Journey studio Thatgamecompany launches Thatgamepublisher to champion games that "move people through play"

Thatgamecompany is moving into publishing with Thatgamepublisher, extending the studio’s focus on emotionally resonant games beyond Flow, Flower, Journey, and Sky: Children of the Light. The new label is explicitly looking for projects that “move people through play,” and it’s open to teams of any size, from solo developers to AA-level productions.

The timing makes sense for the studio. Journey nearly bankrupted Thatgamecompany back in 2012, but Sky: Children of the Light has since become a major success, especially in China, with more than 300 million downloads and even a film adaptation in development. That success gives the company capital to invest in other indie projects without needing to scale into a much larger internal studio.

Thatgamepublisher is also taking a broader view of distribution than older publishing models. Jenova Chen argues that today, player communities and influencers can be more powerful than traditional outlets, which means a studio with a strong audience can help other games find traction directly. Thatgamecompany says it has already signed a couple of games, though those titles haven’t been revealed yet.

The label is launching as a full-service publisher, with funding, production planning, platform and launch strategy, marketing, community management, and long-term IP development. Terms will vary by project, and the company says it can also work in more modular ways when that better fits a team’s needs. For developers, the practical takeaway is that another well-capitalized indie publisher is entering the market with a strong emotional-brand...