Thatgamecompany, the acclaimed creator behind 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 mirrors a growing pattern in the independent gaming sector, where studios that have scored a breakout success leverage their newfound resources to back other indie developers.
Recent examples include Innersloth’s Outersloth, which was launched in 2024 to support games like Clickolding and The Horror at Highrook, Kinetic Games’ Kinetic Publishing, which now carries titles such as Precognition from Sam Barlow, Pocketpair’s Pocketpair Publishing, and Landfall Games’ Evil Landfall label. The trend reflects a desire among small teams to reinvest profits into projects they understand and care about, rather than expanding into a massive corporate structure.
“Successful indie games are usually built on shoestring budgets,” explains Jenova Chen, co‑founder of Thatgamecompany. “When a title blows up, you suddenly have a surplus of cash.
But we’re a small team; we don’t want to turn into a thousand‑person studio overnight. The logical place to put that money is into other indie projects we know well. That’s why many indie studios are becoming publishers.” Chen recalls that the studio’s earlier flagship, Journey, released in 2012, almost pushed the company to the brink of bankruptcy, forcing a mass lay‑off. In contrast, Sky: Children of the Light, launched in 2019, has become a worldwide phenomenon, especially in China, and even inspired a feature‑film adaptation.
The massive revenue generated by Sky now gives Thatgamecompany the financial freedom to back “emotionally ambitious” games—titles that aim to move players on a deeper level than traditional gameplay mechanics alone. The landscape of game distribution has also shifted dramatically since Journey’s debut. Back then, platforms like PlayStation controlled the primary channels for reaching players.
Today, Chen argues, the distribution network belongs to the players themselves, who act as influencers and organic marketers. A successful indie title can quickly amass millions of dedicated fans, providing a distribution engine that rivals or exceeds the reach of traditional media outlets such as GameSpot, IGN, or even Steam.
This democratization of discovery gives indie publishers a powerful lever: they can tap directly into passionate communities that are eager for new experiences. Another unique advantage for Thatgamecompany lies in its audience demographics. Chen notes that roughly 70 % of Sky’s player base is female, a proportion far higher than the industry average.
“If we spotlight a game that appeals equally to men and women, we reach a very special overlap,” he says. “Many of our players have never played games before, so we can introduce them to experiences they might otherwise miss.” Thatgamepublisher has already entered into agreements with a handful of projects, though the specifics remain under wraps.
In a press release, Chen articulated the publisher’s philosophy: “When we first started making games, many doubted that interactive experiences could affect people as profoundly as film, literature, or music. Over the years, we’ve seen games forge lifelong friendships, heal personal struggles, reconnect loved ones, 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 effort, emphasizes that the studio is looking for games that "move people through play." He stresses that genre, platform, or label will not dictate eligibility.
“We are open to teams of any size, projects at any stage, and even ideas still in prototype form. What matters is whether the game reaches for meaningful emotional territory and uses interactivity to guide players there,” Xue explains. According to Xue, "emotional" can encompass joy, chaos, humor, or any feeling that lingers after the screen goes dark.
If a game strives for that lingering impact, the publisher wants to start a conversation. While many indie publishers focus on sub‑million‑dollar budgets, Thatgamepublisher is prepared to fund larger, AA‑level projects.
“We are flexible on funding and scale,” Xue says. “We’ll work with solo creators bursting with creativity as well as larger teams with more substantial budgets.” The terms of each publishing deal will be tailored to the individual project.
Xue notes that, as developers themselves, the team understands the importance of fair, transparent, and developer‑friendly partnerships. Thatgamepublisher intends to provide a full suite of services, including financing, production planning, platform strategy, marketing, community management, and long‑term IP development. This comprehensive approach contrasts with other indie publishers that often adopt a modular, funding‑only model.
Luke Keighran of Silver Lining Interactive has observed that “the old school publishing model is dead; developers now pick and choose the services they need, whether it’s marketing, console conversion assistance, or full‑scale support.” Thatgamepublisher can adapt its involvement based on each developer’s requirements, offering modular arrangements for funding, marketing, or other specific support. Yet Xue believes that many emotionally driven projects benefit from an integrated partnership. “Creative development, production, positioning, marketing, community, and platform strategy are often deeply interconnected for these games.
Being involved across those areas lets us protect the emotional core and help the team carry that vision to players.” Ultimately, the publisher’s goal is to meet each project where it stands and shape the partnership around what will be most useful. Xue points to the studio’s founding belief that games can connect people through shared emotional experiences and bring out the best in humanity. “That belief has shaped everything we’ve made—from Flow and Flower to Journey and Sky.
But the path is bigger than one studio. Creators worldwide are exploring new ways to make games feel, and we want to help those ideas reach players.” He adds that emotionally ambitious games often require a different playbook. The heart of a project may not be evident at the outset; it can emerge through prototypes, iteration, quiet discoveries, and thoughtful conversations. Thatgamepublisher’s role is to protect that process, providing room, guidance, and alignment so developers can uncover the strongest version of their work.
Drawing on its 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 it understands how to scale heartfelt experiences without diluting their impact. By grasping each game’s emotional truth, building from its community, and allowing genuine resonance to drive growth, the publisher aims to help every project reach a wider audience while staying true to the feeling at its heart.