Journey dev goes fully independent, self-publishing next game

[Blacksite]

Having completed its three-game contractual stint with Sony Computer Entertainment America, the team behind Flow, Flower, and Journey is breaking free from the chains of Sony platforms with a $5.5 million infusion of capital from Benchmark Capital's Mitch Lasky. "Today I am pleased to announce thatgamecompany has raised funding to develop and release our games independently," company co-founder Jenova Chen wrote on the TGC blog.

"This enables us to bring our games to more platforms and provide our players the highest quality experience at every point of contact," Chen added. Unfortunately, TGC's first three games are owned by Sony, so don't expect to see them going multiplatform anytime soon. The company's next project, however, could end up on any number of platforms. He stopped short of revealing what TGC's next big project is, but said the team is "very excited about our new adventure" and will offer more news about it "soon."

thatgamecompany celebrated its sixth year in operation this past May with two new hires, and said goodbye to several employees earlier in the year. Chen said in May that TGC was courting publishers for its next game, but today pointed out that the company will be self-publishing instead.

Update: thatgamecompany issued Joystiq the following statement: "We are extremely excited to be partnering with Benchmark Capital, as now we are going to be self-publishing our next games. We haven't announced if our next game will be multiplatform, but we are trying to reach a larger audience than that of the PS3."

Source

I wish they would announce their next game already.

[Ghost-Rhayne]

Good news. Journey is simply one of the most amazing games I've ever played. Everyone should have access to experiences like that.

[Kuro]

Good they need to spread their wings wider for other consoles.

[rbrtchng]

congrats to TGC on getting funding. Now back to games

[AlexMackAttack]

Kudos to them! They deserve it. They are my favorite game company and I will continue to purchase everything they pump out.

[mooninites]

Good for them. Journey is absolutely amazing. Looking forward to their next experience.



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[Sub-stance1]

Freedom is nice.

[TheTenth666]

hope they get really "independent" and not get paid off / bribed by Microsoft to have some sort of exclusivity

[Ghost-Rhayne]

I was playing Journey again last night, that game is perfect in my eyes, and has the best and most awesome multiplayer aspect ever. Hopefully now they are MP they will get richer, grow and make bigger games. if Journey was a 5 hour+ game I wouldn't complain.

[Dave-The-Rave]

Was hoping Sony would just buy them outright and make them first party.

[Ghost-Rhayne]

It would be nice but Sony has more than enough teams working for them. PS3 will still get the games and there wont be any shitty ports cause they are clearly familiar with the tech.

[mooninites]

I was playing Journey again last night, that game is perfect in my eyes, and has the best and most awesome multiplayer aspect ever.

Agree with you. The game is perfect and very beautiful. They set the bar very high for themselves.



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[Dave-The-Rave]

Its far too short though..and doesn't really have any replayability.

[Xelis]

Its far too short though..and doesn't really have any replayability.

Journey isn't really a game in the classic sense, it's more of an experience. For me it was the perfect length.

[gangsta_795]

I hope they port Journey to the PC

[RedOrb_Collector]

I wish these guys the best.

Journey is probably the most moving game I've ever played, and there was no dialogue at all.

[chumdiddy]

Few games have brought out pure emotion in me. Very few have even brought me to tears and Journey was one of them. Just so beautiful in a way I cannot describe. The end of that game had me staring at the TV and not even realizing I had small tears dripping from my face. Only Ico, SotC and MGS4 (return to Shadow Moses) had done this to me.

In one way Im glad the entire gaming public can now experience their games. Yet, another part of me wants this team all to myself, the console I own. Hard to explain.

[Ghost-Rhayne]

Its far too short though..and doesn't really have any replayability.

I still play Journey. Once I transcended (found all the glyphs and became a white robe), I love meeting others in game and showing them the way to glyphs so they can also transcend. It's an awesome idea.