Kena: Bridge of Spirits developer Ember Lab has told Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier that the game has already recouped its initial development costs, and Sony‘s “happy” with its performance.
Ember Lab founders – brothers Mike and Josh Grier – revealed that prior to signing a deal with Sony, their pitch for Kena attracted several big publishers. Ember Lab had never made a video game before (it was an animation studio), so the Griers were delighted to work with Sony.
“I think we all turned back into the kid versions of ourselves,” Josh told Bloomberg. “We felt like we were at a private E3.”
The Griers were gearing up to reveal Kena alongside the PlayStation 5 in early 2020, but unfortunately, the pandemic hit and a physical showcase was out of question. Ember Lab had to create a video for a digital showcase from within the confines of their office. Social distancing rules applied to offices too, however, so their cameraman had to put on a hazmat suit to get the job done.
“He was in a full hazmat suit, sweating the whole time,” Josh recalled. “It was professionally done but very weird.” But it all worked out in the end because Kena attracted a lot of attention and pushed the game “to the front of line.”
As for how many copies Kena has specifically sold, Ember Lab didn’t disclose any figures, but did say that the game has been successful enough for the studio to continue making games as opposed to commercials.
“It’s hard to tell what’s a huge success,” Josh added. “Sony’s happy. We’re not going back to commercials.”
[Source: Bloomberg]
