Thatgamecompany, the creative force behind acclaimed 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 hit, turn their attention to publishing or financing other indie projects. In recent years, developers like Innersloth (the minds behind Among Us) launched Outersloth in 2024, backing games such as Clickolding and The Horror at Highrook. Earlier this year, Kinetic Games, known for Phasmophobia, started Kinetic Publishing and added titles like Precognition—created by Sam Barlow of Immortality—to its roster.
Pocketpair, the studio behind Palworld, introduced Pocketpair Publishing, while Landfall Games, the creators of Peak, formed the Evil Landfall label. The trend underscores a shift: profitable indie studios are leveraging their newfound capital to nurture the next wave of innovative 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." When Journey launched in 2012, Thatgamecompany was far from flush with cash. Chen has recounted to GamesIndustry.biz that the development of Journey nearly bankrupted the studio, resulting in a massive layoff that left "everyone" without a job.
The situation has transformed dramatically since then. Sky: Children of the Light, released in 2019, has become a global phenomenon, especially in China, and even inspired a feature‑film adaptation. The revenue generated by Sky now enables Thatgamecompany to allocate funds toward what it terms "emotionally ambitious games"—titles that aim to move players on a deeper, more personal level. Chen also notes a fundamental change in how games reach audiences.
In the early 2010s, distribution channels were dominated by platform owners like Sony. "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 experiences across social media, streaming platforms, and word‑of‑mouth networks. "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 distinguishing 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 explains. While the exact titles Thatgamepublisher has signed remain under wraps, Chen shared the publisher's overarching philosophy in a press release: "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 effort, told GamesIndustry.biz that the studio is hunting for projects that "move people through play." He emphasizes that genre, platform, or team size are not primary criteria. "The typical genre or platform restrictions would not apply to us," Xue says. "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 expands on what "emotional" means to the publisher: it can be joyful, chaotic, funny, or even bittersweet. The core question is whether the experience lingers after the console is turned off. "If a game is chasing that, we want to have the conversation," 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 quite flexible when it comes to funding and project scale," Xue explains. "We are open to working with everyone from solo developers with immense creativity to larger teams with AA‑level budgets." The financial terms of each deal will be tailored to the individual project's needs. Xue stresses that, as developers themselves, the team understands the importance of fair, transparent, and developer‑friendly partnerships.
"As developers ourselves, we understand how important it is to build partnerships that are fair, transparent, and developer‑friendly, while giving teams the support they need to realise the strongest version of their game," he says. Thatgamepublisher will operate as a full‑service publisher, offering not only capital but also production planning, platform strategy, launch support, marketing, community management, and long‑term IP development.
This comprehensive approach distinguishes it from other indie publishers like Outersloth or Evil Landfall, which often provide only funding. The industry is moving toward modular publishing models where developers can pick and choose services, but Xue believes that emotionally driven projects benefit from 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 states.
Ultimately, Thatgamepublisher aims to meet each project where it is and shape the partnership around what will be most useful to the developer. The guiding belief behind the venture is that games have the power to connect people through shared emotional experiences and bring out the best in humanity. "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," Xue concludes.
He adds that emotionally ambitious games often require a different playbook, one that allows the heart of the project to emerge through prototypes, 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 says.
Drawing on the experience of running Sky: Children of the Light as an emotional live‑service title with over 300 million downloads and seven years of global operation, Thatgamepublisher believes it can help new creators scale their visions without sacrificing the core feeling that makes a game special. "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," he affirms.