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Journey dev going multiplatform

Flower and Flow developer ThatGameCompany gets $5.5 million in venture capital funding, will now develop and release games for more platforms independently.

The studio behind PlayStation 3 downloadable games like Flow, Flower, and Journey is cutting ties with Sony. ThatGameCompany today announced that it has landed $5.5 million in venture capital funding, and it will use the money to bring its games to more platforms.

"Today I am pleased to announce ThatGameCompany has raised funding to develop and release our games independently," studio co-founder and creative director Jenova Chen wrote on the company's blog. "This enables us to bring our games to more platforms and provide our players the highest quality experience at every point of contact."

As part of the funding received from Benchmark Capital, the venture capital firm's Mitch Lasky will join ThatGameCompany's board of directors. Lasky is best known as the former chairman and CEO of Jamdat Mobile up until it was sold to Electronic Arts in 2005 for $680 million.

In his own blog post regarding the news, Lasky said, "We believe fundamentally in TGC's vision for interactive entertainment: to bring to games a little of what Pixar films brought to animation--emotional depth, engagement with fully-realized worlds, and a strong sense of authorship. In the modern, hyper-connected games market, we believe TGC can reach the broadest possible audience if that vision can be fully controlled by the company."

Brendan Sinclair
By Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor

Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.

34 comments
tgwolf
tgwolf

The headache and strange aversion to any sound other than the music in Journey after watching it played reinforces my insisting that the game should have been so much more than a mere platformer with primitive-but-stylish graphics and a haunting musical score to carry it out of mediocrity. It was clear after watching that this game NEEDED and really badly suffered from a lack of interactivity, since the only part of my brain working here was really my auditory and perhaps a bit of visual and memory. More parts should have been firing here, and to give examples there was definitely a missing element of suspense and perhaps urgency to get the adrenaline up just enough to wake players up from the hypnotic presentation. No, this game could have been more, and I feel cheated by what we have been left with.

servb0ts
servb0ts

I'm all for multiplat on good games but hate exclusive discrimination.

popki
popki like.author.displayName 1 Like

Too bad only PS3 users will appreciate thatgamecompany's artistic visions

jtthegame316
jtthegame316

cool i like it when devs break way from sony because lets face it if a dev is good and  are under sony they are not going to get the credit for the game they made and deserve. see i have met many ps fanboys that think games are created by sony even when they are not so a dev who has there games published under sony it is always nice to see them go multi platform.

kirye223
kirye223

Journey was good but it ended quite quickly. It was a really wonderful experience though so, no regrets.

snoos
snoos

journey is cool but too short use money to make it longer kind sirs

ydnarrewop
ydnarrewop like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 3 Like

Good for them  :) Spread your wings, but don't sell out :D

GunBladeHero
GunBladeHero ranger

Nice news, hoping to play Journey or if a sequel comes out on the Xbox 360.

Hicks233
Hicks233 like.author.displayName 1 Like

Best of luck with future releases! Will be great to see them reach a wider audience. : )

huynh2er
huynh2er

@ Phazevariance

 

Yeah.. considering "ThatGameCompany" isn't an actual game! And all the games they have published are STILL ONLY on PS3. Next time, don't say such random things.

R2BDSi
R2BDSi

Journey with guns on 360, I can see someone sniping from miles away.

Phazevariance
Phazevariance like.author.displayName 1 Like

Sony losing an exclusive again?

Carpetfluff
Carpetfluff like.author.displayName 1 Like

 @Phazevariance They only had a three game exclusivity deal. It's not a surprise. Although if they want to release on 360 in the future then Jenova might regret having been less than complimentary to the user base the other month.

Phazevariance
Phazevariance

@Carpetfluff True but people will still buy it. The majority of gamers don't actually read about devs quotes that often.

JackNief
JackNief

Yay, and good luck venturing on your own! Be nice to the other companies! Don't take any bad game deals from strangers!

 

Seriously, that's a good thing to read, that their games will be available to everyone, and I hope it goes over well for them.

hadlee73
hadlee73

A risky move. I hope they haven't give up any creative control to get that funding.

maximumbarmage
maximumbarmage

Good.  That means theirgames are all but certain to keep appearing on PS3.  I was worried they'd tie themselves to one of Microsoft's pointlessly restrictive timed exclusivity contracts, but it's good to see they took the more sensible route.

Legend002
Legend002 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 8 Like

Too bad only PS3 owners appreciate art.

jtthegame316
jtthegame316

 @Legend002 what a load of crap. i have both consoles. i rearly see xbox users on here bashing the ps 3 why because they are to busy playing games on there xbox and appreicating the art of gaming. where as ps 3 users like you i see on here all the time bashing the xbox.. they are both good systems. if anything i would give the xbox the edge due to user friendlyness  but they both have plenty of top quality titles to play.

SavoyPrime
SavoyPrime ranger like.author.displayName 1 Like

Good news for them! Hopefully their games will continue to be fantastic experiences. Flower and Journey were amazing games.

vadicta
vadicta like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 7 Like

This is strange. They won't get any sales since only PS3 owners appreciate art. I guess this means they're making shooters. 

Ravenlore_basic
Ravenlore_basic like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

 @vadicta ... I think that PS3 owners are willing to give a game more of a chance looking at sales of many games like Heavy Rain, Little Big Planet, ICO, Journey....  

 

BUT I guess that is something they will have to find out on their own.  IT will also lose some of its cult following as some people will try out an exclusive game because its exclusive.  

vadicta
vadicta

 @Ravenlore_basic I would disagree based on the success and influence of the Xbox Live Arcade, but it's neither here nor there. Appreciation isn't something anyone could quantify. It'd just shoot back and forth. 

finaleve
finaleve

 @vadicta Really?  That's funny because I just got back from AN ART EXHIBIT and checked out a few ART MUSEUMS down in DC.  I mainly play on my 360 (PC on the side).  My favorite games are Okami, anything that Double Fine has created, and anything Suda51 has pumped out.

 

Aren't there an equal amount of shooters on PS3 anyways?

vadicta
vadicta

 @finaleve You got the wrong idea here. i don't even own a PS3. This guy, though,  Jenova Chen stated that "PS3 owners appreciate art more." It wasn't too long ago either. Just poking fun at the irony ;)

Rayzakk
Rayzakk like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 4 Like

Well I find that histerical.  I just hope they don't decide to develop for the 360 because we don't appreciate art LOL.  Of course I do own all 3 systems.  Never the less how wonderful for them to grace other platforms with this artistic endevours.  Anyone that doesn't know to what I am referring:  http://www.gamespot.com/news/ps3-gamers-appreciate-art-more-than-xbox-360-wii-users-journey-dev-6375676

Rocker6
Rocker6 like.author.displayName 1 Like

 @Rayzakk 

Yeah,that was indeed a pointless statement,a dumb generalization that can't be backed up by any arguments.They should've refrained from making it in the first place...

Rayzakk
Rayzakk

 @Rocker6 Indeed.  I thought Journey looked interesting.  Before that statement I may have considered purchasing it, however I actually have quite the backlog of games and have been to lazy to even try to catch up. 

Punch_Sideiron
Punch_Sideiron

I'm not interested in their games at all, but I guess this is cool for people who are.

Rocker6
Rocker6 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 5 Like

That is good,they look like a very creative developer,it's great news more ppl will be able to play their games in the future...

 

Also,it would be really great if they released a game pack containing flOw,Flower and Journey to the 360 and the PC,since I would really like to play those games...

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