Warner Bros. is now erasing games as it plans to delist Adult Swim-published titles

Warner Bros. Discovery is telling developers it plans to start “retiring” games published by its Adult Swim Games label, game makers who worked with the publisher tell Polygon. At least three games are under threat of being removed from Steam and other digital stores, with the fate of other games published by Adult Swim unclear.

The media conglomerate’s planned removal of those games echoes cuts from its film and television business; Warner Bros. Discovery infamously scrapped plans to release nearly complete movies Batgirl and Coyote vs. Acme, and removed multiple series from its streaming services. If Warner Bros. does go through with plans to delist Adult Swim’s games from Steam and digital console stores, 18 or more games could be affected.

News of the Warner Bros. plan to potentially pull Adult Swim’s games from Steam and the PlayStation Store was first reported by developer Owen Reedy, who released puzzle-adventure game Small Radios Big Televisions through the label in 2016. Reedy said on X Tuesday the game was being “retired” by Adult Swim Games’ owner. He responded to the company’s decision by making the Windows PC version of Small Radios Big Televisions available to download for free from his studio’s website.

Socsa, (edited )

I kind of get retiring video IPs to save on residual payments, but games which are pay per download should always be revenue neutral at best. This just reeks of shitty culture war rebranding.

TacoThrash3r,

Not hemp tycoon!

PhAzE,

I’m waiting for the day when actors and game devs refuse to work on things owned by WB because the risk of wasting their time and efforts is too damn high.

Potatos_are_not_friends, (edited )

I mean it already happens in my industry. I absolutely choose who I work for, or based on their reputation, ensure I get compensated and control.

The indie game industry is pretty inexperienced overall, and publishers do take advantage of that.

OneCardboardBox,

…and of course Duck Game never got released on GoG

Fuck this greedy bullshit

Wizard_Pope,
@Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world avatar

Yet another reason piracy is right and just

uis,

I think even Gaben will approve

Chewy7324, (edited )

Luckily Steam will keep Duck Game in my library, but I dread the moment Valve leadership changes. Steam has existed for 20 years, and I naively hope I’ll still be able to play my games in 40 years on my Steck Deck.

SirQuackTheDuck,

Well, since you retain a license to the content until you or valve closes your account, you should be covered.

According to their own personal Steam Subscriber Agreement, you only forfit licenses when you end your subscription (like EA Play) or when the main service contract ends (close your account).

Although they may try, but then you can still sue for breach of contract.

Lojcs,

Steam can remove games from your account. Their definition of a subscription is different than what you think it is:

the rights to access and/or use any Content and Services accessible through Steam are referred to in this Agreement as “Subscriptions.”

The clause allowing games to be removed from a group of people:

Valve may restrict or cancel your Account or any particular Subscription(s) at any time in the event that (a) Valve ceases providing such Subscriptions to similarly situated Subscribers generally,

Jarix,

That’s as things may be now. What we have consistently seen is that company’s can often change their policy whenever they want. It’s happened too many times already to think the current lunch is future proof

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

FUUUUUUCK DAVID ZASLAV!

He is not only hiding things people enjoy watching and playing, he is hiding history.

Imagine how much less we would know about Elizabethan England if all of Shakespeare’s plays were lost to all time.

Bay_of_Piggies,
@Bay_of_Piggies@hexbear.net avatar

Why??

Smokeydope,
@Smokeydope@lemmy.world avatar

I loved adult swim flash games in the 2000s would have definitely cared about this a lot more if flash wasn’t already dead and they weren’t preserved on internet archive and flashpoint

Guntrigger,

This practice feels like something that should be illegal. Effectively it is destroying art that hundreds or thousands of people worked hard to make, for the sake of fiddling the books of the owning company that commissioned it.

If you “write it off” to be worth zero, it should either become freely available abandonware, or can be claimed as the intellectual property of those that worked on it. Otherwise it is evident that there is some value to be had and therefore tax fraud to claim it has none.

reksas,

i wonder if devs would rather have their work eventually erased like it never existed and never pirated or preserved and appreciated by people

Theharpyeagle,

Back when WB threatened to block the release of a finished series on HBO Max (Summer Camp Island), the creator more or less threatened to leak it herself. I think most devs would feel the same. At least I would. Not like it’s making them any money either way.

Scrollone,

I agree with you. If a company writes off something in order to make it with zero, then that thing should immediately fall into the public domain.

Corkyskog,

You would have to have another law that says that anything significantly devalued must be able to be purchased for the stated value. Otherwise they will just say it’s worth $1.

Blue_Morpho,

It’s crazy that WB is getting away with blatant tax fraud. I can’t claim my house is worth $0 in order to pay no taxes yet WB can say, “This media is worth $0 for tax purposes.”

Blackmist,

Products no longer available to buy should fall into public domain.

WB are an absolute cancer. Suicide Squad fails spectacularly due to being a multiplayer live service game that nobody asked for, and their immediate response is to go all in on multiplayer live service games.

Because heaven forbid the executives could be fucking wrong.

lepinkainen,

If I can’t buy it, I will pirate it with zero moral issues.

I own over 1000 DVDs and a couple hundred BluRays, but will pirate anything that gets removed from streaming or isn’t available in my region for some shitty licensing reasons.

AngryCommieKender,

If you have a legitimate copy of Dogma (1999), put it into a fireproof safety box. That is a collectors item already, as they pulled production of the DVD copies after a rather limited run.

Blue_Morpho,

Harvey Weinstein is 71. As soon as he’s dead, Kevin Smith will buy the rights and you’ll be able to buy it.

youtu.be/2_DOt1aHjhs?si=bM-2CphP8NDzGeRd

Alexstarfire,

Akira Toriyama died at 68 and Rupert Mudoch is still alive at 92. Don’t assume Kevin will outlast piece of shit Weinstein.

dangblingus,

Nice! I’ve got the 2 Disc collector edition DVD set.

at_an_angle,

Look, I’m not outright disagreeing with your first point. I think going that way will be a massive legal headache for just about every business.

Mainly because of patents, copyright, and all the BS, but that’s a whole other thing. I’m mainly thinking about software.

New software v1.0 is released and then updated to v1.1? Is it a new product? If so, does that mean that v1.0 should be free if they only offer the updated version? What constitutes software not being available in a legal sense?

Hootz,

This is not a matter of versions. If the content is not available for purchase then the only choice is piracy. But at what point does piracy end and it just become public domain (not even legally just them not giving a fuck to go after anyone)

at_an_angle,

But the version does matter. We all have a game that was updated that either broke it, removed content, or changed it so drastically that it’s like a completely different game. And if the older versions aren’t available, but the game is still being sold… should the older version be public domain whole the current version is being sold?

These are important questions.

GalaxyBrain,
@GalaxyBrain@hexbear.net avatar

WB like

machiabelly,
@machiabelly@hexbear.net avatar

Why do they do this? It doesn’t make sense. They don’t have to pay to keep it listed.

Thordros,
@Thordros@hexbear.net avatar

If it’s “failed” they can write off the investment as a loss. They get a tax break as a result. Capitalism rewards innovation (in tax avoidance) and after all.

prole,

I don’t know if I want to upvote or downvote this comment lol

machiabelly, (edited )
@machiabelly@hexbear.net avatar

WHAT? THE FREE MARKET GIVES TAX BREAKS TO CORPOS WHEN THEY LOSE MONEY??? I DON’T KNOW WHAT I EXPECTED BUT I’M MAD

Vendetta9076, (edited )
@Vendetta9076@sh.itjust.works avatar

Youre might be right right thats what theyre trying to doz but thats not how that works with complete games that have been released for ages. They’re just being retarded.

More than likely they just want to shut down the entire publishing arm and going full scorched earth is the only way they seem to do things

Zedstrian,

If that were the case there would at least be some value in selling the division to another company. Perhaps by not selling it they can claim the division lost money, artificially reducing the tax burden on profits from divisions corporate management is more interested in.

Vendetta9076,
@Vendetta9076@sh.itjust.works avatar

Thats not really how tax breaks work though. Especially not corporate ones.

Blackmist,

I read it was so they can fire the people whose job it was to pay the creators of the games.

Rights should go back to the devs from the publisher at that point, or full public domain if they don’t want to distribute it either.

curiousaur,

They already have. Can you install Super Monsters Ate My Condo? Released 10 years ago, great android game, gone now.

cyberpunk007,

Never heard of it, is it zombies ate my friends?

duckduckgo.com/?q=zombies+ate+my+condo+apk&t=fpas…

TrudeauCastroson,

Android games are different because old ones use currently unsupported libraries, and you’re not supposed to run old versions of android. That’s more a problem with how Google thinks android has to work.

PC games and PlayStation store games don’t really make sense to de-list like this because win10 is very backwards-compatible with software, and PS4/PS5 games that are released and work don’t need any upkeep.

pirat,

From wikipedia:

Monsters Ate My Condo was an iOS tile-matching video game developed by PikPok and released on September 15, 2011 by Adult Swim Games for $0.99. A sequel, Super Monsters Ate My Condo, was released in 2012.

Note: I did not test/check/scan any of the files I’m pointing to!

Found these APKs for SMAMC to sideload on Android: apkcombo / apkmonk

And this modded SMAMC APK (unlimited money): happymod

Also this IPA for (older?) iPhones: archive.org

Bonus: MAMC APK: apkcombo

Bonus: MAMC modded APK: happymod

SomeGuy69,

As if I’d need any additional reason to not buy Warner Bros games. So stupid of them.

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