Thatgamecompany, the acclaimed developer behind 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 independent studios that, after scoring a breakout title, begin to diversify into publishing or funding other indie projects.
For example, the creators of Among Us, Innersloth, launched Outersloth in 2024 to back games like Clickolding and The Horror at Highrook. Earlier this year, Kinetic Games—known for Phasmophobia—started Kinetic Publishing, adding titles such as Precognition, the newest work from Sam Barlow, the mind behind Immortality.
Pocketpair, the studio behind Palworld, introduced Pocketpair Publishing, while Landfall Games, the team behind Peak, formed the Evil Landfall label. The trend is clear: indie studios that achieve a massive hit often use their newfound capital to nurture the next generation of creative games.
Jenova Chen, co‑founder of Thatgamecompany, explains the logic behind the shift: "When an indie game that was built on a shoestring budget becomes a runaway success, you suddenly have a surplus of cash. Yet you don’t want to balloon into a massive corporation overnight.
You prefer to invest that money in something you understand—other indie games. It feels like a natural progression for many indie studios." Thatgamecompany’s own journey illustrates the stakes. When Journey launched in 2012, the studio was nearly bankrupted and was forced to lay off most of its staff.
Chen told GamesIndustry.biz that the financial strain was severe. Fast forward to 2019, Sky: Children of the Light has become a global phenomenon, especially in the Chinese market, and even inspired a feature film. The revenue generated from Sky now gives Thatgamecompany the financial breathing room to fund what it calls "emotionally ambitious" games.
The distribution landscape has also transformed. In the early 2010s, platforms like PlayStation controlled most of the distribution pipeline. Today, Chen argues, the network belongs to the players themselves—particularly influencers and content creators who can amplify a title to millions.
"If you have an audience that loves a certain style of game, you become a more powerful distribution channel than traditional media outlets," he says. This shift gives indie studios a direct line to potential fans and makes publishing an attractive extension of their capabilities. Another unique advantage for Thatgamecompany is its demographic reach. Chen notes that roughly 70 % of Sky’s player base is female, a proportion that exceeds most other game companies.
"When we highlight a game that resonates equally with men and women, we tap into a crossover audience that includes many people who have never played games before," he explains. This gender‑balanced community provides a distinctive platform for any title that Thatgamepublisher chooses to champion.
While the exact slate of games under Thatgamepublisher remains under wraps, Chen shared the label’s core mission in a press release: "When we first began making games, many questioned whether interactive experiences could move players as deeply as film, literature, or music. Over the years, games have proved they can 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 bring those visions to life." SJ Xue, Thatgamecompany’s vice‑president of growth and corporate development and the leader of the publishing effort, elaborates on the type of projects the studio is hunting. "We’re looking for games that move people through play," Xue tells GamesIndustry.biz. "Genre, platform, or team size doesn’t matter.
What matters is whether the game reaches for meaningful emotional territory and uses interactivity to take players there." Xue clarifies that "emotional" can encompass a wide spectrum—from joy and chaos to humor—so long as the experience lingers after the console is turned off. "If a game can stay with someone after the screen goes dark, we want to talk," he adds.
Unlike many indie publishers that limit themselves to sub‑million‑dollar budgets, Thatgamepublisher is prepared to back larger, AA‑level projects. "We are flexible when it comes to funding and scale," Xue says. "We’ll work with solo creators bursting with creativity as well as larger teams that need AA‑scale resources." The terms of each publishing agreement will be tailored to the specific needs of the project.
Xue stresses that, as developers themselves, the team understands the importance of fair, transparent, and developer‑friendly partnerships. They aim to provide the support necessary for creators to realize the strongest version of their game. Thatgamepublisher is positioning itself 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 funding‑only or modular approach.
Luke Keighran, founder of Silver Lining Interactive, observed that the "old school publishing model is dead," and that modern developers prefer to pick and choose the services they need—be it marketing, console porting, or funding. Xue confirms that Thatgamepublisher can adapt to modular arrangements if a developer prefers a more limited scope.
However, for projects with an emotional ambition that intertwines creative development, production, positioning, marketing, community, and platform strategy, an integrated partnership can add the most value. "Being involved across those areas lets us protect the emotional core of the game and help the team carry that vision all the way to players," he explains. The overarching philosophy driving the new label is simple: games have the power to connect people through shared emotional experiences.
This belief has guided Thatgamecompany’s own catalog—from the meditative flow of Flow to the tender journey of Journey and the communal wonder of Sky. Chen notes that while the studio has proven this concept on its own, the potential for emotional storytelling extends far beyond a single team. "Around the world, creators are exploring new ways to make games feel, and we want to help those ideas reach players," he says. According to Xue, 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 the right creative conversations. Thatgamepublisher’s role is to safeguard that process, offering room, guidance, and alignment for developers to uncover the strongest expression of their vision. Drawing on its experience running Sky: Children of the Light—a live‑service title with over 300 million downloads and seven years of global operation—Thatgamecompany believes it understands how to scale deeply felt experiences without diluting their meaning.
By focusing on the emotional truth of each game, building from its community, and allowing genuine resonance to drive growth, Thatgamepublisher aims to help every project reach a broader audience while staying true to its core feeling. In summary, Thatgamepublisher represents a new chapter for an indie studio that has already proven the power of emotionally driven gameplay. With flexible funding, full‑service support, and a clear mission to amplify games that move players, the label is poised to become a significant force in the indie publishing landscape.