Warner Bros., the owners of the now-defunct Adult Swim Games publishing label, have reached out to several developers regarding the return of ownership of their game’s Steam pages. This unexpected move comes as a reversal of Warner Bros.’ previously stated policy in March when all Adult Swim Games appeared to be headed for delisting. Developers of games such as Small Radios Big Televisions and Duck Game have shared their positive experiences with this recent development.
Landon Podbielski, the creator of Duck Game, expressed his relief on a social media platform by announcing, “Duck Game is safe!! The game, along with its store pages on all platforms, is being returned to corptron. Thank you everyone for your support.” Similarly, Owen Deery, the developer of Small Radios Big Television, had previously made his game free to download after learning it would be removed from sale. However, he recently revealed that “it will not be ‘retired.’ Ownership and store listings will return to me.”
Other developers, such as Super Mega Team, the creators of Rise & Shine, have also confirmed receiving communication from Warner Bros. about the return of their game ownership. This is a stark contrast to Warner Bros.’ initial decision not to transfer games back to the original studios due to resource constraints. Studio Bean, the developer of Soundodger+, was also informed by Warner Bros. that transferring game ownership would not be feasible for everyone.
Founded in 2005, Adult Swim Games operated until late 2020 when it underwent restructuring by its parent company, effectively ceasing its operations. The publisher was known for releasing popular titles such as Robot Unicorn Attack, Jazzpunk, and Westerado: Double Barreled. While Adult Swim Games did not claim intellectual property rights to the games they published, they did have control over the Steam store listings. Deletion of these pages could have erased years’ worth of Steam reviews, forcing developers to start anew in the marketplace.
The process of transferring ownership of a Steam store page can be completed in a few simple steps. However, in cases where developers are no longer active, there is a risk that some games may not make a return to the Steam platform at all. The future of these games remains uncertain, and further updates are awaited to see how this initiative by Warner Bros. unfolds for the rest of the developer community.
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