When Games Stop Being Games and Start Being Places

There's a revolution happening in gaming, but you won't find it in frame rates or polygon counts. This revolution is quieter, more intimate and potentially more transformative. It's about rediscovering connection, the kind that catches you off guard and reminds you why we gather in virtual worlds. Gardens Interactive is building its entire future on it.

Walk into most studios today, and you'll hear optimisation language: retention metrics, conversion funnels, engagement loops. The vocabulary of games-as-dopamine-machines. Gardens use different words: shared presence, moments that linger, spaces where people grow together. Their upcoming project isn't a game; you play it, it's a world you inhabit. A shared fantasy adventure where magic happens when you encounter another person, and something meaningful unfolds between you.

The team behind Journey, Sky: Children of the Light, What Remains of Edith Finch, and Firewatch isn't chasing blockbuster formulas. They're building for feeling atmosphere, emergent storytelling, and genuine community. In an industry laser-focused on retention, Gardens optimises for resonance instead.

The risk? Players say they want connection but optimize for efficiency. Gardens is betting we've reached peak optimization, that beneath the metrics lies hunger for spaces that feel genuinely alive.

Success won't show in launch sales. It'll arrive when players say "I met someone there" instead of "I beat it."

Communities forming around shared moments, not objectives. Gardens isn't just building a game. They're testing whether multiplayer's next leap will be emotional, not technical.

The future of gaming is being built differently. And it’s starting right here.