Journey Finally Makes A Profit

[Karloff]

Journey Finally Makes A Profit


Thatgamecompany's Jenova Chen says royalties have only just started coming in for this cult hit title.

In an interview with FamilyGamer TV, Thatgamecompany's Jenova Chen revealed that Journey [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122527-Dishonored-Wins-Best-Game-at-BAFTAs], the award-winning cult hit co-op title, has started to make a profit, one year on. "Seems like sales are not going away," said Chen, and he's curious to see what the next financial quarter will show.

Thatgamecompany has completed the three games it was under contract to make for Sony, and now has the cash in its pocket to pursue other projects, on any platform it wants. It's a significant change from the days when Thatgamecompany had to slim down to almost nothing. Chen's not ready to talk about his next project yet; even controls and graphics are still very much in pre-pre-production. "We have to do a lot of trial and error," says Chen, "Sometimes you feel like you're reaching out into the fog."

Journey's gameplay, for those who've yet to experience it, is breathtakingly simple. You have one goal: get to the mountain. Your co-op experience comes through your limited interaction with the other voyagers [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/9494-Journey-Review] on the same journey you're experiencing. It released back in 2012 on the PSN, so it's taken just over a year to finally see some royalty cash.

Source: Family Gamer TV [http://www.youtube.com/user/FamilyGamerTV?feature=watch]


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[mad825]

So they are now free from Sony's tyranny? Congratz I suppose, I hope I can play their games one day.

 

[Ickabod]

I'd have loved to have played it, but I don't have a PS3 so oh well

 

[Metalrocks]

he would make more profit if he would release it on other platforms, like pc.

 

[hazabaza1]

If their next game is as pretty as Journey and on PC... mein gott.
But seriously Journey was fantastic so anything else to come out from these guys is getting my attention.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

Jeez, don't ever sign the royalties contract! James Earl Jones hasn't been paid for being Vader because apparently Jedi hasn't turned a profit yet. I'm sure that sony has made profit just fine. Freakazoid even warned us about this:

 

[LaochEire]

So they are now free from Sony's tyranny? Congratz I suppose, I hope I can play their games one day.

Chen stated in a forum post that Sony saved them. Fresh out of college no one would take a risk on them, but Sony did. I must say, it's a game that really should be experienced. Utterly breath-taking game.

he would make more profit if he would release it on other platforms, like pc.

Sony own the IP rights or distribution right. You'll never see it outside of a Sony console.

 

[-Dragmire-]

The sad downside for small company going exclusive is the limited audience. Glad to hear they're out of the red.

 

[anthony87]

Whenever I read that guys name I can't help but think of this

 

[fwiffo]

So they are now free from Sony's tyranny? Congratz I suppose, I hope I can play their games one day.

Same here. I'd love to give these guys more profit...if I could. (don't want to buy a ps3 just for this game)

 

[Vrach]

Really surprised they're only beginning to see profit, it doesn't seem like too expensive a game to make and I imagine the game's been selling like hotcakes. Did Sony really take that much of a profit cut?

 

[Vrach]

So they are now free from Sony's tyranny? Congratz I suppose, I hope I can play their games one day.

Chen stated in a forum post that Sony saved them. Fresh out of college no one would take a risk on them, but Sony did. I must say, it's a game that really should be experienced. Utterly breath-taking game.

he would make more profit if he would release it on other platforms, like pc.

Sony own the IP rights or distribution right. You'll never see it outside of a Sony console.

^This, on both points. Sure, I wish they were getting some more cash, but you gotta understand, the deal they got with Sony is no small thing. They signed up for 3 games with them and I believe the third came out by now (first was Flower, can't remember what the third one was/is going to be). Screw just looking at profits from their work, after this, they'll be wanted talent or at least have enough recognition for when they want to make their next game and that means a lot. Look around at what kind of developers the game companies are looking for - if you don't have some 5 years of experience, it's hard to even get your foot in the door. A chance like this is worth giving up your profits for and besides, they never would've been able to even make these games if it wasn't for Sony.

 

[Dreadman75]

So they are now free from Sony's tyranny? Congratz I suppose, I hope I can play their games one day.

Chen stated in a forum post that Sony saved them. Fresh out of college no one would take a risk on them, but Sony did. I must say, it's a game that really should be experienced. Utterly breath-taking game.

he would make more profit if he would release it on other platforms, like pc.

Sony own the IP rights or distribution right. You'll never see it outside of a Sony console.

^This, on both points. Sure, I wish they were getting some more cash, but you gotta understand, the deal they got with Sony is no small thing. They signed up for 3 games with them and I believe the third came out by now (first was Flower, can't remember what the third one was/is going to be). Screw just looking at profits from their work, after this, they'll be wanted talent or at least have enough recognition for when they want to make their next game and that means a lot. Look around at what kind of developers the game companies are looking for - if you don't have some 5 years of experience, it's hard to even get your foot in the door. A chance like this is worth giving up your profits for and besides, they never would've been able to even make these games if it wasn't for Sony.

They created Flow, Flower, and Journey, in that order I think. Their three game deal is up, and now they can develop for any platform they wish. Good for them, I say, Journey was fantastic and while I'm sorry no one outside the PS3 audience will be able to play it, I also can't wait to see what their next game will be.

 

[redisforever]

Really? They just now made a profit? Well, I hope their next game goes out on many more platforms, so more people can play their damn fantastic games, and hopefully make a profit much faster.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

I wasn't impressed by Journey, but good on them for making a profit on a project that took a long while.

 

[nathan-dts]

So they are now free from Sony's tyranny? Congratz I suppose, I hope I can play their games one day.

Sony backed an indie studio and provided them the funds and publicity to develop a masterpiece. It's very much a shame that Sony had to make their money back before thatgamecompany could get payed, which caused the staff losses, but that's how publishing works, and those people aren't going to have trouble selling after they made those three games.

 

[nathan-dts]

Really? They just now made a profit? Well, I hope their next game goes out on many more platforms, so more people can play their damn fantastic games, and hopefully make a profit much faster.

That score and the length of time made this a ridiculously expensive game for a small studio. They wouldn't have been able to fund it without Sony, who had to make their money back before royalties could go to the developer. I agree that hopefully more platforms means more money, but I don't think there's a major publisher around that would take a chance on them, other than Sony.

The next game will be a lot more basic, but I don't doubt that it'll be equally amazing.

 

[Karloff]

The development time for Journey was ++6 years, Its unlikely that any other publisher would have accepted such a deal, and although im sure after that much time the development team was under a lot of stress, it is not a stretch to declare that "thatGameCompany" wouldnt exist if sony hadn't taken them under their wing.

Sadly Kelly Santiago, Jenoa Chen's 2nd in command, left the company to become the Ouya's communication manager aparently...

And reportedly the company's new game is being designed for the new Kinect on Xbox One, making use of its expression capturing capabilities..... which makes me a sad panda.

 

[hermes]

That is kind of crazy. It took them a whole year to break even? I would have thought such a good game with a lot of fervorous fans would have less economical problems...

In any case, good for them. Journey truly is an impressive game.