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 studios that, after achieving a breakout success, branch out into publishing or investment to nurture other independent projects. Recent examples include Innersloth, the team behind Among Us, which launched Outersloth in 2024 to support games like Clickolding and The Horror at Highrook; Kinetic Games, the developers of Phasmophobia, which started Kinetic Publishing and now backs titles such as Precognition from Sam Barlow; Pocketpair, creators of Palworld, which introduced Pocketpair Publishing; and Landfall Games, the studio behind Peak, which formed the Evil Landfall label. The trend reflects a desire among small studios to reinvest earnings into projects they understand and love.
"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 that the development of Journey nearly drove the studio to bankruptcy and resulted in a mass lay‑off of staff.
The situation is dramatically different now. Sky: Children of the Light, released in 2019, has become a global phenomenon, especially in the Chinese market, and has even inspired a feature film. The game's financial success provides a solid foundation for the studio to allocate profits toward what it calls "emotionally ambitious" games.
Chen also notes a shift in how games reach audiences. In the era of Journey, distribution channels were controlled by platform holders such as PlayStation.
Today, the distribution network is effectively owned by the players themselves, who act as influencers. A popular indie title can amass millions of players who become its most powerful promoters, often surpassing traditional media outlets like GameSpot, IGN, or even Steam in terms of reach. Another distinctive aspect of Thatgamecompany is its demographic reach.
"We have a much bigger female audience reach than most of the game companies in the world," Chen says, highlighting that roughly 70 % of Sky's player base is female. This gender‑balanced audience offers a unique crossover potential for games that appeal to both men and women, especially those who may be new to gaming. According to a press release, Thatgamepublisher has already signed a "couple" of projects, though details remain under wraps.
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 searching 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. He added that "emotional" can encompass joy, chaos, humor, or any feeling that lingers after the screen goes dark. While many indie publishers limit themselves to sub‑million‑dollar budgets, Thatgamepublisher is prepared to back larger, AA‑level projects.
Xue said the publisher is "quite flexible when it comes to funding and project scale," and will tailor deal terms—such as revenue splits—to each project's needs. "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 noted. Thatgamepublisher is positioning itself as a full‑service publisher, offering not only capital but also production planning, platform strategy, marketing, community management, and long‑term IP development. This contrasts with other indie‑focused publishers like Outersloth or Evil Landfall, which often adopt a modular, funding‑only model.
Luke Keighran, founder of Silver Lining Interactive, has observed that "the old school publishing model is dead," and that modern developers prefer to pick and choose the services they need, whether that be marketing, console porting assistance, or full‑scale support. Xue reiterated that Thatgamepublisher can provide modular arrangements, adapting to the specific requirements of each developer. However, for projects with a strong emotional core, he believes an integrated partnership yields the best results. "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 said. The overarching motivation for developers to consider Thatgamepublisher lies in the studio's founding belief: games have the power to forge shared emotional experiences and bring out the best in people. Chen reflected that this belief has shaped every title from Flow and Flower to Journey and Sky.
He added that the company now wants to amplify that impact by supporting creators worldwide who are exploring new emotional frontiers. "We learned from our own work that emotionally ambitious games often need a different playbook.
The heart of a project is not always easy to define at the beginning. It can emerge through prototypes, iteration, quiet discoveries, and the right creative conversations. 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 explained. Drawing on its 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 essence.
By understanding each game's emotional truth, building from its community, and allowing genuine resonance to drive growth, the publisher hopes to help every project reach a wider audience while staying true to its core feeling.