The developer behind Phasmophobia, quietly one of the biggest indie hits of the decade, is using its massive success to help other small game makers with its new publishing label.
Developer Kinetic Games today announced the launch of Kinetic Publishing, a publishing arm that "aims to champion innovation within the independent game development space, and helps teams on games across a wide range of genres, with a focus on a small slate," per a press release.
Kinetic Publishing will provide "financial, legal and marketing support and wider development guidance" to "small teams and solo developers globally" who are about 12-18 months away from launch. Interested developers can pitch games here, but it should be noted that Kinetic Publishing isn't in the business of signing blockchain-focused or AI-generated games.
"It's such an exciting time for indie game development, I can say that in the past five years I've learned so much," CEO Daniel Knight, who himself started as a solo dev, says. "The fact we've grown so much as a company means we're now in the place where we want to support studios who come under our wing, and provide the support I'd have appreciated at the start of my journey."
Marketing director Asim Tanvir adds that the publisher wants to "join the ranks of supportive indie publishers who champion and encourage creativity." Notably, the huge success stories of Palworld and Among Us fuelled similar initiatives at those respective companies.
Pocketpair Publishing (Palworld studio's indie publishing arm) and Outersloth (an indie fund built off Among Us' back) have been helping other devs for over a year now. We've already gotten a hefty selection of great, sometimes odd, frequently very interesting games from both.
Not much is changing for Kinetic Games proper, though – no surprise there since the studio's co-op horror sensation has sold over 25 million copies. The team will apparently "remain entirely focused on Phasmophobia" and its early access journey, which should bring a new map and the Chronicle Update later this year.
Here are the upcoming indie games of 2026 and beyond you should keep an eye on.
