Thatgamecompany, Inc. (named Thatgamecompany) is an American company that creates video games on its own. It was started in 2006 by two students from the University of Southern California, Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago. The company was hired by Sony Computer Entertainment to make three downloadable games for the PlayStation 3's PlayStation Network service. Later, it received funding from other sources. The first game was a remake of Chen's popular Flash game called Flow, with improved graphics, music, multiplayer options, and support for the PlayStation 3's motion-sensitive controller. It was released on the PlayStation Store in 2007. The company's second game, Flower, was released in 2009, and its third game, Journey, was released in March 2012. Their fourth game, Sky: Children of the Light, was released on iOS in July 2019, on Android in April 2020, on Nintendo Switch in June 2021, and on PlayStation 4 in December 2022.
According to Chen, the company aims to create games that make players feel strong emotions. He says the company does not refuse to make action-focused games but believes many such games are already made by larger companies. When designing games, Chen and Thatgamecompany focus first on what emotions the game should create, rather than starting with game rules or features. Chen explains that the company does not plan to make large, high-selling games because the pressure to sell many copies might stop new ideas from happening.
History
In late 2005, Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago started thinking about creating their own video game company. They were in their final year as master's students in the Interactive Media Program at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts and had just released a video game called Cloud, which they developed with other students. The group created Cloud as an experiment to see if they could make a game that expressed something different from other video games and to test public interest in such games. Because Cloud was well received, Chen and Santiago decided to start their own company so they could continue making games like Cloud after finishing school.
At the time, digital distribution was becoming more popular. Chen and Santiago saw this as a chance to make games without the high costs of selling through stores, which they believed would require them to work for other companies first to earn money. Thatgamecompany was founded on May 15, 2006, as Chen and Santiago completed their master's degrees. The company quickly signed a deal with Sony Computer Entertainment, which had been impressed by Chen's Flash game Flow, part of his master's thesis at USC. Thatgamecompany was asked to create three games for the PlayStation Network and received funding and a workspace at Sony's offices in Los Angeles.
Initially, Thatgamecompany had Chen, Santiago, Nick Clark, who had worked with Chen on Flow, and John Edwards. Santiago was the company president and game producer, Clark was the designer, and Edwards was the lead engineer. Although Chen helped start the company, he worked at Maxis on the game Spore for a time. The company considered using Cloud as their first game for Sony but chose Flow instead because it was more complete in its design. They believed Flow would be easier to develop while building the company, as none of the team had experience managing a business or making a commercial game. Some outside workers, like Austin Wintory, the game's composer, helped with Flow's development.
The company thought the PlayStation 3 version of Flow could be finished in four months and ready for the PlayStation Network's November 2006 launch. However, the game was released in February 2007 and did not include half of the original design. Santiago said the Sony producer assigned to the team expected delays and was not surprised by the late release. Flow was well received, becoming the most downloaded game on the PlayStation Network in 2007. It was nominated for awards, including Best Downloadable Game of the Year and Best Innovation at the BAFTA awards. After its release, an expansion pack and a PlayStation Portable version were made by SuperVillain Studios, but Thatgamecompany was not involved in their development beyond ensuring the design and art style matched the original. The company focused on creating their next game, Flower.
Flower was Thatgamecompany's "first game outside the safety net of academia," according to Santiago. Six to nine people worked on it at different stages. Chen returned to the company full-time before its development and served as creative director. The game's music was composed by Vincent Diamante, who had worked on Cloud with Chen and Santiago. Flower took two years to develop, but most of that time was spent in the prototyping stage. Once the team decided on the game's elements, it was produced in six months. Like Flow, Flower was well received when it was released in February 2009, selling in the top ten PlayStation Network titles of the year and winning several awards. After Flower was released, Thatgamecompany moved into their own building in Los Angeles.
The company's third project was Journey, released on March 13, 2012. It was the final game in Thatgamecompany's three-game contract with Sony and was developed by a team of fourteen. Santiago left her role as producer to focus on being the company president, and Robin Hunicke took over as producer. Journey took three years to develop, even though it was expected to take one year. The team faced challenges as the company grew from seven to eighteen employees and risked running out of money. After its release, Journey was both critically and commercially successful, becoming the fastest-selling game on PlayStation Store in North America and Europe. After Journey was released, several employees left for other opportunities. Santiago left to pursue other ventures, designer Chris Bell started his own studio, The Willderness, and Hunicke resigned to work at Tiny Speck. Chen said the exodus was partly due to the end of the company's contract with Sony and financial difficulties that forced the team to take an unpaid break until revenue from Journey came in.
Once money from Journey started coming in, Thatgamecompany brought back some employees and hired new developers. With their contract with Sony completed, the company raised $5.5 million in venture capital funding to develop future games for multiple platforms without publisher influence. The team then began working on Sky: Children of the Light, and by June 2013, the company had about 12 people, only half of whom had worked on Journey. Thatgamecompany aimed to release Sky on as many platforms as possible and include touch controls in an innovative way, similar to how previous games used controller tilting. On May 27, 2014, it was reported that Sky had received $7 million in funding from Capital Today and other investors. While Sky was being developed, Thatgamecompany re-released Flow and Flower on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita and updated Journey for the PlayStation 4. Sky, a free-to-play multiplayer adventure game, was first released on July 18, 2019. Since its release, Thatgamecompany has focused on supporting it.
In March 2020, Thatgamecompany announced plans to open a second studio in the San Francisco and Silicon Valley area to support Sky. These plans were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2022, the company announced it had received a $160 million investment and hired Edwin Catmull, a co-founder of Pixar, as an advisor. Chen also said the studio was working on its fifth game, which he described as "like a theme park" and "the most ambitious game I have built."
Philosophy
Thatgamecompany creates games by first deciding the emotions and feelings it wants players to experience. This is different from many other game developers, who usually start by designing game rules or choosing a specific type of game. Santiago explains that the company aims to show the many different experiences possible in video games, which she believes are more varied than the few, such as excitement or fear, that are often shown. Chen says the company’s games focus on making players feel emotions rather than delivering a clear message. For example, he changed the design of the game Flower after early testers thought it encouraged the use of green energy. Chen believes he is too young to create games with strong messages and avoids including clear meanings in the company’s games. Santiago states that Thatgamecompany’s goal is to make games that expand the possibilities of video games as a way to communicate and to appeal to many different people. She hopes this approach will change the video game industry, encouraging other companies to see video games as a creative medium instead of just products made for large audiences.
Thatgamecompany’s employees are not against making action games. As a break from their usual projects, they created some exciting games that were well received by Sony. However, Chen believes the company should not commercially produce such games because they would not introduce new ideas that justify the cost of staying an independent studio instead of working for other developers. Similarly, Chen does not plan for Thatgamecompany to make large, expensive games that are popular with many players. He thinks the financial demands of such projects would limit creativity.
Games
In the game Flow, the player guides a tiny water creature through different flat areas. The creature grows by eating other small organisms. The game was inspired by research on changing game difficulty and a theory about deep focus and enjoyment. It was released for the PlayStation 3 on February 22, 2007.
Flower was created as a follow-up to Flow. Using the PlayStation 3's motion-sensitive controller, the player controls wind that moves a flower petal through the air. When the petal flies near flowers, other petals join it. This can change the game world, such as making dead areas colorful or starting windmills. The game has no text or dialogue, telling its story through visuals and emotions. It was released for the PlayStation 3 on February 12, 2009.
In Journey, the player controls a robed character who starts in a desert with a mountain far away. Along the way, the player may meet other players online. Players cannot talk, but they can choose to help or ignore each other. The game was released for the PlayStation 3 on March 13, 2012. In 2013, the game’s music was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Score, but it did not win. The game was later released for Windows in 2019.
Sky: Children of the Light is the latest game from Thatgamecompany. It was released for iOS on July 18, 2019, and for Android on April 7, 2020. It is inspired by the company’s earlier games. In Sky, the player explores a magical world using a cape that lets them fly. Players can join others online to explore seven different areas, each representing a life stage. A central area called "Home" connects these realms. Players can earn items from spirits by spending in-game currency. The game is free to play, with some items available for purchase. It was named Apple’s iPhone Game of the Year in 2019 and reached 100 million downloads by May 2021. It was released for the Nintendo Switch in 2021 and for PlayStation 4 on December 6, 2022. A free PC demo was released on October 9, 2023, for the Steam Next Fest event.