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 achieving breakout success, establish publishing arms to nurture other independent projects. Recent examples include Innersloth’s Outersloth, which backed games like Clickolding and The Horror at Highrook; Kinetic Games’ Kinetic Publishing, home to titles such as Precognition from Sam Barlow; Pocketpair’s Pocketpair Publishing; and Landfall Games’ Evil Landfall label.
Jenova Chen, co‑founder of Thatgamecompany, explains the logic behind the trend: "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 studio.
The sensible choice is to reinvest that money into something you understand—other indie games. That’s why many indie studios are turning into publishers." The financial picture was very different when Journey launched in 2012. Chen has recounted to GamesIndustry.biz that the project nearly bankrupted the studio, resulting in a wave of layoffs. The situation has since reversed 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 enables Thatgamecompany to allocate funds toward what it calls "emotionally ambitious" games.
Chen also notes a shift in how games reach audiences. In the early 2010s, distribution channels were dominated by platform owners like Sony. Today, the distribution network belongs to the players themselves, who act as influencers. A successful indie title can amass millions of fans who become its most powerful marketing engine.
"If your community loves a certain style of game, they’ll actively seek out similar experiences. In that sense, you have more distribution power than traditional media outlets or even storefronts," Chen says. Another unique advantage for Thatgamecompany is its largely female player base.
Roughly 70 % of Sky’s users are women, giving the studio a demographic reach that many other developers lack. Chen believes this overlap creates an opportunity to promote games that appeal to both genders, especially titles that might attract players who have never engaged with games before. Thatgamepublisher has already signed a handful of projects, though details remain under wraps.
In a press release, Chen outlined the publisher’s philosophy: "When we first started making games, many questioned whether interactive experiences could move people as deeply as film, literature, or music. Over the years, we’ve seen games forge lifelong friendships, heal personal struggles, reconnect families, and restore hope. Those moments convinced us that games can touch lives in profound ways. Thatgamepublisher exists because we believe countless creators worldwide are 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 initiative, told GamesIndustry.biz that the studio is looking for games that "move people through play." He emphasized that genre, platform, or team size are irrelevant; what matters is whether a game can reach a meaningful emotional space and linger with players after the console is turned off.
"Emotional" can be joyful, chaotic, funny, or even melancholy—what counts is lasting impact. While many indie publishers focus on sub‑million‑dollar budgets, Thatgamepublisher is prepared to back larger endeavors. Xue explained that the publisher is "quite flexible when it comes to funding and project scale," supporting solo creators with big ideas as well as larger teams capable of AA‑level production values. Deal terms, such as revenue splits, will be tailored to each project's needs, reflecting the studio’s own experience as developers who value fair, transparent, and developer‑friendly partnerships.
The new label 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 indie publishers that provide only funding. The industry is moving toward modular publishing models, where developers pick and choose services—marketing, console ports, funding, or a combination.
Xue said Thatgamepublisher can adapt to those preferences, but for emotionally ambitious projects, an integrated partnership often yields the best results because creative development, production, positioning, and community engagement are deeply intertwined. Ultimately, the goal is to meet each project where it stands and shape a partnership that maximizes its potential. Xue highlighted the core belief that games can connect people through shared emotional experiences and bring out the best in humanity. He pointed to Thatgamecompany’s own portfolio—Flow, Flower, Journey, Sky—as proof of that philosophy, while acknowledging that the next wave of emotional storytelling will come from creators worldwide.
"We learned from our own work that emotionally ambitious games often need a different playbook. The heart of a project may not be obvious at the outset; it can emerge through prototypes, iteration, quiet discoveries, and the right creative conversations.
Our role is to protect that process, giving developers the space, guidance, and alignment they need to discover the strongest version of their work," Xue said. Drawing on years of operating Sky: Children of the Light—a live‑service title with over 300 million downloads and seven years of global operation—Thatgamepublisher believes it can help other studios scale without diluting the emotional core of their games. By understanding each game's emotional truth, building from its community, and allowing genuine resonance to drive growth, the publisher aims to help projects reach broader audiences while staying true to the feelings at their heart.