33 votes

Adult Swim Games titles are being pulled from stores by Warner Bros

14 comments

  1. [5]
    Mendanbar
    Link
    It seems like no reason was given by Warner Bros (or at least I couldn't find one). This is linked in the article, but here is a forum post by Matt Kain Lewandowski (one of the makers of the game...

    It seems like no reason was given by Warner Bros (or at least I couldn't find one).

    This is linked in the article, but here is a forum post by Matt Kain Lewandowski (one of the makers of the game Fistpuncher):

    I'm one of the creators and developers of Fist Puncher which was also published by Adult Swim on Steam. We received the same notice from Warner Bros. that Fist Puncher would be retired. When we requested that Warner Bros simply transfer the game over to our studio's Steam publisher account so that the game could stay active, they said no. The transfer process literally takes a minute to initiate (look up "Transferring Applications" in the Steamworks documentation), but their rep claimed they have simply made the universal decision not to transfer the games to the original creators.

    This is incredibly disappointing. It makes me sad to think that purchased games will presumably be removed from users' libraries. Our community and our players have 10+ years of discussions, screenshots, gameplay footage, leaderboards, player progress, unlocked characters, Steam achievements, Steam cards, etc. which will all be lost. We have Kickstarter backers who helped fund Fist Puncher (even some who have cameo appearances in the game) who will eventually no longer be able to play it. We could just rerelease Fist Puncher from our account, but we would likely receive significant backlash for relaunching a game and forcing users to "double dip" and purchase the game again (unless we just made it free).

    Again, this is really just disappointing. It seems like more and more the videogame industry is filled with people that don't like and don't care about videogames. All that to say, buy physical games, make back-ups, help preserve our awesome industry and art form.

    29 votes
    1. [3]
      centurion
      Link Parent
      One point to note is that delisted Steam games don't get removed from users' libraries. They are still playable even if they're not purchasable on the storefront. Online features may not work of...

      One point to note is that delisted Steam games don't get removed from users' libraries. They are still playable even if they're not purchasable on the storefront. Online features may not work of course, depending on if the devs wants to support it.

      18 votes
      1. kfwyre
        (edited )
        Link Parent
        Can confirm this. Collecting removed Steam games is a bit of a hobby of mine, and unless there’s some other issue (e.g. the game being a scam), removed games generally remain in users’ libraries...

        Can confirm this. Collecting removed Steam games is a bit of a hobby of mine, and unless there’s some other issue (e.g. the game being a scam), removed games generally remain in users’ libraries and are installable/playable indefinitely. Not sure how it is for other storefronts.

        If anyone is wanting any of these games on their Steam account, now is likely the only time to get them before they go.

        13 votes
      2. Mendanbar
        Link Parent
        ha, beat me to it. Yeah that was my concern as well, but it seems not to be the precedent.

        ha, beat me to it. Yeah that was my concern as well, but it seems not to be the precedent.

        2 votes
    2. Mendanbar
      Link Parent
      I was concerned about his claim that games will "presumably be removed from users' libraries", but it seems like the precedent is not quite that dire. We will see I guess.

      I was concerned about his claim that games will "presumably be removed from users' libraries", but it seems like the precedent is not quite that dire. We will see I guess.

      3 votes
  2. [3]
    Min58Out
    Link
    Yesterday it was Rooster Teeth and now this? Zaslav really understands absolutely nothing about digital content...

    Yesterday it was Rooster Teeth and now this? Zaslav really understands absolutely nothing about digital content...

    18 votes
    1. st3ph3n
      Link Parent
      Same shit he pulled with shows on HBO/Max.

      Same shit he pulled with shows on HBO/Max.

      8 votes
    2. Akir
      Link Parent
      The extent they go through to piss off their customers is truely confounding. Warner has also long owned my favorite western developer, Monolith Productions. It’s always bugged me because they...

      The extent they go through to piss off their customers is truely confounding.

      Warner has also long owned my favorite western developer, Monolith Productions. It’s always bugged me because they started off independent, even publishing other developer’s games for a while, so I get really irritated whenever I see something that was clearly compromised by their owners. Now I’m just wondering when they’ll go the way of Volition.

  3. lifebeforedeath
    Link
    I fear the impact this will have on Duck Game, which is very near and dear to my heart. I’ve played it for over 300 hours, all of which was with friends, mostly online. It still has a few hundred...

    I fear the impact this will have on Duck Game, which is very near and dear to my heart. I’ve played it for over 300 hours, all of which was with friends, mostly online. It still has a few hundred daily players and a strong Steam Workshop mod ecosystem. Hopefully online multiplayer will still work, since I think it’s all based on Steam’s P2P framework.

    I really just don’t see why Warner Bros would do this. I can’t imagine keeping these games listed is costing them anything, and they must be selling some still (I recently introduced a friend to Duck Game, so they bought it).

    17 votes
  4. [2]
    Crespyl
    Link
    I'm pretty sure Rain World was published by Adult Swim, I really hope that one doesn't get pulled too. This kind of thing always baffles me, I really think there should be some kind of protection...

    I'm pretty sure Rain World was published by Adult Swim, I really hope that one doesn't get pulled too. This kind of thing always baffles me, I really think there should be some kind of protection against just pulling creative works like this. If the rightsholder no longer wishes to commercialize a work, and isn't willing to sell it to someone who will, IMO it should revert to the creators or else the public domain after some deadline.

    10 votes
    1. DFGdanger
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      The publisher is listed as Akupara Games on Steam. Not sure if it ever transferred ownership or if they're owned by adult swim or anything like that. edit: according to the developer, the game...

      The publisher is listed as Akupara Games on Steam. Not sure if it ever transferred ownership or if they're owned by adult swim or anything like that.

      edit: according to the developer, the game will not be delisted

      7 votes
  5. updawg
    Link
    I really don't understand the profit motives of WB to just stop seemingly everything across multiple industries.

    I really don't understand the profit motives of WB to just stop seemingly everything across multiple industries.

    5 votes