Thatgamecompany, the acclaimed indie studio 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 named Thatgamepublisher. This move reflects a growing pattern in the indie sector where studios that achieve a breakout success leverage their newfound resources to support other developers. Recent examples include Innersloth, the creators of Among Us, which started Outersloth in 2024 to back games like Clickolding and The Horror at Highrook; Kinetic Games, known for Phasmophobia, which formed Kinetic Publishing and is now handling projects such as Precognition from Sam Barlow; Pocketpair, the team behind Palworld, which opened Pocketpair Publishing; and Landfall Games, the makers of Peak, which introduced the Evil Landfall label.
The trend underscores a shift toward indie‑to‑indie publishing, where successful developers become investors and mentors for the next generation of games. "This is a very common pattern because number one, successful indie games usually are on a shoestring, and if the game becomes very successful, suddenly you have an overflow of cash," explains Jenova Chen, co‑founder of Thatgamecompany.
"But then you are a small team [making] games, you don't want to suddenly become a thousands of people company, right? And then you can't really spend the money, so with additional money, where can you invest? You want to invest in something you understand, something you really are familiar with. So investing into other indie games is a natural choice for everyone, and that's why many indie companies are doing that." The financial reality was stark when Journey launched in 2012.
Chen has recounted to GamesIndustry.biz that the development of Journey nearly drove the studio to bankruptcy and resulted in a wave of layoffs. The experience taught the team that a single artistic triumph does not automatically translate into long‑term fiscal stability.
Fast forward to the present, and the picture looks dramatically different. Sky: Children of the Light, released in 2019, has become a global phenomenon, especially in the Chinese market, and has even inspired a feature‑film adaptation. The title has generated enough revenue to allow Thatgamecompany to reinvest profits into what Chen describes as "emotionally ambitious games." Beyond the financial upside, the distribution landscape has also transformed. When Journey debuted, most distribution channels were controlled by platform holders such as Sony's PlayStation.
Today, Chen argues, the distribution network belongs to the players themselves, who act as influencers and organic promoters. A successful indie title can now reach millions of users through word‑of‑mouth, social media, and community streaming, effectively becoming its own marketing engine. "You have an audience who, let's say, love friendslop games, and they're looking for other friendslop games. You actually have more influence for distribution than GameSpot, than IGN, than Steam, right?
So that's why I think today indie game studios are more likely to become publishers – they also have additional distribution reach," he notes. Thatgamecompany also boasts a distinctive demographic advantage. Chen points out that roughly 70 % of Sky's player base is female, giving the studio a broader gender reach than many of its peers.
"If we promote or feature a game that would be appealing to men and women equally, our audience is going to have a very unique overlap, because there are many of our players who have never played games before," he says. This gender‑balanced community offers a valuable platform for titles that aim to resonate across a wide spectrum of players. Although specific projects have not been disclosed, Chen confirms that Thatgamepublisher has already signed a "couple" of games. In a press release, he articulated the publisher's overarching philosophy: "When we first began making games, many people questioned whether interactive experiences could move players as deeply as film, literature or music.
Over the years, games have shown us what impact they can have on people. Lifelong friendships formed.
Personal struggles healed. Loved ones reconnected.
Hope restored. Those moments convinced us that games are capable of touching lives in profound ways. Thatgamepublisher exists because we believe there are countless creators around the world discovering new emotional frontiers for this medium, 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, elaborated on the types of projects the new label seeks. He told GamesIndustry.biz that the primary criterion is whether a game can "move people through play," regardless of genre, platform, or development stage.
"The typical genre or platform restrictions would not apply to us," Xue said. "We are open to teams of any size, projects at any stage, and ideas still being prototyped. What matters is not the label, genre, scale, or format, but whether the game reaches for meaningful emotional territory and uses interactivity to take players there." Xue further clarified that "emotional" can encompass a wide range of feelings—joy, chaos, humor, melancholy—and that the ultimate test is whether the experience lingers after the console is turned off. "If a game is chasing that, we want to have the conversation," he added.
While many indie publishers focus on sub‑million‑dollar budgets, Thatgamepublisher is prepared to back larger, AA‑level projects. "We are quite flexible when it comes to funding and project scale," Xue explained. "We are open to working with everyone from solo developers with immense creativity to larger teams with AA‑level budgets." The terms of each publishing deal will be tailored to the individual project's needs.
Xue emphasized that, as former developers themselves, the team understands the importance of fair, transparent, and developer‑friendly agreements. They aim to provide the right mix of financial support, production guidance, and marketing muscle while preserving the creative vision of the studio. Thatgamepublisher will operate as a full‑service publisher, offering funding, production planning, platform and launch strategy, marketing, community management, and long‑term IP development. This comprehensive approach differentiates it from other indie publishers that often adopt a modular, funding‑only model.
Luke Keighran, founder of Silver Lining Interactive, recently remarked that "the old school publishing model is dead" and that developers now choose which services they need—be it marketing, console conversion assistance, or full‑scale production support. Xue reiterated that Thatgamepublisher can adapt its involvement based on the developer's requirements, providing modular arrangements for funding, marketing, or other specific support. However, he also noted that emotionally ambitious projects often benefit from an integrated partnership, where creative development, production, positioning, marketing, community, and platform strategy are tightly interwoven.
By staying involved across these domains, the publisher can protect the emotional core of a game and help the team carry that vision from concept to player. The overarching motivation for developers to partner with Thatgamepublisher lies in the company's founding belief that games have the power to forge shared emotional experiences and bring out the best in people. "That belief has shaped everything Thatgamecompany has made, from Flow and Flower to Journey and Sky: Children of the Light," Xue said.
"But we also know this path is bigger than the work of one studio. Around the world, creators are exploring their own ways to expand what games can make people feel, and we want to help those ideas find their way to players." 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 prototyping, iteration, quiet discovery, and collaborative dialogue. The publisher's role is to safeguard that process, offering developers the space, guidance, and alignment needed to uncover the strongest version of their work.
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—Thatgamepublisher believes it understands how to scale deeply felt experiences without diluting their impact. By grounding each project in its emotional truth, building from its community, and allowing genuine resonance to drive growth, the publisher aims to help every game reach a wider audience while staying true to the feeling at its heart.