Close to ten years ago at Sony, I had the pleasure of working with Jenova and thatgamecompany on the development of Flower for PlayStation 3.
As the original Managing Producer of Flower at Sony Santa Monica (and as now VP of Production at thatgamecompany), I think we knew that we were trying something different, but I don’t think we envisioned the game would go on to win so many awards, be inducted into the permanent collection at the Smithsonian Museum, or even help drive a movement that would inspire a new genre of positive and mindful gaming.
After Flower launched, we certainly could see its influence to break new boundaries and perceptions of how video games could be designed and played. Or how it could transcend and connect families and friends across ages, cultures and backgrounds. That was certainly our hope – to bring it to as many people as possible, so that audiences around the world could see how games could be relevant to them. At the time, we could see that gamers and non-gamers were indeed yearning for new kinds of interactive entertainment experiences.
So today, in a first-of-its-kind partnership with Sony Interactive Entertainment and Annapurna Interactive, we are excited to announce that Flower is available to play on iPhone and iPad and can be downloaded from the App Store starting today. This is a special release for Flower because for the first time, more and more audiences can get to experience the calmness, poetic beauty and romanticism of game! Our existing community can buy, share or gift the game to others to explore. Casual players – older or younger family members and loved ones – can try it, complete it and maybe understand that games can encourage positivity.
As a multi-format studio, we are excited to continue growing the accessibility of our games, and hope that Flower will continue to spread happiness to new audiences who may stumble across it. For more info, go to the Flower App Store page here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flower/id1279174518?ls=1&mt=8
– Eric