It’s starting to look like Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is going to pull a selection of games from various digital storefronts, with the Adult Swim Games libraries on Steam and consoles in danger of being retired in the coming weeks.
The situation came to light via the plight of an otherwise unassuming indie game called Small Radios Big Televisions. This indie puzzler was published by Adult Swim’s now-inactive games publishing label, which Warner Bros. Discovery owns.
Small Radios Big Televisions
As explained by now-retired indie game developer Owen Deery over on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter:
“Warner Bros Discovery have informed me they will be ‘retiring’ my game Small Radios Big Televisions from both Steam and PS4 stores.”
Deery’s game is now being given away for free in response to the notice from WBD. As generous as that may be on the part of Deery, it shouldn’t have to be this way.
What’s more, this isn’t an isolated incident. Since the news first broke, more developers have been coming forward, revealing that they too have been contacted by WBD and told that their games will be removed from sale and delisted within the next 60 days (PC Gamer did some digging and there are several dev quotes in their article).
This controversial move would appear to be part of a wider restructuring effort, with WBD’s games business expected to take a big hit after the disastrous launch of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
Adult Swim Games
The poor critical and commercial response to the live service Suicide Squad game seems to have affected the suits at WBD, who in response appear to be throwing the baby out with the bathwater and removing Adult Swim Games titles from sale.
One has to presume that any sales generated by these legacy games simply isn’t enough to satisfy the bean counters at WBD. For reference, ASG hasn’t put out a new title since 2020’s Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time.
I’m covering these developments because the Adult Swim library on Steam also includes a number of roguelikes, including several titles that are in my own collection.
Fist Puncher and Soundodger+
Matt Kain Lewandowski of Team2Bit, the studio behind pixel-art beat ’em up Fist Puncher, has been very vocal about the situation.
Amongst his many concerns, Lewandowski questioned what might happen to the games people have already paid for. While it’s unlikely that people will lose access to their purchased games, this is yet another painful reminder that in this increasingly digital age, we don’t actually own a lot of the things that we pay for.
As shared by Lewandowski on Steam and others elsewhere, it’s clear that game developers would like WBD to transfer control of their ASG-published work. Apparently WBD isn’t prepared to do that, and the Fist Puncher dev has pointed out how “incredibly disappointing” it is.
Based on comments made by Soundodger+ dev Michael Molinari on Twitter.com, it sounds like the developers would be able to re-publish their games, but they’d effectively be starting from scratch, losing all their reviews and any other community related content along with it.
What does the future hold for the rest the ASG library?
As mentioned in the headline, there are several rogues on the potential chopping block, including Super House of Dead Ninjas, Wasted, and Kingsway. If the whole library were to go, Double Fine’s quirky metroidvania Headlander would also get delisted, as would the incomparable Duck Game.
In fact, Duck Game creator Landon Podbielski was also on Twitter.com explaining that while he hasn’t received the same notice from WBD that others have, he is expecting bad news and is “feeling sick and dizzy” about the situation. Sometimes not knowing is just as bad.
Podbielski’s comments also reinforce an earlier statement by Owen Deery that Adult Swim Games is no longer a thing, and the people who worked on the label are no longer there. “That’s all history now as they’ve been practically shut down for years,” he explained.
Now it would appear that, as the ASG games are under the direct control of WBD, there’s simply no desire on their part to maintain this library of games. It’s simply cheaper to cut them loose.
In a year when the corporate games industry has sacked thousands of game developers in a bid to appease shareholders, it’s actually depressingly clear why WBD would want to cut these games, regardless of the human and artistic cost.
On that front, Fist Puncher dev Matt Kain Lewandowski put it best when he wrote: “Videogames are art. Videogames connect us. Videogames are important. Videogames are part of our cultural heritage and should be preserved.”
