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 named Thatgamepublisher. This move mirrors a growing pattern among independent studios that have enjoyed breakout success and are now leveraging their resources to back other indie developers.
Recent examples include Innersloth’s Outersloth, which debuted in 2024 and has already supported games like Clickolding and The Horror at Highrook, as well as Kinetic Games’ Kinetic Publishing, which features titles such as Precognition from Sam Barlow, and Pocketpair’s Pocketpair Publishing. Even Landfall Games, known for Peak, has launched its own label, Evil Landfall, illustrating how widespread the trend has become. "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 faced a financial crisis; Chen has recounted that the project nearly bankrupted the studio and resulted in a mass layoff.
The situation is dramatically different today. Sky: Children of the Light, released in 2019, has become a global hit—especially in China—and has even inspired a feature‑film adaptation. The revenue generated by Sky now enables Thatgamecompany to allocate profits toward what it calls "emotionally ambitious games." Chen also notes a shift in how games reach audiences. In the early 2010s, distribution channels were dominated by platform holders like PlayStation.
"Today, the distribution network is owned by the players, who are influencers," he says. A successful indie title can attract millions of players who become its most effective promoters, often surpassing traditional media outlets such as GameSpot, IGN, or even Steam in terms of reach.
Another distinctive asset for Thatgamecompany is its demographic profile. Roughly 70 % of Sky’s player base is female, giving the studio a broader gender balance 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," Chen adds. Thatgamepublisher has already signed a "couple" of projects, though details remain under wraps.
In a press release, Chen articulated the publisher’s 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 effort, told GamesIndustry.biz that the studio is hunting for titles that "move people through play." He emphasized that genre, platform, or team size are not primary concerns. "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 explained. Xue further clarified that "emotional" can encompass joy, chaos, humor, or melancholy, but the common thread is lasting impact: "Will this stay with someone after the screen goes dark?
If a game is chasing that, we want to have the conversation." While many indie publishers limit themselves to sub‑million‑dollar budgets, Thatgamepublisher is prepared to fund larger undertakings. "We are quite flexible when it comes to funding and project scale," Xue said. "We are open to working with everyone from solo developers with immense creativity to larger teams with AA‑level budgets." The terms of each deal will be tailored to the project's needs.
Xue stressed that, as developers themselves, the team understands the importance of fair, transparent, and developer‑friendly partnerships that still provide the resources required to realize a game's full potential. Unlike some peers that operate on a funding‑only basis, Thatgamepublisher will function as a full‑service publisher, offering financing, production planning, platform strategy, marketing, community management, and long‑term IP development. This comprehensive approach reflects a broader industry shift toward modular publishing models, where developers can pick and choose the services they require. Luke Keighran of Silver Lining Interactive summed it up: "The old school publishing model is dead; the new model is about developers selecting the support they need, whether that's marketing, console conversion assistance, funding, or a combination of all." Xue reiterated Thatgamepublisher’s flexibility, noting that the studio can provide modular arrangements around funding, marketing, or other specific support.
Yet he believes that emotionally ambitious projects often benefit from a more integrated partnership, where creative development, production, positioning, marketing, community, and platform strategy are tightly interwoven. "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 rationale for developers to join Thatgamepublisher rests on the company's founding belief that games can forge deep emotional connections and bring out the best in people.
"That belief has shaped everything Thatgamecompany has made, from Flow and Flower to Journey and Sky," Xue noted. "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." Drawing on years of operating Sky as a live‑service title with over 300 million downloads and seven years of global operations, Thatgamepublisher claims it understands how to scale heartfelt experiences without diluting their impact.
By focusing on the emotional truth of each project, nurturing its community, and allowing genuine resonance to drive growth, the new publishing arm aims to help each game reach a wider audience while staying true to its core feeling.