Thatgamecompany, the creative force behind celebrated 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 reflects a growing pattern in the independent gaming sector, where studios that achieve breakout success leverage their newfound resources to support other 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; Pocketpair’s Pocketpair Publishing; and Landfall Games’ Evil Landfall label. The trend underscores a shift toward indie studios becoming both creators and financiers.
"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‑person 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 studio’s journey to financial stability was far from smooth. When Journey launched in 2012, Chen recalled that the project nearly bankrupted the company and forced a mass lay‑off.
In contrast, 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 enables Thatgamecompany to allocate funds toward what it calls "emotionally ambitious games." Chen also notes a fundamental shift in how games reach audiences. In the early 2010s, distribution channels were controlled by platform holders like Sony. Today, however, the distribution network is effectively owned by the players themselves, who act as influencers and organic marketers.
"A successful indie title could have millions of players, who are your strongest distribution," he says. "You have an audience who love a certain style of game and they’ll seek out similar experiences. That gives indie studios more reach than traditional media outlets like GameSpot or IGN." Another unique advantage for Thatgamecompany is its demographic reach.
Roughly 70 % of Sky’s player base is female, giving the studio a broader gender balance than many competitors. Chen believes this diversity can help promote games that appeal to both men and women, especially titles that attract newcomers to gaming.
While specific projects under Thatgamepublisher have not yet been disclosed, the publisher’s mission statement, shared in a press release, emphasizes the power of interactive experiences to move people 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," the statement reads. SJ Xue, Thatgamecompany’s vice‑president of growth and corporate development and the leader of the publishing effort, elaborated on the type of titles the studio is seeking.
"We are looking for games that move people through play," Xue told GamesIndustry.biz. "The typical genre or platform restrictions would not apply to us. 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." According to Xue, "emotional" can encompass joy, chaos, humor, or any feeling that lingers after the screen goes dark.
The publisher is willing to consider both modest indie projects and larger AA‑budget endeavors. "We are quite flexible when it comes to funding and project scale," he added. "We are open to working with everyone from solo developers with immense creativity to larger teams with AA‑level budgets." Thatgamepublisher intends to operate as a full‑service publisher, offering not just capital but also production planning, platform strategy, marketing, community management, and long‑term IP development. This contrasts with some indie publishers that focus solely on funding.
The industry is moving toward modular publishing models, where developers can pick and choose services such as console porting, marketing support, or financing. Xue confirmed that Thatgamepublisher can tailor its involvement to each project's needs, providing modular arrangements when appropriate. Nevertheless, Xue believes that emotionally driven projects often benefit from a more 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 explained. The underlying philosophy guiding Thatgamepublisher is simple: games have the power to connect people through shared emotional experiences.
This belief has shaped Thatgamecompany’s own catalogue, from the meditative Flow to the heartfelt Journey. Chen and Xue argue that the studio’s experience running Sky as a live‑service title—with over 300 million downloads and seven years of global operation—provides a blueprint for scaling emotionally resonant games without diluting their impact.
In summary, Thatgamepublisher aims to nurture creators who are exploring new emotional frontiers in interactive media. By offering flexible funding, comprehensive support, and a deep understanding of how to nurture an emotional core, the publisher hopes to help indie developers bring their visions to a worldwide audience while staying true to the feelings that make their games unique.