Warner Bros. Discovery has reportedly reversed course and is going to give back Adult Swim Games' ownership of its indie titles.
This comes after the former had plans to delist more than a dozen games that were published by its Adult Swim Games label from Steam and digital console stores. Now, WBD said it plans to transfer ownership of some of those titles back to the indie developers that made them.
Warner Bros. Discovery and Adult Swim Games
(Photo : Adult Swim Games / Screenshot taken from official Facebook account)
The plans to delist the Adult Swim Games catalog from digital stores became public in March 2024 and were widely criticized as a cold corporate move. Fans have argued that it could make some indie games unavailable to purchase.
The rush of criticism is apparently what made WBD revise its plans and instead transfer ownership of the games back to their creators. The news of the policy reversal was first revealed by developer Owen Deery.
Deery is the one behind puzzle-adventure game Small Radios Big Televisions, which was initially published by Adult Swim Games in 2016. He also broke the news of WBD's plans to "retire" the developer's titles back in March, according to Polygon.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Deery said that Small Radios Big Televisions "will not be 'retired'" despite previous communication from WBD that it would be. He added that ownership and store listings will be returned to him.
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On the other hand, developer Landon Podbielski said that his multiplayer platform shooter title Duck Game, which is another Adult Swim Games-published release that was threatened to be delisted, will be reverted back to its creator. He said that the game is being returned to Corptron along with its store pages on all platforms.
Several other developers whose games were published by Adult Swim Games also confirmed that they have received similar communication from WBD. They will have their titles transferred back to them rather than having them delisted.
Returning Ownership of Indie Games to Developers
A report noted that when developers started to receive notifications about the listings on Mar. 5, 2025, the message indicated that these "retirements" would start in 60 days.
But despite that particular deadline passing by, all of the games mentioned are still in place in their respective distribution services, said GamesRadar.
Podbielski, talking about the delisting fears at the time, said that none of the amazing people who worked with him at Adult Swim Games were to blame for the situation. He also previously committed to making sure that Duck Game will continue to be available to all players who bought it.
Following the latest development, he said that more details about the situation will be revealed in the near future. He also hoped that everyone else who was affected by the delisting policy got the same email as him, according to PCGamesN.
But for now, not all of the developers who had their work published by Adult Swim Games have received communication from WBD. In particular, two of these said that they never received the original messaging from WBD back in March and still have not heard anything from the company.
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