Thatgamecompany Expands with Thatgamepublisher to Support Emotionally Driven Games

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 indie developers who, after scoring a breakout hit, establish publishing or funding arms to nurture other independent projects. In recent years, studios like Innersloth (the creators of Among Us) launched Outersloth in 2024, backing games such as Clickolding and The Horror at Highrook.

Earlier this year, Kinetic Games, known for Phasmophobia, introduced Kinetic Publishing, which now carries titles like Precognition, the latest offering from Sam Barlow, the mind behind Immortality. Pocketpair, the studio behind Palworld, has also started Pocketpair Publishing, while Landfall Games, the team behind Peak, rolled out the Evil Landfall label.

The trend underscores a shift in the indie ecosystem where developers leverage their financial windfalls to become patrons of 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‑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." Thatgamecompany’s own history illustrates why the studio is now in a position to give back.

When Journey launched in 2012, the project nearly bankrupted the studio and forced a massive layoff. Chen recounted to GamesIndustry.biz that the financial strain was so severe that "everyone" was let go. Fast forward to 2019, Sky: Children of the Light became a global phenomenon, especially in China, and even inspired a feature‑film adaptation. The game's massive player base and sustained revenue have generated a surplus that the studio can now channel into what it calls "emotionally ambitious games." The landscape of distribution has also evolved dramatically.

Chen notes that during Journey’s era, distribution channels were controlled largely by platform holders like Sony. Today, however, "the distribution network is owned by the players, who are influencers." A successful indie title can now reach millions of players organically through streaming, social media, and community sharing, effectively turning the audience into a powerful marketing engine.

"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?" Chen says, highlighting why indie studios are increasingly comfortable taking on publishing responsibilities.

Another unique advantage Thatgamecompany brings is its demographic reach. Chen points out that roughly 70 % of Sky’s players are 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," he adds.

This diverse audience could be a decisive factor for developers seeking to create titles with universal emotional resonance. Thatgamepublisher has already signed a "couple" of projects, though details remain under wraps.

In a press release, 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 head of the publishing initiative, told GamesIndustry.biz that the studio is hunting for games that "move people through play." He emphasized that genre, platform, or team size are secondary to the emotional core of a project. "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," Xue explained. According to Xue, emotional impact can take many forms—joy, chaos, humor—so long as the experience lingers after the console is turned off. "If a game is chasing that, we want to have the conversation," he said. While many indie publishers limit themselves to sub‑million‑dollar budgets, Thatgamepublisher is willing to back larger, AA‑scale endeavors.

"We are quite flexible when it comes to funding and project scale," Xue noted, adding that they are prepared to work with solo creators as well as larger teams. The terms of each publishing deal will be tailored to the individual project. Xue stressed that, as developers themselves, they understand the need for fair, transparent, and developer‑friendly agreements. "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 said.

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 newer indie publishers that adopt a modular, funding‑only approach.

Luke Keighran, founder of Silver Lining Interactive, told GamesIndustry.biz that "the old school publishing model is dead," and that developers now pick and choose the services they need—whether it’s marketing, console porting, or funding. Xue echoed this flexibility, noting that Thatgamepublisher can craft modular arrangements around funding, marketing, or other specific support, but believes that emotionally ambitious projects often benefit from an integrated partnership that spans creative development, production, positioning, and community engagement.

Ultimately, the goal is to meet each project where it stands and shape the partnership accordingly. 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: 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." By leveraging the studio’s experience running Sky: Children of the Light—a live‑service title with over 300 million downloads and seven years of global operation—Thatgamepublisher aims to demonstrate how deeply felt experiences can scale without losing their core emotional impact. Their mission is to understand each game's emotional truth, nurture its community, and allow genuine resonance to drive growth over time, ensuring that every supported project reaches a wider audience while staying true to the feeling at its heart.