Tweet
Separate reports from Delisted Games and Ars Technica say that Warner Bros. Discovery will soon delist Adult Swim Games titles from digital marketplaces like Steam. These reports say that Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of Adult Swim Games, is planning to delist most if not all of their published indie titles.
Team2Bit, the studio behind the game Fist Puncher, shared that their title would be delisted "within 60 days." Fist Puncher has been available on Steam since June 2013 and is published under Adult Swim Games. An update to the Fist Punch Steam page from co-creator Matt Kain says that Warner Bros. will not transfer the game rights back to them.
We've asked that Warner Bros. simply transfer the game to our Steam publisher account so that it can stay active, but so far they have said no with the reason being that they made the universal decision not to transfer the games back to the original studios and do not have the resources to do so. No, the transfer process is not complicated.
Warner Bros. Discovery informed Small Radios Big Televisions developer, Fire Face Corporation, that they will be "retiring" the game from Steam and PlayStation storefronts. In response to this news, the developer has made the game free to download for PC.
Owen Deery from Fire Face put up a thread on Twitter in which he offers a few additional details in replies. Deery says that he cannot control the sale price of the game on any platform but will get royalties for sales while they remain available. He notes that he does get all of the proceeds from sales of the game's soundtrack through Bandcamp, should people be interested in supporting him.
At least a third developer, Studio Bean, confirmed that Warner Bros. Discovery will be removing their title, Soundodger+, from Steam. The confirmation came from an official post made to Studio Bean's Discord on March 7th. The developers notes that there's nothing that can be done "except reupload a new Soundodger+ myself with all reviews, community guides, and discussions wiped clean." Soundodger+ and its sequel Soundodger 2 will remain available on itch.io as these titles are self-published on that platform.
Though it's only three studios (so far) that have confirmed their games are being pulled, it would not be surprising to see that all Adult Swim Games published titles will be pulled from storefronts by May. It should also be noted that while Steam was the primary focus of these developer statements, several of these titles are also available on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and even mobile. The games will almost certainly be pulled from those other platforms as well if Warner Bros. Discovery goes through with their plans.
Warner Bros. Discovery announced only yesterday that they were shutting down Rooster Teeth. The company's executives said in late February that its gaming side was due for a "tough" year ahead. This seems to be largely due to poor sales and reception to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Warner Bros. Discovery has also killed off several films that were completed or on the verge of being completed. The list of recently canned films include Batgirl, Scoob! Holiday Haunt, and Coyote vs. Acme.
