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 independent studios that have scored breakout successes and are now leveraging their financial windfalls to nurture other indie developers. Earlier this year, Innersloth, the creators of the viral phenomenon Among Us, launched Outersloth to back games like Clickolding and The Horror at Highrook.
Kinetic Games, known for Phasmophobia, introduced Kinetic Publishing, adding titles such as Precognition—Sam Barlow’s latest brain‑teaser—to its slate. Pocketpair, the studio behind Palworld, rolled out Pocketpair Publishing, while Landfall Games, the team behind Peak, started the Evil Landfall label.
The trend underscores a shift: profitable indie studios are becoming de‑facto publishers, using their newfound capital to invest in projects that share their artistic sensibilities. Jenova Chen, co‑founder of Thatgamecompany, explained the logic behind the transition: “When an indie game that was built on a shoestring budget becomes a massive hit, you suddenly have a surplus of cash.
Yet you don’t want to balloon into a thousand‑person corporation. The sensible use of that money is to invest in something you understand—other indie games. It’s a natural progression for many indie studios.” The company’s own journey illustrates the stakes.
Journey, released in 2012, nearly drove the studio to bankruptcy and forced a wave of layoffs, as Chen recounted to GamesIndustry.biz. In contrast, Sky: Children of the Light, launched in 2019, has become a global phenomenon, especially in the Chinese market, and even inspired a feature‑film adaptation. The revenue generated by Sky now enables Thatgamecompany to fund what it calls “emotionally ambitious” games, projects that aim to touch players on a deeper level than conventional entertainment. Chen also highlighted a fundamental change 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—social influencers, streamers, and community creators,” he said.
A successful indie title can now amass millions of followers who act as organic distributors, often out‑reaching traditional media outlets such as GameSpot, IGN, or even Steam’s own recommendation systems. This democratized reach gives indie studios both the incentive and the capability to act as publishers. Another distinctive advantage for Thatgamecompany is its demographic profile. Roughly 70 % of Sky’s player base is female, giving the studio a broader gender reach than many competitors.
Chen believes that this unique audience overlap—players who may be new to gaming or who enjoy titles that blend narrative and emotional resonance—creates a fertile ground for promoting games that appeal to both men and women equally. While the company has not disclosed the specific titles already under contract, Chen shared the publisher’s guiding philosophy in a press release: “When we first started making games, many doubted whether interactive experiences could move people as profoundly as film, literature, or music. Over the years, games have proven their capacity to forge lifelong friendships, heal personal struggles, reconnect loved ones, and restore hope.
Thatgamepublisher exists because we see countless creators exploring new emotional frontiers, 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 effort, told GamesIndustry.biz that the studio is searching for games that “move people through play.” He emphasized that genre, platform, or team size are irrelevant; what matters is whether a title can reach a meaningful emotional space and linger with players after the console is turned off. “Emotional can be joyful, chaotic, even funny,” Xue explained.
“If a game stays with someone after the screen goes dark, we want to talk.” Unlike many indie publishers that restrict themselves to sub‑million‑dollar budgets, Thatgamepublisher is prepared to back larger, AA‑scale projects. Xue noted that the publisher’s funding model is flexible, ranging from solo creators with groundbreaking ideas to larger teams needing AA‑level resources. Deal terms, such as revenue share and recoupment percentages, will be tailored to each project’s needs.
“As developers ourselves, we understand the importance of fair, transparent, and developer‑friendly partnerships,” he said. Thatgamepublisher will operate as a full‑service publisher, offering not only capital but also production planning, platform strategy, marketing, community management, and long‑term IP development. This contrasts with other indie publishers like Outersloth or Evil Landfall, which often adopt a modular, funding‑only approach.
Luke Keighran, founder of Silver Lining Interactive, has observed that “the old school publishing model is dead,” and that modern developers prefer to pick and choose services—whether it’s marketing, console porting, or funding—that best suit their needs. Xue reiterated that Thatgamepublisher can adapt its involvement: “We can provide modular support for funding, marketing, or specific areas, but for emotionally ambitious projects we often prefer an integrated partnership. Creative development, production, positioning, marketing, community, and platform strategy are tightly interwoven for these games.
Being involved across the board lets us protect the emotional core of the experience and help the team carry that vision to players.” The underlying motivation for developers to join Thatgamepublisher, Xue argues, lies in the company’s founding belief: games can connect people through shared emotional experiences and bring out the best in humanity. This belief has guided Thatgamecompany’s own catalog—from the meditative flow of Flow to the tender companionship of Journey.
The studio’s experience running Sky: Children of the Light as a live‑service title with over 300 million downloads and seven years of global operation provides a blueprint for scaling heartfelt experiences without diluting their impact. In summary, Thatgamepublisher aims to identify and nurture games that resonate on an emotional level, offering flexible financing, comprehensive support, and a partnership mindset rooted in empathy and artistic ambition.
By leveraging its unique audience demographics, industry expertise, and a philosophy that places feelings at the heart of gameplay, the new publishing arm hopes to expand the emotional horizons of interactive entertainment for creators and players alike.