At this point, the only valid excuse for not immersing yourself in thatgamecompany's (TGC) abstract, artistic, heart-rendingly beautiful games like Flower and Journey is not owning a PlayStation 3. You won't be able to use this excuse going forward, though, since an investment of $5.5 million in Series A funding will let the developer release future games independently on multiple platforms.

The new funding comes as TGC ends a three-game deal with Sony Computer Entertainment America and its Santa Monica studio. In announcing the move, TGC co-founder Jenova Chen writes that he's "extremely grateful to Sony and the many players who put their faith in us," but also eager to expand to other platforms in order to "provide our players the highest quality experience at every point of contact."

Benchmark Capital's Mitch Lasky will join TGC's board of directors as a result of the funding. "The intent of the investment is to provide the resources for TGC to remain independent, so they can innovate with complete autonomy from the pressures of platforms and publishers," Lasky wrote on his blog. "In the modern, hyper-connected games market, we believe TGC can reach the broadest possible audience if [its] vision can be fully controlled by the company."