The studio behind Journey, Circulation, Flower, and Sky: Kids of the Mild; Thatgamecompany, has introduced Thatgamepublisher, a publishing arm of the acclaimed indie developer.
Thatgamecompany joins a number of different builders which have moved into publishing lately. In 2025, following the large success of Palworld, which was performed by greater than 32 million gamers in its first yr, Pocketpair introduced a publishing arm.
“It is a quite common sample as a result of primary, profitable indie video games normally are on a shoestring, and if the sport turns into very profitable, all of a sudden you have got an overflow of money,” defined Jenova Chen, the co-founder of Thatgamecompany, chatting with GamesIndustry.biz.
“However then you’re a small crew [making] video games, you don’t wish to all of a sudden change into a thousand-people firm, proper? After which you possibly can’t actually spend the cash, so with extra cash, the place are you able to make investments? You wish to put money into one thing you perceive, one thing you actually are accustomed to. So investing in different indie video games is a pure alternative for everybody, and that’s why many indie firms are doing that.”
Jenova Chen goes on to mirror how issues have modified from a publishing perspective since Thatgamecompany revealed its most acclaimed sport, Journey.
“Immediately, the distribution community is owned by the gamers, who’re influencers,” he mentioned.
“You might have an viewers who, let’s say, love friendslop video games, and so they’re searching for different friendslop video games. You even have extra affect for distribution than GameSpot, than IGN, than Steam, proper? In order that’s why I feel immediately indie sport studios usually tend to change into publishers – in addition they have extra distribution attain.”
In keeping with Chen, a “couple” of video games have been signed by the corporate already, although particulars of these video games weren’t shared.
Chen went on to stipulate his purpose for Thatgamepublisher, saying, “Over time, video games have proven us what influence they will have on individuals. Lifelong friendships shaped. Private struggles healed. Family members reconnected. Hope restored.
“These moments satisfied us that video games are able to touching lives in profound methods. Thatgamepublisher exists as a result of we consider there are numerous creators world wide discovering new emotional frontiers for this medium, and we wish to assist them convey these visions to life.”
