Warner Bros. Discovery appears to have backed away from its plans to remove more than a dozen games published by its Adult Swim Games label from Steam and digital console stores. WBD now plans to transfer ownership of some of these games back to the indie developers who developed them, according to the developers who would have been affected by the planned delistings.
Plans to remove the Adult Swim Games catalog from digital stores – or “retire” them, as Warner Bros. Discovery put it – became public in March and were widely criticized as a cold corporate move that could lead to some indie games. Games are no longer available for purchase. This harsh criticism appears to have played a role in WBD’s revised plan to transfer ownership of the games back to their developers.
News of the WBD policy reversal was first revealed by developer Owen Deery, who is behind the puzzle adventure game Small radios, large televisionswhich was originally published in 2016 by Adult Swim Games. (Deery broke the news of WBD’s original plan to “retire” Adult Swim titles back in March.) On the Social media platform XDeery wrote this Small radios, large televisions “will not be ‘retired,'” although WBD previously said this would be the case. “Owner and store listings go back to me,” Deery said.
Developer Landon Podbielski said that his multiplayer platform shooter Duck game, another Adult Swim Games release at risk of delisting, will also be returned to its creator. “The game will be returned to Corptron along with its store pages on all platforms.” Podbielski said to X. “It’s not going anywhere.”
Other developers whose games were published by Adult Swim Games confirmed to Polygon that they have received a similar notice from Warner Bros. Discovery and that their titles will be transferred back to them and will not be delisted. WBD told developers that it had “heard feedback and concerns regarding the discontinuation of titles published under Adult Swim Games,” one developer said in an email to Polygon.
But other developers whose work was published by Adult Swim Games say they’re still waiting to hear from Warner Bros. Discovery. Two developers who spoke to Polygon said they never received the original message from WBD in March and still have not heard from the company despite multiple attempts to contact local representatives. Polygon has reached out to Warner Bros. Discovery for comment and will update when the company responds.
The media conglomerate’s planned axing of adult swimming titles reflected similar cutbacks in the film and television business; Warner Bros. Discovery has scrapped plans to release nearly complete films Batgirl And Coyote vs Acmeand removed several series from its Max streaming services. Warner Bros. has since licensed some of its canceled television content to other streamers; cartoon Batman: Caped Crusaderfor example, will stream on Amazon’s Prime Video platform this summer.
