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 named Thatgamepublisher. This move follows a growing pattern among successful indie developers who, after achieving breakout success, expand into publishing or financing to uplift other independent projects.
For example, Innersloth, the creators of Among Us, introduced Outersloth in 2024 to back games like Clickolding and The Horror at Highrook. Earlier this year, Kinetic Games—known for Phasmophobia—started Kinetic Publishing, adding titles such as Precognition, the latest work from Sam Barlow of Immortality fame. Pocketpair, the studio behind Palworld, has rolled out Pocketpair Publishing, while Landfall Games, the team behind Peak, launched the Evil Landfall label. The trend is clear: indie studios with a proven hit are leveraging their resources to become mini‑publishers.
"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 journey illustrates the stakes. When Journey launched in 2012, the studio was on the brink of financial ruin; Chen has recounted that the project almost bankrupted the company and forced a wave of layoffs.
Fast forward to 2019, Sky: Children of the Light became a global phenomenon, especially in China, and even inspired a feature‑film adaptation. The revenue generated by Sky has placed Thatgamecompany in a position to allocate profits toward what Chen describes as "emotionally ambitious games." The distribution landscape has also shifted dramatically.
Chen notes that during Journey's era, platforms like PlayStation controlled the primary distribution channels. Today, however, "the distribution network is owned by the players, who are influencers." A successful indie title can now reach millions of players directly, turning the community itself 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? So that's why I think today indie game studios are more likely to become publishers – they also have additional distribution reach." Another distinctive factor for Thatgamecompany is its demographic reach.
Chen points out that roughly 70% of Sky’s player base is female, giving the studio a larger female audience than most game companies worldwide. This unique overlap means that a game appealing equally to men and women could resonate deeply with a segment of players who may be new to gaming altogether.
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 head of the publishing effort, told GamesIndustry.biz that the company is hunting for titles that "move people through play." He emphasized that genre, platform, or team size are not barriers: "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 elaborated on the definition of "emotional," noting it can be joyful, chaotic, or even humorous.
The key question, he said, is whether the experience lingers after the console is turned off. "If a game is chasing that, we want to have the conversation." While many indie publishers focus on sub‑million‑dollar budgets, Thatgamepublisher is prepared to back larger endeavors. "We are quite flexible when it comes to funding and project scale," Xue explained. "We are open to working with everyone from solo developers with immense creativity to larger teams with AA‑level budgets." The terms of each publishing agreement will be tailored to the project's needs.
Xue stressed that, as developers themselves, they understand the importance of fair, transparent, and developer‑friendly deals that still provide the resources required to realize a game's full potential. Thatgamepublisher is positioning itself as a full‑service publisher, offering financing, production planning, platform and launch strategy, marketing, community management, and long‑term IP development. This contrasts with some indie publishers, such as Outersloth and Evil Landfall, which currently operate on a funding‑only basis.
The industry is moving toward modular publishing models, where developers can pick and choose services. Luke Keighran, founder of Silver Lining Interactive, told GamesIndustry.biz that "the old school publishing model is dead," and that modern publishers provide a menu of options ranging from marketing assistance to console porting. 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 Thatgamepublisher, Xue pointed to the company's core belief: games can forge shared emotional experiences that bring out the best in people. He noted that this philosophy has guided Thatgamecompany’s own catalogue—from Flow and Flower to Journey and Sky. Yet he acknowledged that the emotional ambition of a game often requires 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." Drawing on their experience running Sky: Children of the Light as a live‑service title with over 300 million downloads and seven years of global operation, Thatgamepublisher believes it understands how to scale deeply felt experiences without diluting their impact. "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," Xue concluded.