Thatgamecompany, the creative force behind acclaimed titles such as Flow, Flower, Journey, and the widely celebrated Sky: Children of the Light, has announced the formation of a new publishing division called Thatgamepublisher. This move follows a growing pattern in the independent game sector where studios that achieve breakout success leverage their newfound resources to support other developers.
Recent examples include Innersloth, the creators of Among Us, which launched Outersloth in 2024 to fund games like Clickolding and The Horror at Highrook; Kinetic Games, known for Phasmophobia, which started Kinetic Publishing and is backing projects such as Precognition by Sam Barlow; Pocketpair, the studio behind Palworld, which introduced Pocketpair Publishing; and Landfall Games, the team behind Peak, which now operates under the Evil Landfall label. The trend reflects a broader shift: indie studios that once operated on shoestring budgets are now in a position to become investors, mentors, and distributors for peers. "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, the studio was far from flush with cash.
Chen has recounted to GamesIndustry.biz that the development of Journey nearly bankrupted the company, resulting in a wave of layoffs. The situation is dramatically different today.
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 title has generated substantial revenue, allowing Thatgamecompany to allocate profits toward what Chen describes as "emotionally ambitious games." Chen also points out a shift in how games reach players. In the era of Journey, distribution channels were dominated by platform holders such as Sony. "Today, the distribution network is owned by the players, who are influencers," he notes.
A successful indie title can now amass millions of players who become its most effective promoters. "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 says roughly 70% of Sky's player base is female, giving the studio a uniquely balanced audience. "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." Thatgamepublisher has already signed a "couple" of projects, though details remain under wraps. In a press release, Chen articulated the publisher's mission: "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 searching for titles that "move people through play." He emphasized that genre, platform, or team size are not primary concerns.
"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. "'Emotional' can mean many things," he added.
"It can be joyful, chaotic, even funny. The through line is always, 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 concentrate on sub‑million‑dollar projects, Thatgamepublisher is prepared to support larger, AA‑level budgets.
"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 specifics of each publishing deal, including revenue share and recoup terms, will be tailored to the individual project's needs.
Xue stressed that, as developers themselves, the team understands the importance of fair, transparent, and developer‑friendly agreements that provide the necessary resources to realize a game's full potential. Thatgamepublisher is positioning itself 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 contrasts with some indie publishers that adopt a modular, funding‑only model. Luke Keighran, founder of Silver Lining Interactive, observed that "the old school publishing model is dead" and that modern developers prefer to pick and choose services such as marketing, console porting, or funding based on their specific needs.
Xue reiterated that Thatgamepublisher can adapt its involvement: "We can be flexible depending on what a developer and project needs, including more modular arrangements around areas such as funding, marketing, or other specific support. That being said, we believe the kinds of games we want to work with often benefit from a more 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.
Ultimately, we want to meet each project where it is and shape the partnership around what will be most useful to the developer." When asked why developers should consider signing with Thatgamepublisher, Xue pointed to the company's core philosophy: games have the power to 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." He continued, "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.
Thatgamepublisher brings that creative perspective together with the resources, infrastructure, and care of a full‑service publisher. Our experience operating Sky: Children of the Light as an emotional live‑service game with more than 300 million downloads and seven years of global operations has taught us how deeply felt experiences can reach broad audiences without losing what makes them meaningful.
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.