Jenova Chen, grundlæggeren af spilstudiet Thatgamecompany, der blandt andet har udviklet det fantastiske Journey, har et anderledes syn på social gaming end de fleste andre i branchen. Ifølge ham er multiplayer-successer som Call of Duty eller World of Warcraft ikke særligt sociale spil, selvom man spiller dem med andre.
Årsagen er, ifølge Chen, at man ikke spiller sammen, men side om side:
"Existing games are about killing each other or killing something together. The idea of social emotion means people need to share feelings. At that moment, the players are in sync. The problem [with many games] is there's no chance to share emotion. Most of them are busy, there are explosions everywhere. So we got rid of all the background noise and we had to get rid of the guns. Social means emotional exchange, not number exchange. World of Warcraft and Call of Duty tend to focus on killing things. Thats not very social",, sagde han under Games for Change-festivallen.
Har Chen en pointe? Er spil som Journey, hvor man møder en tilfældig medspiller på et tilfældigt tidspunkt, og former en slags venskab, mere socialt end hvis man raider sammen med venner i World of Warcraft?