It appears Warner Bros. has reversed its decision to delist all Adult Swim Games, with several developers reporting that control has been returned to them.
Warner Bros. acquired Adult Swim in 2022, but back in March, several developers who had worked on games published through the Adult Swim Games banner reported that they had been told by Warner Bros. that the titles were due to be delisted.
No reason was given for the decision which would have impacted 21 different titles, and when developers asked for ownership to be returned to them, Warner Bros. refused, claiming they simply didn’t have the resources. According to Fist Puncher developer Matt Kain though, “the transfer process is not complicated. It likely takes about 2 minutes on their end.”
“This is incredibly disappointing,” he added. “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,” he added. “And, I feel this needs to be said somewhere… but… Video games are art. Video games connect us. Video games are important. Video games are part of our cultural heritage and should be preserved.”
However, despite Warner Bros. saying they were set to remove the games from Steam within the next 60 days, that window has now elapsed and all 21 Adult Swim Games are still available to purchase.
It also appears ownership has been returned to the original developers. “Duck Game is safe,” wrote creator Landon Podbielski. “More details soon but the email from Warner finally came. the game is being returned to corptron along with its store pages on all platforms. It’s not going anywhere. Thank you everyone… hoping everyone else got the same email.”
duck game is safe!! more details soon but the email from warner finally came. the game is being returned to corptron along with it's store pages on all platforms, it's not going anywhere. thank you everyone… hoping everyone else got the same email.
— Landon ٩( ᐛ )و (@superjoebob) May 10, 2024
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“Update: Game will not be ‘retired’. Ownership and store listings will return to me,” shared Small Radios, Big Televisions creator Owen Deery while Super Mega Team wrote: “We got the same email too for Rise & Shine! Glad they are doing the right thing.”
Warner Bros. has yet to comment on the original decision, or the reversal but over the past few months has axed the Batgirl film and is in the process of deleting Looney Tunes film Coyote Vs. Acme for tax purposes.
In other news, EA has confirmed it is thinking about putting adverts in AAA games and has spoken about wanting to use AI more in the development process.