Quotes from Jenova Chen

I grew up in Shanghai, a big urban city.

There are many sides of the urban life that I dislike, but there are many sides I am deeply in love with and attached to.

For adults to enjoy something, they need to have intellectual stimulation, something that's related to real life.

It's stressful when you run a company.

I feel, as a game maker, we are responsible to make content that stretch the ruling structure and emotions so that everyone can enjoy.

I was very impressed with the scope and scale and impact that came from originally one person making 'Minecraft.' It's inspiring for me to think how our team can do more with less.

'Journey' is a way for us to explore the crossing, the intersection of our lives between each other.

I studied Computer Science when I was in my undergrad and minored in Digital Art & Design.

'Flower' is about the sublime.

I was not grown up in the U.S., nor in Japan. In order to create a video game that people around the globe can enjoy and relate to, I can't draw things deeply rooted in the local culture that I'm not familiar with. That's why we are not doing games about football or samurai.

When I was a teenager, I felt my life was constrained by rules, school, my parents. I wanted to feel like I was empowered and different; that's why superheroes, comics, manga, and video games filled my needs. When I got older, I realized power is not free; it comes with responsibility.

Look at the genres women like: a romantic comedy game doesn't exist. Few examples of a documentary game exist. What is the equivalent of a real drama game? They don't exist. Emotion with that complexity for a more mature, older audience are necessary to make medium-like video games healthy so it can be highly respected like the film industry.

A lot of the greatest artists, their work is always about life and the world. I think there needs to be that for video games.

Video games have always been a part of my life.

We founded thatgamecompany to push the boundary of video games as an interactive medium.

My dream is to make everyone love video games.

What I find the most interesting about games is the feeling of accomplishment. I think this is an emotion that cinema can't do and books can't do. You feel like you've personally accomplished something. You feel you get better at something.

Humans are lazy but not stupid.

Entertainment, in the end, is a food industry for feeling.