Thatgamecompany, the acclaimed creator of 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 mirrors a growing pattern in the independent‑game sector where studios that have achieved breakout success leverage their newfound resources to nurture and fund other indie developers. Recent examples include Innersloth’s Outersloth, which backed games like Clickolding and The Horror at Highrook; Kinetic Games’ Kinetic Publishing, home to projects such as Precognition from Sam Barlow; Pocketpair’s Pocketpair Publishing; and Landfall Games’ Evil Landfall label. The trend reflects a broader belief that successful indie creators possess both the capital and the industry insight to help peers bring innovative experiences to market.
Jenova Chen, co‑founder of Thatgamecompany, explains the logic behind the shift: "When an indie title is built on a shoestring budget and then becomes a massive hit, you suddenly have a surplus of cash. Yet you don’t want to explode into a huge corporation overnight. The smartest way to allocate that money is to invest in areas you understand—namely, other indie games. That’s why many indie studios are turning into publishers." The company’s own history underscores the importance of this strategy.
When Journey launched in 2012, it nearly drove the studio into bankruptcy, prompting a wave of layoffs. In contrast, Sky: Children of the Light, released in 2019, has generated extraordinary revenue, especially in the Chinese market, and even inspired a feature‑film adaptation. The financial cushion from Sky now enables Thatgamecompany to fund what it calls "emotionally ambitious games"—projects that aim to move players on a deeper, more personal level.
Chen also notes a fundamental shift in how games reach audiences. In the early 2010s, distribution channels were dominated by platform holders such as Sony. Today, the distribution network is effectively owned by the players themselves, who act as influencers and community builders.
"A successful indie title can amass millions of players who become its most powerful marketing engine," Chen says. "Your audience may love a certain style of game and actively seek out similar experiences. That organic reach can outweigh traditional media outlets like GameSpot or IGN." Another distinctive advantage for Thatgamecompany is its demographic reach. Roughly 70 % of Sky’s player base is female, giving the studio a uniquely balanced audience that spans both genders.
Chen believes this crossover potential can help promote games that appeal equally to men and women, especially those that attract newcomers to gaming. While the publisher has not yet disclosed the specific titles it has signed, Chen shared the philosophical foundation of Thatgamepublisher in a press release.
He recalled the early skepticism that interactive experiences could ever match the emotional impact of film, literature, or music. Over the years, games have demonstrated their capacity to forge lifelong friendships, aid personal healing, reconnect families, and restore hope. "Thatgamepublisher exists because we see countless creators exploring new emotional frontiers, and we want to help them bring those visions to life," the statement reads.
SJ Xue, Thatgamecompany’s vice‑president of growth and corporate development and the leader of the publishing effort, elaborates on the type of projects the studio is hunting. "We’re looking for games that move people through play," Xue tells GamesIndustry.biz. "Genre, platform, or team size don’t matter. What matters is whether the experience reaches a meaningful emotional space and stays with the player after the screen goes dark." Xue expands on the definition of "emotional," noting that it can be joyful, chaotic, humorous, or even melancholic.
The key metric is lasting resonance. "If a game can linger in a player’s mind after the session ends, we want to talk," he adds.
Unlike many indie publishers that limit themselves to sub‑million‑dollar budgets, Thatgamepublisher is prepared to back larger, AA‑scale projects. "We’re flexible on funding and project size," Xue says. "We’ll work with solo creators who have big ideas as well as larger teams that need AA‑level resources." The terms of each publishing deal will be tailored to the individual project.
Xue emphasizes that, as developers themselves, the team understands the importance of fair, transparent, and developer‑friendly agreements. They aim to provide the support needed to realize the strongest possible version of each game.
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 comprehensive approach contrasts with publishers like Outersloth or Evil Landfall, which often adopt a modular, funding‑only model.
Industry observers, such as Luke Keighran of Silver Lining Interactive, have noted that the traditional publishing model is dying in favor of flexible, à‑la‑carte services that developers can pick and choose. Xue confirms that flexibility is central to Thatgamepublisher’s philosophy. "We can offer modular arrangements for funding, marketing, or any specific support a developer needs," he says. "But for emotionally ambitious projects, we believe a more integrated partnership works best because creative development, production, positioning, marketing, community, and platform strategy are deeply intertwined.
Being involved across those areas lets us protect the emotional core of the game and help the team carry that vision to players." The ultimate goal, according to Xue, is to meet each project where it stands and shape the partnership around what will be most useful to the developer. He points to the company’s founding belief that games can connect people through shared emotional experiences and bring out the best in humanity.
This belief has guided every title Thatgamecompany has released—from the meditative Flow and the poetic Flower to the pilgrimage‑like Journey and the communal Sky. Chen adds that while Thatgamecompany’s own portfolio demonstrates the power of emotionally driven design, the studio recognizes that the landscape is larger than any single team. "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 says. He explains that emotionally ambitious games often require a different development playbook.
The heart of such a project may not be evident at the outset; it can emerge through prototypes, iterative design, quiet discoveries, and the right creative conversations. Thatgamepublisher’s role is to safeguard that process, offering developers the space, guidance, and alignment needed to uncover the strongest expression of their vision. Drawing on the studio’s experience running Sky: Children of the Light as a live‑service title with over 300 million downloads and seven years of global operation, Chen stresses the importance of scaling heartfelt experiences without diluting their impact.
"By understanding each game’s emotional truth, building from its 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," he concludes. In summary, Thatgamepublisher represents a strategic evolution for Thatgamecompany: a shift from solely creating emotionally resonant games to fostering a broader ecosystem of indie developers who share that same ambition. With flexible funding models, full‑service support, and a clear focus on lasting emotional impact, the new publishing arm aims to become a catalyst for the next generation of games that move players not just during play, but long after the console is turned off.