That is interesting, I really need to get round to buying that game but at this point I I might as well wait for the Steam sale to pick it up (I know it's already cheap but I blew all my gaming money on Kickstarter lol). I know you probably can't say, but would you consider/ would it be possible for you guys to possibly self publish Flower and Journey on PC yourselves? I mean I know you can't talk about the details of you contract, and I think I read that Sony owns the IPs so the situation is very different but some other Sony published/funded PSN games eventually made it to other platforms (PixelJunk Eden, Joe Danger, Everyday Shooter etc).

Anyway keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing what you guys are cooking up next.

Hi Aaron

Firstly, thanks for making Journey, probably one the best game I've played this gen and definitely one of the most unique.

Thank you a second time for making Flower, I played that game once when I was high and it was a fcken sweet ride.

Thank you a third time for making Flow, (but damn you for using that stupid sixaxis control lol).

Finally, please consider crowdfunding as a possible supplimentary funding avenue. ThatGameCompany has clout and prestige enough to go it alone but take yourself to kickstarter and you will see legions of followers flock to your banner. I will fund the shit out of your next product and all I'll ask for in return is your next game....

...

Okay so maybe I also want the ability to lick you (in the face dammit!) if you ever come to Australia.

:)

If a game sells well but don't recoup their development costs, then something went wrong in the management of the team and development somewhere.

Retro City Rampage sold 35,000 on PSN, making $600,000 on PSN, and sold 40,000 on PC (including Steam) and made $400,000 there.

Clearly, PSN yields more money.

Great news. Let's hope it gives faith for similiar situations in the future.

Huh? Doesn't "being funded" mean, that they already received their payments? That all they receive now is a bonus on top of the payments they got for developing the game?

Yeps. Sony paid for the development of the game, that is paid the TGC employees and once the development cost has been recouped, the developers get paid even more. Seems sensible.

Doesn't surprise me at all that their next game is multiplatform. But I do wonder if fanboy backlash will prevent that from selling well also. A steam or XBLA focus would surely result in better sales as the community is bigger, thats the only reason for them to go multiplatform in the first place. 

Okay, it'll just be easier if I make a bulk response to everyone instead of just responding to each quote:
(For anyone seeing this who doesn't know already, I'm the Community Manager for thatgamecompany.)

@cmeese:
I just want to note that CouchSurfing.org received more money from Benchmark than TGC did.
Anyways, we're self-publishing our next game. We're trying to be completely independent of any publishers, but it doesn't mean that we won't be with a publisher on a specific platform or completely for a future title.
The funding deal was that Benchmark own part of TGC, so they in turn own part of our next title. But, just like Sony, they are funding us to go our own way with development, so they aren't trying to change anything or forcing us to have any partnerships with various companies.

@enditall727:
I can't comment on behalf of what TGC thinks about Sony's approach with the PS4, but personally I like how they are treating Indie Developers. It's more-so of a continuation of what they did with the PS3 (more specifically PSN). I don't know anything about Sony forcing other companies to become more indie-friendly.

@zarx:
Correct, Sony owns flOw, Flower, and Journey. Because of this, we can't port flOw, Flower, or Journey to any non-Sony/PlayStation-branded platforms. We also don't have the bandwidth to do any ports right now, but Sony can have other developers port our games to whichever platforms they'd like. (They did this with flOw PSP and are doing this with Flower Vita.)

@mibuokami:
With Kickstarter, it would be a very hard sell to tell people that the next game will be out between 2 and "we don't know" years. First and foremost, we're focused on making the best emotional experiences we can. This takes a lot of time, experimentation, and money, so we would only be able to show the game and hold the Kickstarter when we would be in the final push of the game.
Also, a strange thing happened after Journey was released (if only it had happened a couple months before the game came out): Venture capitalists started asking us if they could give us money. Keeping the game a secret until it's ready to be revealed is the best option for us, and it's too easy to not go that route.
Finally, clout and prestige is very different than when people are given the option to trust someone with something completely unknown. Yes, it worked for Tim Schafer, but he has a kick-ass, decades-long history of making awesome games.

@HikenNoAce:
First, just because people don't buy enough copies of a game for it to break even it doesn't mean there were problems with the management or development. All that the development of a game that ends up not making money *even after* selling a large number of copies means that, in terms of that game (and not any associated revenues, such as the amount gained by the console holder if it's an exclusive title), it was a bad business decision to create said game. Often times, video game publishers think that more people will buy a specific game than the final number ends up being. It doesn't mean that there was mismanagement, it just means that projections were off and bad business decisions were made.

Second, RCR is an example of one video game. It also had a huge marketing and promotion tie-in with the PS3 and PSVita. It's also a game that due to the style that it's in made it so it wouldn't cost as much money to develop as, say, a 3D homage to PS/N64 games.

Third, I can't give you any specifics other than what you can find on Google, but games on the PC tend to do better in monetary sales than on the PSN. Sometimes they sell better (monetarily) on PSN, but usually the PC that takes the top number. Partly due to things like Steam Sales and the Humble Bundle.

Retro City Rampage made at the time $600k, but on both PS3 and PSV combined.

Overall the PC indie market is far far larger than PSN and XBLA and lifetime sales/revenue will show that even more.

If it was low sales, not my fault: I bought as soon as it launched. cool game.