Thatgamecompany, the creative force behind acclaimed titles such as Flow, Flower, Journey, and the recent hit Sky: Children of the Light, has taken a decisive step beyond game development by unveiling its own publishing division, dubbed Thatgamepublisher. This move mirrors a growing pattern in the indie sector where studios that have achieved breakout success leverage their newfound resources to nurture other independent projects. 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, known for Phasmophobia, which started Kinetic Publishing and is already supporting titles such as Precognition by Sam Barlow; Pocketpair, the team behind Palworld, which introduced Pocketpair Publishing; and Landfall Games, the developers of Peak, which now operate under the Evil Landfall label.
The trend reflects a broader shift: once a small studio lands a blockbuster, it suddenly possesses surplus capital and must decide how best to allocate it without ballooning into a massive corporation. "Successful indie games are typically built on shoestring budgets," explains Jenova Chen, co‑founder of Thatgamecompany. "When one of those games takes off, you end up with a cash windfall, but you don’t want to turn your tight‑knit team into a thousand‑person operation. The logical place to invest that money is in something you understand deeply—other indie games.
That’s why many indie studios are moving into publishing." Thatgamecompany’s own journey to financial stability was anything but smooth. When Journey launched in 2012, the studio was on the brink of bankruptcy, forced to lay off most of its staff. Chen has recounted how the project's development nearly emptied the company’s coffers.
However, the release of Sky: Children of the Light in 2019 dramatically altered the picture. The game not only resonated with players worldwide but also achieved extraordinary commercial success, especially in the Chinese market, and even inspired a feature‑film adaptation.
The revenue generated from Sky now gives Thatgamecompany the means to fund what Chen calls "emotionally ambitious" games—titles that aim to move players on a deeper, more personal level. The publishing landscape has also evolved. In the era of Journey, distribution channels were dominated by platform holders such as PlayStation.
Today, Chen argues, the distribution network is effectively owned by the players themselves, who act as influencers and organic marketers. A successful indie title can amass millions of dedicated fans who become the most effective distribution engine, often surpassing traditional media outlets like GameSpot, IGN, or even Steam in reach. Another distinctive asset for Thatgamecompany is its audience demographics.
Chen notes that roughly 70 % of Sky’s player base is female, giving the studio a uniquely balanced gender split compared with many other developers. "When we promote a game that appeals to both men and women, we reach a crossover audience that includes many people who have never played games before," he says, highlighting the potential for broader cultural impact. While the exact slate of games under Thatgamepublisher remains under wraps, Chen shared the publisher’s overarching philosophy in a press release: "When we first began making games, many questioned whether interactive experiences could touch players as profoundly as film, literature, or music. Over the years, we have seen games forge lifelong friendships, heal personal struggles, reconnect loved ones, and restore hope.
Those moments convinced us that games can profoundly affect lives. 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 head of the publishing initiative, elaborated on the type of projects the new label seeks. "We are looking for games that move people through play," Xue told GamesIndustry.biz.
"Genre, platform, or label doesn’t matter. What matters is whether the experience reaches for meaningful emotional territory and uses interactivity to carry players there." Xue clarified that "emotional" can encompass a wide spectrum—from joy and chaos to humor—so long as the game leaves a lingering impression after the screen goes dark. This open‑ended criteria means Thatgamepublisher is willing to consider anything from early‑stage prototypes to near‑complete builds, and from solo developers to teams capable of handling AA‑level budgets. Funding flexibility is a cornerstone of the publisher’s approach.
While many indie publishers focus on sub‑million‑dollar projects, Thatgamepublisher is prepared to back larger endeavors. "We are quite flexible when it comes to funding and project scale," Xue said.
"We can work with a lone creator who has a brilliant concept or with a larger studio seeking AA resources. The terms—recoup percentages, milestones, and so forth—will be tailored to each project's needs. As developers ourselves, we understand the importance of fair, transparent, and developer‑friendly partnerships." Unlike some newer indie publishers that limit themselves to financing, Thatgamepublisher positions itself as a full‑service partner.
Its suite of services includes funding, production planning, platform and launch strategy, marketing, community management, and long‑term intellectual‑property development. This comprehensive model contrasts with the modular approach advocated by others in the industry, where developers pick and choose specific services.
Luke Keighran of Silver Lining Interactive summed up the shift, noting that "the old school publishing model is dead" and that flexibility is now paramount. Nevertheless, Xue believes that many emotionally ambitious games benefit from an integrated partnership. He explained that for projects where the emotional core is tightly woven into design, production, positioning, marketing, community, and platform strategy, a unified publisher can protect that core and guide the game from concept to player. "We meet each project where it is and shape the partnership around what will be most useful to the developer," he added.
The underlying motivation for developers to join Thatgamepublisher, according to Xue, lies in the studio’s founding belief: games have the power to connect people through shared emotional experiences and bring out the best in humanity. This ethos has guided Thatgamecompany’s own portfolio—from the meditative flow of Flow to the delicate bloom of Flower, the pilgrimage of Journey, and the communal sky‑bound adventure of Sky: Children of the Light.
Chen and his team recognize that this vision extends beyond a single studio; creators worldwide are pushing the emotional boundaries of the medium, and Thatgamepublisher aims to amplify those voices. Xue highlighted how emotionally ambitious projects often require a different development playbook. The heart of a game may not be evident at the outset; it can emerge through iterative prototyping, quiet discoveries, and ongoing creative dialogue.
The publisher’s role, then, is to safeguard that exploratory process, offering resources, guidance, and alignment without stifling creativity. Drawing on its experience running Sky as a live‑service title with over 300 million downloads and seven years of global operation, Thatgamepublisher claims to understand how to scale deeply felt experiences without diluting their impact.
By focusing on the "emotional truth" of each game, building from its community, and allowing genuine resonance to drive growth, the publisher hopes to help each project reach a wider audience while staying true to its core feeling. In summary, Thatgamecompany’s launch of Thatgamepublisher represents a strategic expansion from creator to curator, leveraging its financial success, unique audience demographics, and philosophy of emotionally driven design to support a new generation of indie developers. By offering flexible funding, full‑service support, and a partnership model centered on preserving the emotional integrity of games, the studio aims to foster titles that linger in players’ minds long after the final frame fades.