Sacred Symbols+, Episode 127: PixelJunk Remembrance (Patreon)

Those of you who have been gaming on PlayStation since the early PS3 era will certainly remember Q-Games' PixelJunk franchise. The hallmark of the PixelJunk series of downloadable offerings -- available on PS3, PS4, Vita, and even PSP -- was that they were all different (except for direct sequels, of course). One's a racer. Another's a shooter. The next is a tower defense game. Heck, one of them is even an offbeat music visualizer. However, Q-Games' relationship with Sony seemed to sour with the release of PS4's The Tomorrow Children in 2016, a free-to-play second party title that was seemingly sent out to die with little fanfare or effort from its publisher. These days, Q is working far away from the PlayStation ecosystem, peculiar for a 50-person strong team once closely associated with the brand. To talk about the studio's history and its future, I invited its founder, Dylan Cuthbert, to +. Within, we discuss his storied past (he's one of the minds behind Star Fox, if you didn't know), how he found his way to Sony (Blasto!), and ultimately how he founded a Kyoto-based team known for its unapologetically eclectic approach. (Oh, and we also discuss Cuthbert's quest to get The Tomorrow Children's IP back from Sony, which could be a tall -- yet doable -- task.)