Adult Swim Games’ entire library may get delisted by May

Developers at Adult Swim Games are claiming the publisher’s work will be delisted by mid-May.

First spotted by Delisted Games, Fist Puncher developer Matt Kain revealed Warner Bros. is “retiring” the label in the next 60 days. It’s not giving developers the rights to their own games in what Kain’s called a “universal decision.”

Earlier this week, developer Owen Deery revealed WB was pulling his 2016 game Small Radios Big Televisions from digital stores. It was attributed to “business changes” and like with Kain, WB won’t transfer games to their respective creators.

Michael Molinari, who worked on 2013’s Soundodger+, told Polygon he received a similar warning. He alleged that even after proving he has IP rights and how easy it’d be to transfer Steam ownership, WB rejected his request.

“I’m a huge supporter of games preservation, and this is a direct blow to properly crediting the people that worked on a game,” he said.

Deery called having his game delisted “kind of depressing.” With Warner Bros. removing media so casually in recent years, that sentiment is broadly shared.

It’s unclear what this delisting means for the future of Adult Swim Games as a whole.

The life and times of Adult Swim Games

The Cartoon Network, as a channel, has always been enmeshed with games, and so it goes for its late night TV block. Adult Swim has often been used to promote games, often triple-A ones like Death Stranding and God of War Ragnarok.

Adult Swim Games started in 2005, and partnered with Midway Games to develop titles based on its original shows. Starting in 2011, it began to publish its own indie titles.

Original titles in ASG’s lineup were games like Robot Unicorn Attack, Headlander, and Battle Chef Brigade. Notable tie-in games for their shows include Pocket Mortys and Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time.

Game Developer has reached out to WB for comment, and will update when a response is given. A list of Adult Swim Games at list of being delisted can be found here.