Journey drove Thatgamecompany to bankruptcy

The long development of PSN title Journey drove Thatgamecompany to bankruptcy, Jenova Chen has said.

Speaking at DICE, as reported by Destructoid, the studio’s creative director said the developer had originally signed a two-year deal with Sony to complete the game, but hadn’t managed to do so during that timeframe.

The developer managed to sign a one-year extension to that deal in an effort to create a more emotional connection with the player, but development exceeded the extra year the company was given.

During the final six months of development, without Sony’s financial backing, Chen said that some of Thatgamecompany’s employees went unpaid and the studio had to dip into its own funds in an effort to complete the title, driving it to bankruptcy.

Despite running into money trouble, Thatgamecompany eventually finished development of Journey, and released it on PSN in March last year.

The game went on to receive critical acclaim, garnering an impressive average Metacritic rating of 92, and also became the fastest selling PSN title ever.