Jenova Chen, author of Flow, Flower, and Sky: Children of the Light, prefers that barriers be removed before worrying about photorealism.
With the next generation of consoles getting closer, both PS5 and Xbox Series X are beginning to unveil their cards and new technological assets. Sony and Microsoft work against the clock to get to Christmas 2020 with the most powerful, fastest and technologically capable consoles we've ever seen. However, Jenova Chen is not interested in what those CPUs will be like, but in how to remove barriers to reach a wider audience. FreeGameTips has spoken to the Chinese developer about the future of the industry.
Convinced of the opportunities of mobile gaming and cloud gaming
A report released by Forbes just a few months ago indicated that there are already more than 2.5 billion gamers worldwide, a figure that seduces developers like flOw's father, Flower, the acclaimed Journey and the recent Sky: Children of the Light. , which after going through iOS now lands on Android with a community of more than 10 million players worldwide.
Jenova Chen, author of Journey and Sky: Children of the Light
Cooperation is part of the DNA of this dreamlike work whose backbone is to connect the consoles, travel the skies and discover what is hidden in that infinite world. Chen has wanted to go further after what was seen with Journey, where the multiplayer experience was eminently passive. That is why he decided on mobile devices and, therefore, he is not in a hurry when asked about PS5 and Xbox Series X, of which he expects more an opening in options so that more people can access them; not so much technical power.
FreeGameTips: What do you think of next-gen consoles? PS5 and Xbox Series X will come with a large capacity RAM, SSD storage and controls equipped with new technologies.
Jenova Chen: I'm not overly excited. When I was younger I felt more excited about each new console that hit the market; how powerful the CPU was and stuff. However, now I'm more interested in knowing what advantages we, as developers, can have when creating the best possible games. That is, if we are really squeezing the possibilities to the limit of speed and capacity … it is not my priority. See, a game running at 60 FPS is not a necessity for everyone.
Sky: Children of the Light
Chen looks around and at his family; from parents, wife and children. His interest is in how to find the way to attract the attention of those players who have never approached a video game and transmit a universal message through their works.
"I don't care how fast the next CPUs are"
FreeGameTips: What is beyond, then?
Chen: With the new generation, my real interest is not so much in how realistically we can make the games because I think photorealism is something that is already being achieved in the PlayStation 4 era. What really excites me about the next generation is knowing that there are so many, so many people out there that can jump into a video game; something that did not happen in the past. That, for example, my daughter, my wife or my parents, people who had never played a video game, now have the possibility to do it with more devices. You turn on a device and you can start playing. That's what really excites me about the future of video games. I don't care how fast the next CPUs are.
With the success of Sky: Children of the Light and its community of millions of players, outside of Nintendo Switch, do you plan to launch the game on new generation platforms, such as PS5 or Xbox Series?
Our first confirmed console is Nintendo Switch. Our Sky engine is an engine we've been working on PlayStation for years, which we've been using since the PlayStation 3 era with Flow and Flower; that is to say, its nuclear technology is a technology for consoles. Of course we will consider all consoles; however, because we have focused this project on a mobile project, it is an experience especially optimized for mobile platforms and small screens. Moving all of this onto the big screen would take a lot of extra work. Therefore, we will have to wait a while until we can make possible announcements.
How about the cloud? Do you plan to take advantage of their opportunities?
As a creator I am really interested in channels. Imagine television channels, where everything revolves more around content, in creating a different market with different sections and different categories.
Journey also came to iOS last summer.
For this reason, Nintendo Switch was the first console chosen to transfer its latest hit, Sky: Children of the Light, where it will have its own version adapted using the same graphics engine and cross-play technology with iOS devices this summer. Android. A hypothetical version for PS5 and Xbox Series X is something that does not contemplate now for the work that would take, but will consider it if the opportunity occurs. The possibility exists, however, to see the light on any future platform, but Sky has been conceived as a video game for portable platforms and, therefore, the added work that would entail a port for other home consoles is something that right now does not behold.
