Adult Swim Games is seemingly in trouble as numerous titles they’ve published are being delisted by parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.
Several indie developers that were published under Adult Swim Games have all received the same message from Warner Bros., noting their games will be “retired” and ineligible for sale on storefronts.
What’s more, developers have been refused the option to transfer publishing to themselves, so they can self publish and continue selling the games that they developed and legally own.
“Warner Bros. Discovery have informed me they will be ‘retiring’ my game Small Radios Big Televisions from both Steam and PS4 stores,” indie dev Owen Deery said. “I’ve made it free to download here. Thanks for all your support.”
That game remins available to purchase on both Steam and the PlayStation Store – however after a 60 day timeline passes, the game will be delisted and unable for transfer or future sale due to “internal business changes” at the publisher.
Another game, Fist Puncher, is also getting delisted and will be “retired” in the next two months. That developer confirmed their request to transfer the game’s Steam page to their own publisher page was rejected, even though it would take minutes to complete the process.
The developer of Fist Puncher was told that Warner “made the universal decision not to transfer the games back to the original studios and do not have the resources to do so.”
“This is incredibly disappointing,” Matt Kain Lewandowski from Team2Bit said. “I’m not entirely sure what will even happen if the game gets delisted, but it makes me sick to think that purchased games will presumably be removed from users’ libraries.”
Soundodger+ developer Michael Molinari also confirmed his game is being delisted/removed, and that Warner also refused to transfer ownership of the game. However, Warner said he can republish the game on Steam so long as it has no mention of Adult Swim in the game “including team members and credits.”
Naturally, republishing the game on Steam will remove all its user reviews, wishlists, achievements from the original listing, and more. The latter part of that response has led many to believe Adult Swim Games no longer exists as a company or publisher.
Adult Swim Games hasn’t released a game since 2020’s Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time, and their social media hasn’t been active since 2021. Adult Swim Games hasn’t responded to the delistings.
Parent company Warner Bros. Discovey hasn’t been faring well either – numerous films like Coyote vs. Acme and Batgirl have been cancelled while its Max (HBO Max) platform has delisted lots of titles.
