Who Is Jenova Chen? Age, Biography, and Wiki
Born on October 8, 1981, in Shanghai, China, Jenova Chen is a prominent video game designer celebrated for his innovative contributions to the gaming industry. He is best known as the co-founder of thatgamecompany, the studio behind critically acclaimed titles like Journey, Flower, and Sky: Children of the Light. As of 2025, Chen is 43 years old, and his unique approach to gaming focuses on emotional engagement and artistic expression, reshaping how players interact with video games.
| Occupation | Game Designer |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | October 8, 1981 |
| Age | 44 Years |
| Birth Place | Shanghai, China |
| Horoscope | Libra |
| Country | China |
Popularity
Jenova Chen's Popularity over time
Height, Weight & Measurements
While exact details about his height and weight are not publicly disclosed, Jenova Chen is known for his lean physique, which reflects an active lifestyle. His dedication to both his physical and mental well-being is visible in the creativity he brings to his work.
Family, Dating & Relationship Status
As of 2025, Jenova Chen appears to keep his personal life private, with limited public information about his family and relationships. It is speculated that he is currently dating someone, but no confirmed details about a girlfriend or boyfriend have emerged. Chen’s relationship status remains a topic of interest among fans and followers, as he focuses primarily on his career and creative endeavors.
His parents were "a middle-class family". His father worked in the software development industry, having previously worked on "one of the earliest giant computers in China".
Although Chen was interested in art and drawing as a young child, his father influenced him towards computers, entering him in programming contests from when he was 10 years old. He found himself interested in video games that he saw there, but was not as enthusiastic about programming.
While a teenager, he had deep emotional experiences with games that he played, including The Legend of Sword and Fairy, which he ascribes to the fact that he was not as exposed to books, films, or life events that other people would have had those experiences with.
These experiences drove him to try to create those types of feelings in games as an adult, when more emotional maturity had caused his "standards to rise" in what would move him in a game.
It was during high school that he chose the English name Jenova after a character in Final Fantasy VII, wanting a name that would be unique anywhere he used it as there were "thousands of Jason Chens".
Net Worth and Salary
Jenova Chen’s net worth is estimated to be around $20 million in 2025. His wealth primarily stems from his successful career in video game design, coupled with revenues generated from his games, including lucrative sales and partnerships. Chen also earns a salary through his role as the CEO of thatgamecompany, with additional income from various speaking engagements and panel discussions within the gaming community.
When Chen quit Maxis to re-join Thatgamecompany, he did so knowing that it would mean taking less pay and having a less stable career. He felt, though, that it was important to the industry and medium as a whole to create games that provoked different emotional responses in the player than just excitement or fear.
While Chen is not opposed to making action games, and his company has made internal "exciting" games that were well received at Sony, he feels that there is no point to Thatgamecompany commercially producing games like that instead of working for existing game developers, as they would not be making anything new that justified the cost of remaining
an independent studio.
Similarly, Chen does not intend for Thatgamecompany to make "big budget blockbuster games", as the pressure on profits that entails would stifle the innovation that he wants Thatgamecompany to focus on.
Chen believes that for video games to become a mature medium like film, the industry as a whole needs to create a wide range of emotional responses to their games, similar to how film has thriller, romance, and comedy genres based on the emotions they provoke.
He feels that there are only three ways for video games to impact adults in the same way they do children: "intellectually, whereby the work reveals a new perspective about the world that you have not seen before," by "emotionally touching someone," and "by creating a social environment where the intellectual or emotional stimulation could happen f
rom other people."
Career, Business, and Investments
Jenova Chen's career began with a strong academic background in computer science and game design. He pursued his passion at the University of Southern California, where he earned a Master’s degree in Interactive Media. His career took off with the founding of thatgamecompany in 2006, and he quickly gained recognition for creating games that focus on emotional storytelling.
In addition to game development, Chen has ventured into investments, backing innovative startups in the tech and gaming sectors. His vision for a future of gaming that prioritizes empathy and artistic expression continues to influence new designers and projects within the industry.
Xinghan Chen (born October 8, 1981), known professionally as Jenova Chen, is a Chinese video game designer. He is the designer of the award-winning games Cloud, Flow, Flower, and Journey, co-founder of Thatgamecompany as well as an advisor for Annapurna Interactive.
Social Network
Jenova Chen maintains a modest yet impactful presence on social media, primarily sharing insights on game development and updates on his projects. He is actively engaged with fans on platforms like Twitter and Instagram, where he connects with the gaming community and promotes his work. His social media channels serve as a bridge for fans to understand his philosophies and the creative processes behind his games.
The next game, Flower, was Chen and Thatgamecompany's "first game outside the safety net of academia". Chen was the creative director in charge of the game, while Santiago was the producer and Clark was the lead designer. The company ranged in size from six to nine people at varying stages of the game's development.
Flower was intended by Chen to provoke positive emotions in the player, and to act as "an emotional shelter". Chen described the game as "an interactive poem exploring the tension between urban and nature".
He decided on a "nature" theme early in the development process, saying that he "had this concept that every PlayStation is like a portal in your living room, it leads you to somewhere else.
I thought; wouldn't it be nice if it was a portal that would allow you to be embraced by nature." Chen designed the game around the idea that the primary purpose of entertainment products like video games was the feelings that they evoked in the audience, and that the emotional range of most games was very limited.
To make Flower have the "emotional spectrum" that he wanted, Chen looked at the development process as creating a work of art, rather than a "fun" game, which would not provoke the desired emotions.
In 2008, during Flower's development, Chen was named to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 list, as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35.
Education
Chen's educational journey played a significant role in shaping his career. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Shenzhen University before moving to the United States. He later attended the University of Southern California, where he acquired a Master’s degree in Interactive Media. His academic background laid a solid foundation for his creative exploration in the gaming world, fueling his desire to create meaningful and immersive gaming experiences.
Their first game, which won a grant of twenty thousand dollars from USC to produce, was Cloud, released in 2005, which "focuses on a young hospital patient who soars in his mind despite being trapped indoors". The idea was partially based on himself, as when he was a child he was often hospitalized for asthma.
It was designed as an attempt to "expand the spectrum of emotions video games evoke". At a student showcase at the Game Developers Conference, Chen and Santiago showed the game to a representative from Sony, John Hight, saying that it was the first game in the "Zen" genre. Hight was interested, though no deal was forthcoming.
The game won the Best Student Philosophy award at the Slamdance Guerrilla Games Competition and a Student Showcase award at the Independent Games Festival, and was showcased on Spike TV, G4TV, and CBS Sunday.
