Arc System Works Showcase Announced for June 27th

Arc System Works Showcase Announced for June 27th

The showcase will feature details on new titles and an announcement for the next project from Ishiwatari Daisu...

Midnight Murder Club is Exiting Early Access on PC and Coming to PS5 on August 14

Midnight Murder Club is Exiting Early Access on PC and Coming to PS5 on August 14

Alongside the announcement of its release date, Midnight Murder Club also got a new update on PC which brings ...

Death Stranding 2 Guide – 15 Basic Tips and Tricks to Keep in Mind

Death Stranding 2 Guide – 15 Basic Tips and Tricks to Keep in Mind

Master traversal, structures, and stealth with these 15 essential tips designed to enhance your Death Strandin...

The Outer Worlds 2 Will Not Allow Respecs to Enforce Role-Playing and Player Decisions – Director

The Outer Worlds 2 Will Not Allow Respecs to Enforce Role-Playing and Player Decisions – Director

Director Brandon Adler also spoke about how the game will respect a player's time by giving them a world that ...