Interview: Jenova Chen wants to transform video games
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A character from Sky, and designer Jenova Chen. Photo illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios. Photo: Courtesy of ThatGameCompany
Jenova Chen has had a clear professional goal for more than a decade: get the world to take video games seriously — to see them, simply, as the ultimate art form.
Why it matters: For Chen and some other creators and players, gaming's rep among many people as a frivolous pastime provokes a strong counter-response.
- Chen has achieved some of that artistic gravitas, first as the lead designer at ThatGameCompany, once a tiny indie studio he started with a classmate from the University of Southern California's game program.
- A decade ago, ThatGameCompany was releasing peaceful, poetic, award-winning games such as Flower and Journey — the rare PlayStation games the console's overwhelmingly male players would enjoy with their wives or daughters, he's proud to say.
- Now TGC, minus some of its early developers, is about 160 employees strong. Its latest game, a combat-free multiplayer exploration playground called Sky, is entering its fourth year, having drawn a quarter billion downloads (200 million in Asia, Chen says).
What they're saying: "It's love," Chen tells Axios, when asked why he's so determined to improve gaming's rep.
- "If you love something, what do you want that thing to be? You don't want to control it. You don't want to change it. You want it to be the best version of what it can be."
- At USC, Chen learned how movies transitioned from being a niche tech toy for early filmmakers to a broadly relevant artform. For games, he wants to help usher in the same.
Between the lines: To achieve his goals, Chen's been making games that defy industry standards. His team's works are about cooperation, not conflict, and full of colorful but quiet spectacle.
- Sky, like most free-to-play mobile games, has in-app purchases, but it pushes players toward buying things not for themselves but as gifts for fellow players.
- TGC holds concerts in the game, including one they hope will draw a visible crowd of 10,000 players this summer (Chen delights in showing clips of prior large gatherings, one in which a player convinced hundreds of others to fly off a ledge, creating a waterfall effect).
Be smart: Chen isn't starving for his art. Sky's development was a struggle, but his vision has clicked with investors, who offered up $160 million in venture capital last year with Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull joining as an adviser.
- "It's been a while. I almost forgot about it," Chen says when asked about the money.
- When reminded that a former TGC designer's new startup, which is also focused on positive, social online games, just raised $31 million, he says: "We showed them that art games can actually make good money."
- Chen says his pitch to funders was simple: games are mostly made for the stereotypical interests of boys, and someone needs to start making "four quadrant" games that appeal to boys, girls, men and women at once. (His personal model: Pixar).
- "That's my pitch," he says, noting he's avoided trendy topics that in recent years have drawn investors. "I don't talk about NFTs. I don't talk about crypto or VR."
What's next: Chen predicts a full decade of support for Sky, which means six more years of events and features to go. (The game is also coming to PC later this year).
- And there's a mysterious next game, about which he'll say nothing other than that it is "massive."
- "Ultimately," he says, "We have more ambitions."
