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 in the indie ecosystem where studios that achieve breakout success leverage their financial windfall to nurture other independent developers.
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. The trend reflects a broader shift: successful indie creators are turning into investors and distributors for peers whose visions align with their own.
Jenova Chen, co‑founder of Thatgamecompany, explained the rationale behind the venture: "When an indie title takes off, the revenue often arrives in a sudden surge. Small teams don’t typically want to balloon into massive corporations, so the logical question becomes where to allocate that extra capital. The answer, for many, is to fund other indie projects that share a similar sensibility and aesthetic. That’s why we’re seeing a wave of indie‑to‑indie publishing initiatives." The financial landscape was dramatically different when Journey launched in 2012.
Chen recalled to GamesIndustry.biz that the project nearly pushed the studio to the brink of insolvency, resulting in a mass lay‑off of staff. In contrast, Sky: Children of the Light, released in 2019, has generated a steady stream of income—especially from the Chinese market—and even inspired a feature film.
Those profits now give Thatgamecompany the runway to invest in what it calls "emotionally ambitious" games, a phrase that captures the studio’s long‑standing belief that interactive experiences can move players as profoundly as cinema, literature, or music. 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 is effectively owned by the players themselves, who act as influencers and community leaders.
A successful indie title can amass millions of dedicated fans, and those fans become the most powerful marketing engine, often eclipsing traditional outlets such as GameSpot, IGN, or even Steam. "If your community loves a certain style of game, they’ll actively seek out similar experiences," Chen noted.
"That organic reach is a key reason why indie studios are now comfortable stepping into the publisher role." Another distinctive advantage for Thatgamecompany is its demographic reach. Chen pointed out that roughly 70 % of Sky’s player base is female—a proportion that surpasses most other game companies. This gender‑balanced audience offers a unique platform for titles that aim to appeal to both men and women, especially those that might attract newcomers to gaming.
"Our community includes many people who have never played a game before," he said, "so when we spotlight a title that resonates across gender lines, we can create a truly inclusive launch." While the exact slate of games Thatgamepublisher will support remains under wraps, Chen shared the publisher’s guiding philosophy in a press release: "When we first started making games, many skeptics doubted that interactive experiences could touch players as deeply as other art forms. Over the years, we’ve witnessed games forge lifelong friendships, heal personal struggles, reunite families, and restore hope. Those moments convinced us that games can profoundly affect lives.
Thatgamepublisher exists to help creators around the world explore new emotional frontiers and bring those visions to players." SJ Xue, Thatgamecompany’s vice‑president of growth and corporate development and the lead of the publishing effort, elaborated on the type of projects the studio is seeking. "We’re not bound by genre, platform, or team size," Xue told GamesIndustry.biz. "What matters is whether the game reaches for meaningful emotional territory and uses interactivity to guide players there.
Whether the experience is joyful, chaotic, or even funny, the key question is: will it linger with someone after the screen goes dark? If the answer is yes, we want to talk." Unlike many indie‑focused publishers that limit themselves to sub‑million‑dollar budgets, Thatgamepublisher is prepared to back larger, AA‑scale endeavors. Xue emphasized the flexibility of their funding model: "We can work with solo developers who have a spark of brilliance as well as larger teams that need AA‑level resources.
The terms of each deal—recoup percentages, milestones, and so forth—will be tailored to the specific needs of the project. As developers ourselves, we understand the importance of fair, transparent, and developer‑friendly partnerships." 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, recently remarked that the traditional publishing model is essentially dead; today developers pick and choose the services they need—whether it’s marketing, console porting assistance, or comprehensive funding. Xue reiterated that Thatgamepublisher can adapt its involvement based on a developer’s requirements, providing modular options for funding, marketing, or other support. However, he also argued that emotionally driven projects often benefit from a more integrated partnership.
"Creative development, production, positioning, marketing, community, and platform strategy are tightly interwoven for these kinds of games. Being involved across those areas lets us protect the emotional core of the experience and guide the team from concept to launch." The overarching mission, 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 the studio’s core belief that games can forge shared emotional experiences and bring out the best in people. "That belief has shaped everything we’ve made—from Flow and Flower to Journey and Sky. But we also recognize that this vision extends beyond a single studio.
Creators worldwide are pushing the boundaries of what games can make us feel, and we want to help those ideas reach players." He explained that emotionally ambitious games often require a different playbook than more conventional titles. "The heart of a project may not be evident at the outset; it can emerge through prototyping, iteration, quiet discoveries, and thoughtful conversations. Our role is to safeguard that process, giving developers the space, guidance, and alignment they need to uncover the strongest version of their work." Drawing on their experience running Sky: Children of the Light as an emotional live‑service game with over 300 million downloads and seven years of global operation, Thatgamecompany believes they have a proven formula for scaling heartfelt experiences without diluting their impact. "By understanding each game’s emotional truth, building from its community, and allowing genuine resonance to create scale over time, we aim to help every project reach farther while staying true to its core feeling," Xue concluded.
In summary, Thatgamepublisher represents a strategic expansion for Thatgamecompany, leveraging the commercial success of Sky to fund and nurture indie titles that prioritize emotional depth. With flexible funding, full‑service support, and a philosophy centered on meaningful player experiences, the new label aims to become a catalyst for the next generation of games that move people through play.