Thatgamecompany Expands with Thatgamepublisher to Support Emotionally Driven Games

Thatgamecompany, the creative force behind acclaimed titles such as Flow, Flower, Journey, and the recent hit Sky: Children of the Light, has announced the creation of a new publishing division called Thatgamepublisher. This move follows a growing pattern among successful indie developers who, after scoring a breakout hit, branch out into publishing or funding to uplift other independent projects. Recent examples include Innersloth, the makers 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 now supporting titles such as Precognition by Sam Barlow; Pocketpair, the creators of Palworld, which introduced Pocketpair Publishing; and Landfall Games, known for Peak, which formed the Evil Landfall label.

The trend reflects a desire among small studios to reinvest surplus revenue back into the indie ecosystem. "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," explained 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." When Journey launched in 2012, the studio was far from flush with cash. Chen has recounted to GamesIndustry.biz that the development of Journey nearly drove the company to bankruptcy, resulting in a mass layoff of staff.

The situation is dramatically different today. Sky: Children of the Light, released in 2019, has become a global phenomenon—especially in China—and even inspired a feature film. The success of Sky has generated substantial profits, allowing Thatgamecompany to allocate resources toward what it calls "emotionally ambitious games" with budgets that can reach AA levels.

Chen also notes that the distribution landscape has shifted. In the era of Journey, distribution channels were dominated by platform owners like Sony. "Today, the distribution network is owned by the players, who are influencers," he said.

A hit indie title can now reach millions of players directly, turning the community itself into a powerful marketing engine. "You have an audience who, let's say, love friendslop games, and they're looking for other friendslop games. You actually have more influence for distribution than GameSpot, than IGN, than Steam, right? So that's why I think today indie game studios are more likely to become publishers – they also have additional distribution reach." Another unique advantage for Thatgamecompany is its demographic reach.

Chen points out that roughly 70 percent of Sky's player base is female, giving the studio a broader gender balance than many of its peers. "If we promote or feature a game that would be appealing to men and women equally, our audience is going to have a very unique overlap, because there are many of our players who have never played games before," he added.

Thatgamepublisher has already signed a "couple" of projects, though details remain under wraps. In a press release, Chen articulated the publisher's mission: "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 studio is searching for games that "move people through play." He emphasized that genre, platform, or team size are not limiting factors. "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.

He added that "emotional" can encompass a wide range of feelings—joy, chaos, humor—and the ultimate test is whether the experience lingers after the console is turned off. "If a game is chasing that, we want to have the conversation." While many indie publishers focus on sub‑million‑dollar budgets, Thatgamepublisher is prepared to support larger 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 developers themselves, they understand the importance of fair, transparent, and developer‑friendly partnerships that provide the necessary support to realize a game's fullest potential. Thatgamepublisher will operate as a full‑service publisher, offering funding, production planning, platform and launch strategy, marketing, community management, and long‑term IP development.

This contrasts with some 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 require—whether that's marketing, console conversion assistance, or full‑scale support.

Xue reiterated that Thatgamepublisher can provide modular arrangements as needed, but believes that emotionally ambitious projects often benefit from an integrated partnership. "Creative development, production, positioning, marketing, community, and platform strategy are often 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. Ultimately, the publisher aims to meet each project where it stands and shape the partnership around what will be most useful to the developer. The guiding philosophy is that games can connect people through shared emotional experiences and bring out the best in us. This belief has shaped Thatgamecompany's own catalog—from Flow and Flower to Journey and Sky—and now informs its effort to amplify the work of creators worldwide.

"We learned from our own work that emotionally ambitious games often need a different playbook. The heart of a project is not always easy to define at the beginning. It can emerge through prototypes, iteration, quiet discoveries, and the right creative conversations. Our role is to help protect that process, giving developers the room, guidance, and alignment they need to discover the strongest version of their work," Xue concluded.

With more than 300 million downloads of Sky: Children of the Light and seven years of operating a live‑service title at global scale, Thatgamecompany brings a wealth of experience in delivering emotionally resonant experiences to massive audiences. By understanding each game's emotional truth, building from its community, and allowing genuine resonance to create scale over time, Thatgamepublisher aims to help every project reach farther while staying true to the feeling at its heart.