Zaslav Strikes Games! You (Likely) Only Have 60 Days To Buy Most Of Adult Swims Games' Stuff Before They Get Delisted

So, bear with me because the reporting on this one has gone back and forth a bit for the past few days. After summarizing the boss of WB Games stating that he wanted to take Warner Bros. Discovery's gaming division in a live service direction, I mentioned that there were early rumblings that WB Games was axing some of the indie games it published via its subsidiary, Adult Swim Games. To say that this story has since "expanded" would be an understatement.

Wario64 and gaming news site Delisted Games both reported that WB Games was likely going to delist every game published by Adult Swim Games in the next 60 days. Delisted Games later published the following list of games that Adult Swim Games published on Steam and other console and PC platforms, but clarified that not every title was up for delisting or removal. To highlight, games that are marked with an asterisk are not going to be removed from any marketplaces because their publishing rights have transferred from Adult Swim to either a different publisher or have transitioned to the developer, and thus, are "Safe" and will continue to exist.

So, if some of these games have dodged this new business decision by Warner Bros. Discovery by buying out their rights, that must mean the developers of the remaining games flagged for delisting have a way to keep their passion projects alive, right? Well... no. In fact, while being interviewed by Polygon, the developer of Soundodger+ revealed that they begged for a rep from WB Games to transfer the rights of their game back to them, as they wanted it to continue to continue to exist, but their request was summarily rejected.

The developer of Soundodger+ is joined by the makers of Fist Puncher who was told that WB Games would not allow for the transfer of the game's rights to its creator, despite Warner Bros. Discovery only intending to remove it from sale, due to "internal business changes." Other indie developers have taken preserving their games an extra level, such as the maker of Small Radios Big Televisions, by offering their entire game as freeware.

If any of the listed games are something you are interested in playing, have at it because you apparently only have sixty days to nab them. The story behind Adult Swim Games is also depressing. After paving the way for games like Volgarr the Viking and Westerado: Double Barreled it seemed as if they were straying away from their diet of tie-in games. And then Rick and Morty got big and they went back to making nothing but tie-in games before the got absolutely gutted by David Zaslav.

Death's Gambit is a good game and you should buy it. Looks like the games considered good (or notable?) in that list are staying put.

@shindig: I think Headlander is pretty notable. It's a Doublefine game and that's a mid-major studio. It also reviewed well. I'm surprised WB wouldn't sell the rights back to Microsoft rather than delisting.

This sucks. Keeping games listed is not expensive, and they're also not being transparent at all about what they're doing or why. They don't care about games, developers, or their customers. I don't understand these cold blooded business types because being an opaque arrogant raging asshole is not actually good business. It makes customers and business partners angry. It's not like screwing over these small studios is making them a windfall!

Just trash behavior from a company that seems to specialize in being trash a lot more than producing media people want to actually pay to experience. I'm sure Suicide Squad II: This time it's all microtransactions will be a huge hit!

WB Games doesn't have to be a good business. They're going to make a bazillion dollars off of Harry Potter and keep selling Mortal Kombats regardless. At least until people get bored of them and fatigue sets in.

Stop giving these companies your money.

I don't think it has anything to do with being "notable" exactly. Some of the developers were just lucky enough to have had publishing rights transferred prior to this. That may well have been a contractual thing based on the game's performance or maybe not. Regardless, at this point it doesn't seem like the upper management responsible for the imminent delisting is willing to respond to any of the developers' concerns.