14 DAY TRIAL // The biggest hit for the video game world in the last few years has been the Call of Duty franchise, which focuses on military engagements and high-action sequences, and at least one leading developer believes that this focus on young adult fantasies actually hurts gaming as a whole.
Jenova Chen, one of the co-founders of Thatgamecompany and the creative director of new release Journey, has told Gamasutra during an interview that video games are “not good enough for adults.”
He added, “For adults to enjoy something, they need to have intellectual stimulation, something that's related to real life. Playing poker teaches you how to deceive people, and that's relevant to real life. A headshot with a sniper rifle is not relevant to real life.”
Chen says that only a game relevant from an intellectual standpoint can generate emotion in adults and that he tried to reach this level of relevance with Journey, the most recent title from Thatgamecompany, and with its sparse but engaging multiplayer side.
Journey was launched exclusively on the PlayStation 3 home console via the PSN and it’s a very simple experience, with the player in control of a robbed figure in the middle of a desert space, with limited tutorial and no clear explanations about the story of the game mechanics.
Thatgamecompany also allows gamers to go online and meet others during the game, but there’s no identification for gamers who share a game space and they can only communicate using in-character shouts, with no text or chat included.
Journey has been seen as a provocative title when it was launched because it bucked a lot of the current trends in gaming.
The game has broken records when it comes to sales on the PlayStation Network and Thatgamecompany is working with Sony on new game projects using a similar template.