Thatgamecompany, the creative force behind acclaimed titles such as Flow, Flower, Journey, and 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 sector where studios that have scored a breakout hit expand into publishing or funding roles to uplift fellow independent developers.
Recent examples include Innersloth, the creators of Among Us, which launched Outersloth in 2024 to back games like Clickolding and The Horror at Highrook; Kinetic Games, the team behind Phasmophobia, which started Kinetic Publishing and is supporting projects such as Precognition from Sam Barlow; Pocketpair, known for Palworld, which now operates Pocketpair Publishing; and Landfall Games, the studio behind Peak, which introduced the Evil Landfall label. The trend reflects a broader shift toward indie studios leveraging their success to nurture a new wave of creative works. "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." When Journey launched in 2012, Thatgamecompany was far from flush with cash.
Chen has recounted to GamesIndustry.biz that the development of Journey nearly drove the studio to bankruptcy and resulted in a mass layoff of staff. The situation is dramatically different today. Sky: Children of the Light, released in 2019, has become a global phenomenon, especially in the Chinese market, and even inspired a feature film. The revenue generated by Sky now gives Thatgamecompany the financial flexibility to allocate profits toward what the company calls "emotionally ambitious games." Chen also notes that the distribution landscape has shifted dramatically since Journey's era.
Back then, platforms like PlayStation controlled the primary channels for reaching players. "Today, the distribution network is owned by the players, who are influencers," he says.
A successful indie title can now amass millions of players who act as organic distributors, sharing the game with friends and on social media. "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." Another distinctive factor for Thatgamecompany is its demographic reach.
Chen points out that roughly 70% of Sky's player base is female, giving the studio a larger female audience than most game companies worldwide. "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 adds. Thatgamepublisher has already signed a "couple" of projects, though the titles remain under wraps.
In the official press release, Chen articulated the publisher's mission: "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 head of the publishing initiative, told GamesIndustry.biz that the studio is seeking games that "move people through play." He emphasized that genre, platform, or team size are not primary filters. "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." He elaborated that "emotional" can encompass joy, chaos, humor, or any feeling that lingers after the screen goes dark. "If a game is chasing that, we want to have the conversation," Xue added. While many indie publishers concentrate on sub‑million‑dollar budgets, Thatgamepublisher is prepared to back larger endeavors. "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 specifics of each publishing agreement—such as revenue share and recoup terms—will be tailored to the individual project's needs. Xue highlighted that, as developers themselves, the team appreciates the importance of fair, transparent, and developer‑friendly partnerships that still provide the resources needed to realize a game's full potential. Unlike some indie publishers that operate solely as funding sources, Thatgamepublisher is launching as a full‑service entity.
It will handle financing, production planning, platform strategy, launch execution, marketing, community management, and long‑term IP development. This comprehensive approach contrasts with the modular models adopted by studios like Outersloth or Evil Landfall, which often let developers pick and choose services.
Luke Keighran, founder of Silver Lining Interactive, remarked earlier that "the old school publishing model is dead" and that modern developers prefer a menu of options ranging from marketing assistance to console porting. Xue reiterated that Thatgamepublisher can adopt modular arrangements when appropriate, but believes that emotionally ambitious projects often thrive under an integrated partnership. "For emotionally ambitious projects, creative development, production, positioning, marketing, community, and platform strategy are often deeply interconnected.
Being involved across those areas allows us to bring the most value, protect the emotional core of the game, and help the team carry that vision all the way to players," he said. The overarching philosophy driving the new label is the belief that games can forge deep emotional connections and bring out the best in people.
Xue summed it up: "That belief has shaped everything Thatgamecompany has made, from Flow and Flower to Journey and Sky: Children of the Light. 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." He noted that emotionally ambitious games often require a different development playbook, one that allows the core feeling to emerge through prototyping, iteration, and quiet discovery.
"Our role is to help protect that process, giving developers the room, guidance, and alignment they need to discover the strongest version of their work," Xue explained. Drawing on the experience of running Sky: Children of the Light—a live‑service title with over 300 million downloads and seven years of global operation—Thatgamepublisher aims to demonstrate how deeply felt experiences can scale without losing their essence.
"By understanding the emotional truth of each game, building from its players and community, and allowing genuine resonance to create scale over time, we aim to help every project reach farther while staying true to the feeling at its heart," Xue concluded.