Jenova Chen

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Lore & Background

Chen's driving mission is to help video games mature as a medium by creating experiences that stir genuine emotional responses—often ones other games overlook. Growing up in Shanghai and later living in the United States, he strives to make games that speak universally, transcending cultural boundaries. While Thatgamecompany is capable of making more conventional titles, Chen has no plans to develop them commercially, believing that would stray from their identity as an independent studio. *Journey* was his deliberate exploration of communication and social interaction in games: rather than letting players chat or coordinate toward explicit goals, he designed a world where strangers meet and can only bond through shared movement, gestures, and acts of help or abandonment. Released on the PlayStation Network on March 13, 2012, *Journey* was met with near-universal critical acclaim and became a landmark in emotional game design.

In Their Own Story

In a quiet room filled with the soft hum of servers, Jenova Chen watches a player traverse a golden desert. There is no dialogue, only the wind sweeping across dunes and the distant call of a mountain peak. As the player encounters another traveler, they exchange gestures—jumps, chirps, and glides—creating a silent conversation that transcends language. In this moment, the designer sees his vision realized: two souls connected not by words, but by shared wonder.

Reader's Guide

Chen's first major game, *Cloud*, released in 2005, won a grant of $20,000 from USC. It 'focuses on a young hospital patient who soars in his mind despite being trapped indoors,' partially based on Chen's own childhood hospitalizations for asthma. The game won the Best Student Philosophy award at the Slamdance Guerrilla Games Competition and a Student Showcase award at the Independent Games Festival. Chen's master's thesis explored dynamic difficulty adjustment, illustrated with *Flow*, a Flash game made with Nicholas Clark released in March 2006. *Flow* received 100,000 downloads in its first two weeks and by July had been downloaded over 650,000 times.

Did You Know?

• Chen chose the English name 'Jenova' after a character in *Final Fantasy VII*, wanting a name that would be unique anywhere since there were 'thousands of Jason Chens'.
• His first major game, *Cloud*, won a $20,000 grant from USC and was partially inspired by his own childhood hospitalizations for asthma.
• *Flow*, his master's thesis project, received 100,000 downloads in its first two weeks and over 650,000 by July 2006.
• During *Flower's* development in 2008, Chen was named to the MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 list as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under 35.

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