Quotes from Jenova Chen

I always have a problem playing text-heavy games. I'm a slow reader. I don't speak English well. As a kid in China, trying to play these games, I just wanted the text to go away.

I just feel like I'm on a quest to fail if I try to even compete with myself.

Nothing truly bad happens. There's always good and bad in any changes.

When I read a good story, I often start thinking, 'Should I live my life according to what this character chooses and values?' It makes me think. I feel like I grew up to be a more mature person while thinking about character development in these fictional situations.

When I designed 'Flower' I was thinking about making it a positive, almost like a self-healing experience. It's like therapy.

Each game we make, we like to introduce an emotion that is rarely experienced by gamers in the console game industry.

I feel like that nature has this great power.

I would rather see a game where you play to feel happier and to make other people like you and to make the people you care about happy.

In the free-to-play industry, the most money-making games are often coming from making people fighting against each other and really hating each other and wanting to revenge, so they spend more money to dominate.

Games have to be relevant intellectually.

When humans are hungry, they look for food. But they are also hungry for certain feelings. They go out to look for entertainment - from music to movies to novels to games - to satisfy their emotions.

I really like 'ICO' and 'Shadow of the Colossus.'

The struggle we went through in the last year of 'Journey' was pretty insane, and I think that is also why, when I was working on the struggle level, I was able to channel my own struggle into the game.

We try really hard to avoid those conventional experiences, these adrenaline rush, anger, competition, violence. We intentionally avoid that. We try to create a game that's serene and tranquil and filled with love.

With 'Journey,' we created an emotional arc for two different scenarios. So, if you play alone, it's a good game. You have what we think is a complete emotional arc. You will feel, I guess, a sense of transformation in the single-player. Because it's a hero's journey.

Designing a game can be like a Japanese garden. It's not what you put in but how much you take away.

Seeing games become more of a young person thing, I feel like a toy I grew up with has been left behind. I don't want to. I want this thing to be respected by adults. I want this thing to be growing with me. It's important to have games that could be more nuanced and reflective of the real world and relevant to adults.

A lot of people asked us why 'Journey' didn't let them play with friends or family, and obviously we had a reason - because that would have defeated the purpose of the game. But for a game to be truly be accessible to both children and adults and to men and women, it has to allow people to play with the ones they love.

I always thought if I was born 2000 years earlier, I would be a monk, probably carving a monastery or some giant pantheon buildings.

'Journey' was very much inspired by Joseph Campbell's work for 'The Hero's Journey,' but, from among his works, I like 'The Power of Myth' best.

When we approach games, we're always emotional-focused, so if a free-to-play business model works against the emotion, we won't use it. If it actually works well with the emotion, or if we can come up with a new way to do monetization that's different and that's unique for the game, I would go for that.

I don't believe in a particular god, but I believe in the unknown. I believe that there's something bigger than us.

If we can make great games for PS3 players... how many PS3 players are out there? If we can make great games for everybody, that's a much bigger service. There's no reason I shouldn't do that.

Creativity is not talent but attitude.