People
Jenova Chen
Jenova co-founded thatgamecompany in 2006 and acts as creative director. Born and raised in Shanghai, Jenova earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a minor in digital art and design. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he got a master's degree from the University of Southern California's Interactive Media Division. While there Jenova was involved in the creation of Cloud and Flow, and met fellow student and later business partner Kellee Santiago.
Jenova loves video games and is frustrated to see video games losing their appeal as he and his friends age. While studying in film school about the history of media, Jenova realized that to mature a medium, a wide range of content is required to satisfy audience's various emotional needs. Jenova wants to be part of a movement to expand the range of emotions video games can communicate, and help turn video games into an expressive medium that can be enjoyed by everyone.
Due to the work he and his co-workers produced and the active academic participation in the past six years, Jenova was honored as one of the World’s Top Innovators by MIT's Technology Review and 10 Innovators to Watch by Variety in 2008. In 2010, he was selected as Top 50 Game Developer by Game Developer Magazine and Most Creative Entrepreneurs in Business by Fast Company Magazine.
A little bit about us…
thatgamecompany was founded in the Spring of 2006 by Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago, two graduates of the University Southern California Interactive Media MFA program. They had worked on several projects together, including the multi-award winning student game, “Cloud,” and decided to continue working together on small, experimental games by forming a game studio that would focus on these projects.
thatgamecompany designs and develops artistically crafted, broadly accessible video games that push the boundaries of interactive entertainment. We respect our players and want to contribute meaningful, enriching experiences that touch and inspire them. We seek talent that values integrity and personal growth within an environment of intense collaboration and experimentation.
We call our games “core games.” Core games appeal not only to existing hardcore and casual gaming markets, but also to dormant gamers and even non-gamers. Core games reach these new markets because they are easier and less time consuming, yet possess emotionally rich and powerful interactive experiences.