Thatgamecompany, the creative force behind acclaimed titles such as Flow, Flower, Journey, and the recent hit Sky: Children of the Light, has announced the formation of a new publishing division called Thatgamepublisher. This move follows a growing pattern among successful indie developers who, after scoring a breakout hit, expand into publishing or funding to nurture other independent projects.
Recent examples include Innersloth, the creators of Among Us, which launched Outersloth in 2024 to back games like Clickolding and The Horror at Highrook; Kinetic Games, the studio behind Phasmophobia, which started Kinetic Publishing and is already handling titles such as Precognition from Sam Barlow; Pocketpair, known for Palworld, which opened Pocketpair Publishing; and Landfall Games, the team behind Peak, which introduced the Evil Landfall label. The trend reflects a desire among small studios to reinvest surplus earnings into ventures they understand best. "This is a very common pattern because number one, successful indie games usually are on a shoestring, and if the game becomes very successful, suddenly you have an overflow of cash," explains Jenova Chen, co‑founder of Thatgamecompany.
"But then you are a small team [making] games, you don't want to suddenly become a thousands of people company, right? And then you can't really spend the money, so with additional money, where can you invest?
You want to invest in something you understand, something you really are familiar with. So investing into other indie games is a natural choice for everyone, and that's why many indie companies are doing that." The financial reality was starkly different when Journey launched in 2012. Chen has recounted to GamesIndustry.biz that the project's development nearly bankrupted the studio, resulting in a wave of layoffs. In contrast, Sky: Children of the Light, released in 2019, has generated massive revenue, especially in the Chinese market, and even inspired a feature‑film adaptation.
The success of Sky now provides Thatgamecompany with the capital to back what it describes as "emotionally ambitious" games. Chen also notes a shift in how games reach players. In the early 2010s, distribution channels were dominated by platform holders like Sony. Today, he argues, "the distribution network is owned by the players, who are influencers." A viral indie title can amass millions of fans who become its most effective marketing engine, often outpacing traditional media outlets such as GameSpot, IGN, or even Steam.
This democratized reach gives indie studios the confidence to act as publishers themselves. Another distinctive advantage for Thatgamecompany is its audience demographics. "We have a much bigger female audience reach than most of the game companies in the world," Chen says, pointing out that roughly 70 % of Sky's players are women.
This gender‑balanced community creates a unique overlap for games that aim to appeal to both men and women, especially those who are new to gaming. While the specific titles under Thatgamepublisher's belt remain under wraps, Chen outlined the publisher's philosophy in a press release: "When we first began making games, many people questioned whether interactive experiences could move players as deeply as film, literature or music.
Over the years, games have shown us what impact they can have on people. Lifelong friendships formed. Personal struggles healed.
Loved ones reconnected. Hope restored. Those moments convinced us that games are capable of touching lives in profound ways.
Thatgamepublisher exists because we believe there are countless creators around the world discovering new emotional frontiers for this medium, and we want to help them bring those visions to life." SJ Xue, Thatgamecompany's vice‑president of growth and corporate development and the leader of the publishing initiative, told GamesIndustry.biz that the company is searching for projects that "move people through play." He emphasized that genre, platform, or team size are not primary concerns. "We are open to teams of any size, projects at any stage, and ideas still being prototyped. What matters is not the label, genre, scale, or format, but whether the game reaches for meaningful emotional territory and uses interactivity to take players there," Xue explained.
According to Xue, emotional impact can manifest in many ways—joy, chaos, humor—so long as the experience lingers after the screen goes dark. "If a game is chasing that, we want to have the conversation," he added. Where many indie publishers limit themselves to sub‑million‑dollar budgets, Thatgamepublisher is willing to support larger, AA‑level endeavors. "We are quite flexible when it comes to funding and project scale," Xue said.
"We are open to working with everyone from solo developers with immense creativity to larger teams with AA‑level budgets." The terms of each publishing deal will be tailored to the project's needs. Xue stressed that, as former developers themselves, the team understands the importance of fair, transparent, and developer‑friendly agreements that still provide the resources necessary to realize a game's full potential. Thatgamepublisher will operate as a full‑service publisher, offering financing, production planning, platform strategy, marketing, community management, and long‑term IP development.
This contrasts with some newer indie publishers that adopt a modular, funding‑only model. Luke Keighran, founder of Silver Lining Interactive, told GamesIndustry.biz that "the old school publishing model is dead" and that developers now choose the specific services they need, whether that's marketing, console porting, or full‑scale support. Xue reiterated Thatgamepublisher's flexibility, noting that they can craft modular arrangements around funding, marketing, or other bespoke support. However, he added that for emotionally ambitious projects, an integrated partnership often yields the best results because creative development, production, positioning, marketing, community, and platform strategy are deeply interconnected.
"Being involved across those areas allows us to bring the most value, protect the emotional core of the game, and help the team carry that vision all the way to players," he said. In summary, the studio's guiding belief is that games can forge deep emotional connections and bring out the best in people.
This conviction has shaped every title from Flow and Flower to Journey and Sky. Chen and Xue argue that the next wave of emotionally resonant games will emerge from a diverse array of creators worldwide, and Thatgamepublisher aims to be the conduit that brings those experiences to a global audience, leveraging the company's own live‑service expertise—over 300 million downloads of Sky and seven years of worldwide operation—to ensure that heartfelt games can scale without losing their soul.