Thatgamecompany, the creative force behind acclaimed 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 follows a growing pattern in the indie sector where studios that achieve breakout success leverage their newfound resources to help other independent developers bring their visions to market.
Recent examples include Innersloth, the creators of the viral sensation Among Us, which launched Outersloth in 2024 to back games like Clickolding and The Horror at Highrook. Earlier this year, Kinetic Games—known for the horror hit Phasmophobia—started Kinetic Publishing, adding titles such as Precognition from Sam Barlow’s Immortality team to its roster. Pocketpair, the studio behind the whimsical Palworld, introduced Pocketpair Publishing, while Landfall Games, the minds behind Peak, formed the label Evil Landfall. The trend underscores a broader shift: indie studios, once constrained by limited capital, are now using surplus profits to nurture a new wave of creative projects.
“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.” When Journey launched in 2012, the studio was far from flush with cash. Chen has recounted to GamesIndustry.biz that the project nearly bankrupted the company and forced a wave of layoffs.
Fast forward to 2019, Sky: Children of the Light became a global phenomenon, especially in the Chinese market, and even inspired a feature‑film adaptation. The revenue generated by Sky now gives Thatgamecompany the financial freedom to fund what it calls “emotionally ambitious” games. Chen also notes a fundamental 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 now amass millions of players who become its most effective promoters, often out‑pacing traditional media outlets such as GameSpot, IGN, or even Steam’s own recommendation algorithms. This democratization of reach encourages indie studios to step into publishing roles, leveraging their own community to amplify other creators.
Another distinctive advantage for Thatgamecompany is its audience demographic. “We have a much bigger female audience reach than most of the game companies in the world,” Chen points out, citing that roughly 70 % of Sky’s player base is female. “If we promote a game that appeals to both men and women, our audience will have a unique overlap, because many of our players have never played games before.” This gender‑balanced community provides a valuable platform for titles that aim to resonate across diverse player groups. Thatgamepublisher has already signed a handful of projects, though specifics remain under wraps.
In the official announcement, Chen articulated the publisher’s ethos: “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 company is searching for titles that “move people through play.” He emphasized that genre, platform, or team size are not primary filters. “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. He added that “emotional” can manifest in many ways—joy, chaos, humor—so long as the experience lingers after the console is turned off.
This focus on lasting impact guides the publisher’s selection criteria. While many indie publishers limit themselves to sub‑million‑dollar budgets, Thatgamepublisher is prepared to back larger, AA‑level endeavors.
“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, including revenue splits and recoupment percentages, will be tailored to the specific needs of the project, reflecting the studio’s own experience as developers who value transparent, equitable partnerships. Thatgamepublisher will operate as a full‑service publisher, offering financing, production planning, platform strategy, marketing, community management, and long‑term IP development.
This contrasts with some peers—such as Outersloth or Evil Landfall—that currently provide only funding. Industry observers note a broader shift toward modular publishing models, where developers pick and choose services. Luke Keighran of Silver Lining Interactive remarked that “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, or full‑scale funding.” Xue acknowledges this flexibility, stating that Thatgamepublisher can adapt its involvement to match a developer’s requirements, whether that means a lean funding package or a comprehensive partnership covering creative development, production, positioning, marketing, community, and platform strategy. He believes that emotionally driven projects benefit from an integrated approach, allowing the publisher to protect the game’s core feeling while guiding it to a broader audience.
Ultimately, the goal is to meet each project where it stands and shape a partnership that maximizes the developer’s creative freedom and commercial success. Xue summed up the philosophy: “Games can connect people through shared emotional experiences and bring out the best in us. That belief has shaped everything Thatgamecompany has made, from Flow and Flower to Journey and Sky. We know that emotionally ambitious games often need a different playbook—one that nurtures discovery, iteration, and the quiet moments that define a game’s heart.
Thatgamepublisher brings together that creative perspective with the resources, infrastructure, and care of a full‑service publisher, leveraging our experience running Sky as an emotional live‑service with over 300 million downloads. By understanding each game’s emotional truth and building from its community, we aim to help every project reach farther while staying true to the feeling at its core.