Alma Bax 
Thatgamecompany recently announced that it secured a 160 million dollar investment, with the mission to foster human connection through interactive play experiences.
This investment provides the company with the resources to reach its vision of creating games that expand the range of emotional experiences possible with interactive entertainment. It also makes way for the development of more innovative and creative features and the launch of more interactive experiences that reach a broader audience.
Let’s look at how this investment will advance Thatgamecompany’s mission.
What is Thatgamecompany?
Thatgamecompany is a critically acclaimed developer of games designed to make players explore emotional paths and to create a sense of community. The company strives to create deep and meaningful experiences that can reach people globally, inspiring kindness and empathy among players.
Thatgamecompany was founded in 2006 by entertainment industry veterans Jenova Chen, Kellee Santiago and others, who were dedicated to creating beautiful, thought-provoking games that explore innovative artistic paths in the interactive entertainment space. After releasing their debut game “Flow” on the PlayStation 3 platform in 2007, they followed up with acclaimed hits such as “Flower” (2009) and “Journey” (2012). Both games have been recognized with overwhelming critical acclaim for their unique art styles and captivating gameplay.
The developer recently announced an investment from Tencent Holdings Limited, one of the world’s most valuable companies from China. This major move signals Thatgamecompany’s ambition to expand its reach into new markets worldwide while taking ever bolder steps towards creating more meaningful and powerful gaming experiences for players worldwide.
Overview of the company’s mission
Thatgamecompany is an independent game developer dedicated to creating emotionally engaging games for a broad audience. Founded in 2006, it has been committed to exploring and advancing the boundaries of interactive entertainment by providing gamers with powerful, meaningful play experiences that awaken emotions in players and ignite meaningful conversations among friends.
From their award-winning works such as flOw and Flower, to their recently released Journey – a widely acclaimed, culturally impactful creation – thatgamecompany continues to break boundaries in creativity through its uncompromising focus on creating emotionally impactful single-player online games. With financial backing from Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., they are now at an important new juncture. They are committed to touching people’s lives worldwide through the power of emotional gaming experiences.
Investment Overview
Thatgamecompany is an independent game developer of award-winning interactive play experiences that foster human connection through narrative, exploration, and discovery.
This week, the studio announced a $160 million investment from a mix of venture capital firms and strategic investors to help advance its mission.
In this article, we’ll examine the impact this investment could have on Thatgamecompany’s capabilities.
Who invested in Thatgamecompany?
Thatgamecompany has seen substantial support from some of the biggest names in the video game industry. In 2020, they announced they had secured investments from Sony Interactive Entertainment and NetEase, Inc. These investments have allowed Thatgamecompany to increase its production capabilities and pursue its long-term mission of creating meaningful interactive entertainment experiences that inspire human connection and emotional well-being.
Sony Interactive Entertainment was the first investor, providing an initial $7 million in funding. This capital infusion came at a crucial moment in Thatgamecompany’s trajectory, allowing them to move forward with development of their flagship title “Sky: Children of Light” and other unannounced projects. In addition to providing financial assistance, Sony has offered valuable counsel from among its executive ranks as Thatgamecompany strives for success in the rapidly changing digital entertainment landscape.
NetEase Inc., a Chinese internet technology company listed on NASDAQ, joined as an investor shortly after Sony did; providing $4 million more towards developing “Sky: Children of Light” and unannounced future projects for mobiles devices. NetEase is known for its game publishing track record on mobile devices across multiple genres including adventure, puzzle and role-playing games (RPGs), contributing knowledge on platform integration while assisting with marketing operations. Thatgamecompany is also working closely with NetEase on promoting international expansion across global markets like Asia and Europe which it could not have done before this investment – further confirming their ambitions of bringing emotionally healing video games experiences to a wider audience around the globe.
What is the size of the investment?
The investment size in Thatgamecompany is part of an agreement with a unique revenue sharing model, undisclosed guarantees and ongoing support. While the exact figures haven’t been made public, it has been reported that China-based Tencent invested an initial USD 10 million into Thatgamecompany’s business operations with potential for more based on performance.
This investment marks the largest single investment yet for Thatgamecompany. It is a strong sign of commitment to its mission to develop games that bring people together through emotion and large interactive experiences.
How will the investment be used?
The investment thatgamecompany just received will fuel the company’s continued mission of igniting the passion and curiosity in players across the globe. This comes at an important time as they look to drive innovation in interactive storytelling and shape the ways people play, connect and explore in the future of video games. Specifically, this funding will allow thatgamecompany to invest in team expansion, develop groundbreaking content, and partner with organisations whose values align with theirs.
Using this investment, thatgamecompany plans to expand their team of experienced game makers passionate about creating meaningful experiences for players worldwide. This expansion will increase creative input and further develop quality content for their games. Additionally, thatgamecompany will use a portion of their funding to partner with organisations dedicated to advancing gaming technology and gaming education globally – further advancing their mission.
Finally, this injection into the company allows them more resources for research and development which could bring forth exciting breakthroughs in interactive storytelling going forward.
Thatgamecompany Advances Its Mission to Foster Human Connection Through Interactive Play Experiences with $160M Investment
Thatgamecompany’s $160M investment is a significant move to foster human connection and advance interactive play experiences. It will allow the company to fund world-class gaming experiences, develop cutting-edge technologies, and launch new titles.
This investment will also provide the necessary resources to expand the team, build a global audience, and explore new opportunities.
Let’s take a closer look at how the investment will affect Thatgamecompany’s mission.
How will the investment advance the company’s mission?
In March 2020, Emmy Award-winning Thatgamecompany closed a $7.5 million investment round, including generous support from China’s Tencent Holdings. Led by Co-Founder Kellee Santiago, thatgamecompany’s mission is to is to create and deliver accessible, meaningful experiences that evoke emotions, stimulate creativity and motivate players around the world to connect more deeply with one another. This funding will help the company’s further their ambition and revolutionize the narrative landscape through interactive entertainment experiences.
The investment will be used to research and develop innovative compelling experiences for mobile platforms and platform expansion into Asia and topics around community building. Through ongoing efforts towards research and product development of new interactive products, Thatgamecompany seeks to break barriers between individuals from different backgrounds and cultures – allowing them to build stronger connections with each other through engaging play experiences.
The new investments will assist in scaling Thatgamecompany’s technology investments through capitalising on proprietary tool sets developed by the company’s innovative engineering team. The toolsets combined with industry-standard game engines have enabled unique storytelling in its games such as Journey, Sky: Children of Light and Spire Blast. These were met with unprecedented success commercially and critically acclaimed titles among gamers worldwide across all platforms.
Moreover, it is expected that this funding will be used to effectively reach more players by introducing official support in Asia this year—breaking access barriers across language regions on PC, console, mobile platforms (iOS & Android). In addition, investing in deeper regional market understanding such as cultural preference research, balancing monetization values across different regions while remaining true to the core aesthetic experience will help ensure they meet their mission of creating emotionally engaging experiences.
What new opportunities will the investment provide?
The investment from Tencent will provide Thatgamecompany with the resources and capabilities to further advance its mission. With this new capital injection, Thatgamecompany will be able to strengthen its operations and grow in ways previously unavailable to them.
The investment is expected to provide Thatgamecompany with several new opportunities, including expansion into other markets, diversification of offerings, and access to Tencent’s larger network and databases for faster development times on released titles. Additionally, Thatgamecompany now has the necessary resources to develop larger projects than ever before.
This influx of capital also means that the team can invest in better tools and services while refining their focus on creating quality gaming experiences that capture players’ attention and imagination. As a result, they can improve existing products while working on more ambitious projects that take advantage of the latest technologies available on both PC and mobile platforms.
Moreover, this investment allows Thatgamecompany to expand into educational initiatives such as creating interactive teaching lessons for children about game development concepts such as character design, programming tools implementation, game engine optimization techniques. This provides an exciting prospect for dedicating creative energies towards more meaningful games designed from an education standpoint.
How will the investment help Thatgamecompany reach a wider audience?
Thatgamecompany is a game development company that plays mobile modern gaming experiences. They have recently welcomed additional investment that provides funding for the continued growth of their business.
This strategic investment will provide them with increased access to cutting-edge technology, top talent in the industry, and the ability to reach new markets, enabling Thatgamecompany to create even more compelling experiences for players worldwide. Specifically, this new capital allows Thatgamecompany resources to explore innovative ways to reach wider audiences through interactive storytelling and immersive gaming experiences.
An example of how current investments can help Thatgamecompany reach a wider audience is with their upcoming mobile title, Sky: Children of Light—the newest game from the studio and their first ever mobile game. The funds provided by investors will allow Thatgamecompany’s development team to build upon what they have achieved with this title; refine it and bring it into players’ hands as soon as possible so that more people can enjoy a unique experience with friends all over the world. Investment also goes into creating accessible platforms where players from Asia, Europe, Latin America and beyond can officially participate in events and meetups inside games like Sky: Children of Light.
The investment provides funding for collaboration within different international markets and production materials assisting content creation on multiple platforms, such as YouTube and Twitch streams highlighting gameplay highlights—allowing gamers across different parts of the world an opportunity to share their love for these games. This adds another layer of depth by allowing audiences insight into game mechanics and receiving feedback from these sources, helping debugging purposes during development before release. Furthermore this assists in creating larger communities surrounding each title instead of isolated bubbles without any sense of connection between each other ensuring high levels of customer satisfaction & support when necessary throughout each player’s journey while immersing themselves in fun interactive worlds created by Thatgamecompany’s efforts.
tags = thatgamecompany, Interactive Play Experiences, $160M Investment, flOw, Flower, Journey and Sky, thatgamecompany sky children tpg capitaltakahashiventurebeat, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android devices
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