As you may know from my recent tweet, the development of our latest PlayStation Network game, Journey, is finally complete. And today, we’re very excited to announce the official release date for Journey. You will be able to download it from the PlayStation Store for $14.99 starting March 13th, 2012. Three years ago, our last game, Flower, was part of the Spring Fever event on PSN, and this year Journey will kick off this year’s Spring Fever. Look for more information on the highlight games and sales of this year’s Spring Fever event on the PlayStation.Blog in the coming weeks.
With each game we create, we want to bring something truly unique and authentic to the user. We want our players to experience something they have never felt before. Our first game for PSN was flOw in 2007, a meditative zen video game haiku. We followed that in 2009 with Flower, our video game version of a poem about the tension between urban bustle and natural serenity. Journey, our third game, is an interactive parable, an anonymous online adventure to experience a person’s life passage and their intersections with other’s.
You wake alone and surrounded by miles of burning, sprawling desert, and soon discover the looming mountaintop which is your goal. Faced with rolling sand dunes, age-old ruins, caves and howling winds, your passage will not be an easy one. The goal is to get to the mountaintop, but the experience along the way is discovering who you are, what this place is, and what your purpose is. Travel and explore this ancient, mysterious world alone, or with a stranger you meet along the way. Soar above ruins and glide across sands as you discover the secrets of a forgotten civilization. Featuring stunning visuals, haunting music, and unique online gameplay, Journey delivers an experience like no other.
This last Sunday, February 12th, was the anniversary of the launch of our previous game Flower. We started working on Journey right after Flower launched, and the past three years have flown by extremely fast. In these three years, we at thatgamecompany and our friends in SCEA Santa Monica Studio have faced many challenges together and emerged stronger. Much sweat and tears have been put into the development of the game, and many people have come and gone.
So for us, the Journey in the game has also become a metaphor for the development process of the game itself. Our team is very close to our own mountaintop; we are just a few short weeks away from letting the world experience what we’ve poured our hearts and souls into these last three years. I can’t describe how eager we are to let everyone finally play the game and hear about your experiences with it.
Stay tuned for more Journey news and updates in the coming weeks.
I seriously can’t wait. I respect you guys and gals at TGC so much. <3 I'll put it out there to Sony that I'd buy all the TGC games on PSVita as well… and in physical form if that were to happen. *nudge*
I’ll be in Japan over spring break so I won’t be able to download and play the game day 1 like I wanted to =C I really loved the beta and I’m a gigantic fan of Thatgamecompany; bought and ‘finished’ every game! I’ll be sure to get this the moment I get home, but until then I’ll have to settle with my life-long dream of going to Japan =D. Thank you so much to everyone who helped to make this masterpiece of a game!
Part 1 of 2 ;) : I think I’d buy anything from you guys ;) You prove that not only are games art.. but that there are some amazing and true A R T I S T S behind them… thanks for making THREE breathtaking PS3 games, 3 OF THE BEST. :) I too (as someone else already said) was sold the first day you announced / showed this game. I can still remember the FEELING I got when I first played flOw, and Flower… it’s something special, different, relaxing, gives you room to breathe + “think” in a different way. Of all these “big” games coming out like GTA5, Mass Effect 3, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil 6… Journey is the one I want the most, because just from the beautiful trailers I can see it’s something special.
Part 2 : Maybe it’s because my favorite genre is “Adventure” (which is why I think Uncharted resonates with so many other people too.. because it takes you on a story where you’re connected with the characters and through the environment you both see amazing sights and overcome everything right there with them, wanting to help them as much as helping yourself… an adventure is best at bringing out real character….my opinion.. of course ;) ..which reminds me of Ico / Shadow of the Collosus now..), but either way I can’t wait to go on a Journey, sand-skating my way through the deserts :) I am interested to see how the online with feel like though, without knowing who you’re playing with… interesting experiment.. that’s all I can say for now. I wonder if we could customize our characters to make each person unique online.. ? or is seeing anyone in the desert enough to make them go in the same direction.. hmm.
The outfit will evolve and be different as you take more journeys.