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 achieving breakout success, expand into publishing or funding to uplift other independent projects.
Recent examples include Innersloth, the creators of Among Us, which started Outersloth in 2024 to back games like Clickolding and The Horror at Highrook; Kinetic Games, the studio behind Phasmophobia, which launched Kinetic Publishing and now supports titles such as Precognition from Sam Barlow; Pocketpair, known for Palworld, which has begun 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 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," explains Jenova Chen, co‑founder of Thatgamecompany.
"But then you are a small team making games; you don’t want to suddenly become a thousand‑person company. With additional money, you need to decide where to invest.
You want to invest in something you understand, something you 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 into bankruptcy and resulted in a wave of layoffs. The situation has changed dramatically.
Sky: Children of the Light, released in 2019, has become a global phenomenon, especially in China, and even inspired a feature‑film adaptation. The revenue generated by Sky now gives Thatgamecompany the financial footing to back what it calls "emotionally ambitious games" with budgets that can reach AA scale. Chen also notes a shift in how games reach audiences.
In the early 2010s, distribution channels were dominated by platform holders like PlayStation. Today, the distribution network belongs to the players themselves, who act as influencers and word‑of‑mouth marketers. A successful indie title can amass millions of players who become its most effective promotional engine.
"You have an audience who love cooperative, heartfelt experiences, and they are looking for more of that. You actually have more influence for distribution than traditional media outlets like GameSpot, IGN, or even Steam. That’s why I think indie studios are more likely to become publishers today—they have the reach to distribute their own titles," Chen adds. Another differentiator for Thatgamecompany is its demographic profile.
Roughly 70% of Sky's player base is female, giving the studio a larger female audience than most game companies. Chen believes this creates a unique overlap when promoting games that appeal to both genders, especially to players who may be new to gaming. Thatgamepublisher has already signed a "couple" of projects, though details remain under wraps.
In the launch announcement, 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 the impact they can have—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 countless creators worldwide are exploring 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 head of the publishing initiative, told GamesIndustry.biz that the firm is searching for titles 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 whether the game reaches for meaningful emotional territory and uses interactivity to take players there," Xue explained. He added that "emotional" can encompass joy, chaos, humor, or any feeling that lingers after the screen goes dark. The publisher is prepared to support both modest indie projects under $1 million and larger AA‑budget endeavors. Funding terms, recoup percentages, and other deal points will be tailored to each project's needs, reflecting the company's own experience as developers who value fair, transparent, and developer‑friendly partnerships.
Thatgamepublisher will operate as a full‑service publisher, offering financing, production planning, platform and launch strategy, marketing, community management, and long‑term IP development. This contrasts with some indie publishers that focus solely on funding. The industry is moving toward modular publishing models, where developers can pick and choose services such as marketing, console porting, or funding.
Xue noted that while flexibility is important, emotionally ambitious projects often benefit from an integrated partnership that aligns creative development, production, positioning, marketing, community, and platform strategy. The ultimate goal, according to Xue, is to meet each project where it stands and shape the partnership around what will be most useful to the developer. He highlighted Thatgamecompany's founding belief that games can connect people through shared emotional experiences and bring out the best in us—a philosophy evident in Flow, Flower, Journey, and Sky.
By leveraging the studio’s experience running Sky as a live‑service title with over 300 million downloads and seven years of global operation, Thatgamepublisher aims to help creators scale their emotionally resonant games without sacrificing their core feeling. In summary, Thatgamepublisher seeks to empower developers who aspire to craft games that linger in the player's mind long after the final frame, providing the resources, expertise, and distribution reach needed to turn those heartfelt visions into reality.