Just as expected, Warner Bros. Discovery is pulling every game published and developed by Adult Swim Games in a move that we can only describe as wildly anti-preservation. The writing has been on the wall since Owen Deery revealed ASG’s intentions to pull his game from Steam despite positive reception, so we knew it would only be a matter of time.
Now, they plan on delisting another game that has been around Steam for the past decade by solo dev, Studio Bean. Revealed on X, the developer noted that much like others who released their games through the WBD subsidiary, his game — Soundodger+ — is being axed from Steam in 60 days. Interestingly, unlike Deery’s project, there is a chance it will get republished by the developer after it goes away with any and all mentions of Adult Swim Games being scrubbed.
As other devs have shared, I too am affected by Warner Bros Discovery (which ate Adult Swim) removing ALL their games from Steam and consoles.
Within the next 60 days, Soundodger+ will be removed from Steam. They are refusing to transfer ownership to me.
— bean (@onemrbean) March 7, 2024
Meanwhile, Team2Bit’s Fist Puncher is also getting the boot from Steam, with ASG refusing to transfer publisher, meaning if it was like Studio Bean’s situation, the team would have to scrub all mentions of the studio — including names in the credits — and self-publish the game.
In stark contrast, some developers haven’t heard from ASG about their games getting delisted, Duck Game developer Landon Podbielski, for example, hasn’t heard from the team about the possibility of getting delisted. The refreshing thing, however, is it seems most of the devs behind the games own the rights to their creations, so if they wanted it seems like they can just republish the game themselves, however, they’d have to start largely from square one in terms of its reviews.
haven't gotten any word about duck game being delisted yet but i'm sure it's coming. feeling sick and dizzy about it and don't know what to say. so many good people and games 🙁
— Landon ٩( ᐛ )و (@superjoebob) March 8, 2024
That said, it’s sad because not every developer faced with the delisting may see worth in republishing the game as it might have died down a little. We know for certain that Soundodger+ will be redone, but it’s also currently on Itch, so at least there’s a backup plan.
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GWare is a gaming industry reporter with over five years of experience and a massive supporter of ethical game preservation efforts.