Adult Swim Games may not be a publisher you were even aware of. The Adult Swim TV network originally looked for opportunities to just get video games made for their top shows, but in 2011, they decided to have a go at being a video game publisher. After 13 years, that may all be about to change, or maybe, it already has changed.
As shared by delisted games, a website that tracks video games that are about to get delisted off stores for various reasons, a growing number of video games being published by adult swim are announcing that they are about to be delisted soon.
Yesterday, Ars Technica reported on one such game published by Adult Swim Games, called Small Radios Big Televisions. Developer Fire Face Corporation revealed that their title would be pulled from Steam and PlayStation soon, upon orders of WB Games.
Fire Face revealed that WB’s official explanation for this is “internal business changes.” They then shared the message they were sent by WB:
“Thank you for your contribution to our game library and understanding during this transition. We are available should you have any questions.”
Fire face was told the delisting would happen within 60 days, and they believe Adult Swim Games hasn’t meaningfully existed for some time already.
Delisted Games made their own list of Adult Swim Games. There are a lot of notable, even popular, titles on the list, but it should be noted that many of them already moved publishers. Notoriously, Adult Swim Games lost a court case for the publishing rights to Rain World, so it is now being published by Akupara Games.
Other notable titles that have moved publishers include Battle Chef Brigade, Glittermitten Grove, and Volgarr the Viking. However, there are even more titles that haven’t found a new publisher, and are in danger of just disappearing from retail.
Some titles we recognized as notable but are in danger of getting delisted are twin stick shooter Zenzizeninc, FPS Desync, brawler Fist Puncher, and 2D action title Duck Game. But even if some games aren’t known or popular, this is a bad situation for the developers themselves.
What’s particularly bad is the lack of transparency or proper communication from WB Games about this matter. Given what we know about the company’s plans to change their strategy in the video game industry, they may be treating these developers and their smaller games as collateral damage.
They could make arrangements to sell the rights to these games to other interested publishers, like Humble Games or Devolver Digital, or maybe even the likes of PlayStation and Xbox. But it looks like WB Games just wants it to be over with, regardless if there are real people affected by such decisions.
If WB Games wants to demonstrate they are acting in good faith, they really should show that transparency to those developers, and the public, right now. It’s all up to them on how they intend to play it, now that we have noticed what they’re doing here.
