Thatgamecompany, an independent video game development company, has raised $160 million to turn its games into virtual theme park-style experiences in a “connected metaverse”.
In an interview with VentureBeat, the gaming studio’s co-founder and CEO Jenova Chen said he wants to offer games such as Sky as immersive and interactive theme park experiences.
“We are hoping to build a game like a Disney or Pixar movie, where husbands and can play with wives and parents can play with children,” Chen said.
“The PlayStation just doesn’t seem to have that reach where everybody will have a PlayStation to play together. So we picked mobile, which is a quite a big risk.”
Video games as virtual theme park-style experiences
Thatgamecompany’s video games include Flow (2007), Flower (2009) and Journey (2012) for Sony’s PlayStation, and Sky (2019) for mobile devices and the Nintendo Switch.
Sky has been downloaded more than 160 million times.
“Disney World is a collective of theme parks that are next to each other, and with a lot of infrastructure,” Chen added.
“I really feel like there isn’t that equivalent of a kind of Disneyland experience or a Pixar movie experience in the game industry even today.”
AstroWorld, a former Six Flags amusement park in Houston, Texas, has also announced its return as a virtual theme park in the metaverse. Elsewhere, Disney has hired a former gaming executive for Apple to help oversee its metaverse plans.
“I haven’t really played a game with my wife from the beginning to finish,” Chen shared. “I haven’t really found a good game to do that. Not to mention I have kids now. How do we how do we have that experience?”
“That’s kind of my aspiration. Sky is certainly an attempt but we want to do better to make these types of experiences,” he added. “Hopefully, Sky and our future games will all be you know, kind of part of the theme parks in the future, like in a connected metaverse.”
Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull has joined Thatgamecompany as a principal adviser on creative culture and strategic growth.
Images: Thatgamecompany
