Ember Lab Becomes Full Time Dev With Kena’s Success

Kena: Bridge of Spirits came out back in August and has almost immediately become a breakout hit. The game has received solid reviews from many major outlets. Critics praised the game for its gorgeous and unique Pixar/Ghibli inspired world, enjoyable exploration and puzzles, as well as some decently challenging combat. Since then, many have been wondering what’s next for Ember Lab, whether there is going to be a sequel for Kena or will Ember Lab move to a new IP instead. 

Speaking to Jason Schreier of Bloomberg, Mike and Josh Grier gave a ton of new details about the behind the scenes for Kena, the most interesting of which involved a Cameraman decked out in full protective gear wearing a hazmat suit. An important announcement they made while talking to Schreier was that they were moving away from commercials and animation work to instead start work as a full time game developer following Kena’s success. They also add that while they’re not sure about what their next project is going to be, they at least know that its certainly going to be a narrative-driven game akin to Kena.

Speaking about Kena’s success, it appears that the game’s initial development costs have been recouped with Josh Grier adding that “Sony’s happy. Actual sales numbers haven’t been given yet but given Sony’s satisfaction it can be safely assumed that the game brought a good amount of profit for the publisher. Given that Kena was the first game by Ember Lab, it is going to be exciting to see what the team brings next to the table and especially with how they improve upon their already great first game in the near future, or maybe even a sequel instead. 

The full interview also features a lot of interesting tidbits about the game and things that attributed to the game’s success, going back to the game’s initial announcement during in June last year.