Adult Swim Games
Video game publishing division of Adult Swim
 | |
| Company type | Division |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia , U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Parent | Adult Swim |
| Website | www |
Adult Swim Games (stylized as adult swim games; formerly Williams Street Games) is the video game publishing division of Adult Swim, a brand of The Cartoon Network, Inc..
While Adult Swim had been publishing games since 2005, primarily based on their in-house franchises, it became an official publisher of original indie games in 2011. The publishing division has been praised by critics for the originality and quality of its games.
History
Early history (2005–2010)
Adult Swim partnered with Midway Games in 2005 to begin development on video games based on Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, The Brak Show and Sealab 2021. The game based on Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am, was released on November 5, 2007, for PlayStation 2.[1] The game is a golf game with fighting and racing levels. A video game based on Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law has been released by Capcom for PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii on January 8, 2008.[2]
Various third-party Flash-based games, such as Robot Unicorn Attack and the Five Minutes to Kill (Yourself) series, were once available for free play on the Adult Swim website,[3] but have been removed from the site in 2020, due to the discontinuation of Flash Player. Adult Swim have also published a number of iPhone, iPad, and Android games, including Robot Unicorn Attack 1 & 2, Amateur Surgeon, Five Minutes to Kill (Yourself): Wedding Day, and Pocket Mortys.[4]
In December 2012, Valve announced costumes for the online first person shooter Team Fortress 2 based on Adult Swim characters. The video game Saints Row: The Third features an in game radio station listenable on most vehicles titled “WDDT CPDG The Swim” which shuffles a collection of songs that were featured on Adult Swim shows and was hosted by Jon from the Adult Swim show Delocated. The video game Poker Night 2 features Brock Samson from The Venture Bros. as a main character.
Adult Swim Games (2011–present)
In 2011, Adult Swim hired Steve Gee to run their games division, in an effort to find original content that fit the brand of Adult Swim - described as "bizarre and absurd humor". This effort was inspired by the financial success of earlier mobile games such as Robot Unicorn Attack and Amateur Surgeon.[5] The publisher began to seek out new indie games to partner with and publish, in an effort to provide a platform for indie games.[5]
On February 15, 2013, Adult Swim published Super House of Dead Ninjas on Steam under their Adult Swim Games publishing label. Adult Swim Games continued to publish select indie games on Steam, including Super Puzzle Platformer Deluxe, Völgarr the Viking, Kingsway, Rain World, Jazzpunk[6] and Duck Game.
On May 22, 2018, Adult Swim acquired their first video game developer, Big Pixel Studios, the development studio behind Pocket Mortys.[7] The studio would later close at the end of 2020 following WarnerMedia's decision to restructure the division.[8]
In 2020, Adult Swim released Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time, meant to serve as a conclusion to the series.[9]
In 2022, Adult Swim lost the rights of Rain World to Videocult following prolonged legal disputes, with Akupara Games publishing it.[10]
In 2024, it was announced by the developer of Small Radios Big Televisions, that the game would be removed from all store fronts due to "internal business changes."[11] Parent company Warner Bros. further announced plans to retire more Adult Swim games from online stores later in 2024.[12] However, by May 2024, at least two games from the Adult Swim Games label, Small Radios Big Television and Duck Game, stated that Warner Bros. was returning the publishing rights back to the developers and allow them to continue to distribute the game on storefronts.[13][14]
List of games published (selection)
| Year | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | InuYasha: Demon Tournament | |
| 2005 | Fullmetal Alchemist: Iron & Flame | |
| 2007 | Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am | |
| Bible Fight | ||
| 2008 | Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law | |
| Amateur Surgeon 2 | ||
| 2009 | Pizza City | Also developer |
| 5 Minutes to Kill Yourself | ||
| 2010 | Robot Unicorn Attack | |
| Give Up, Robot | ||
| Give Up Robot 2 | ||
| 2011 | Major Mayhem | |
| Lee-Lee's Quest | Also developer | |
| Monsters Ate My Condo | ||
| Snoticles | ||
| 2012 | Girls Like Robots | |
| Super Mole Escape | ||
| Burrito Bison Revenge | ||
| 2013 | Super House of Dead Ninjas | |
| Super Puzzle Platformer Deluxe | ||
| Fist Puncher | ||
| Amateur Surgeon 3: Tag Team Trauma | ||
| Volgarr the Viking | ||
| Soundodger+ | ||
| Westerado | ||
| 2014 | Castle Doombad | |
| Jazzpunk | ||
| Duck Game | ||
| Mega Coin Squad | ||
| Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars | ||
| Bionic Chainsaw Pogo Gorilla | Also developer | |
| 2015 | Robot Unicorn Attack Evolution | |
| Westerado: Double Barreled | ||
| Zenzizenzic | Also developer | |
| Oblitus | ||
| Traverser | ||
| 2016 | Pocket Mortys | |
| Peter Panic | Also developer | |
| Wasted | ||
| Headlander | ||
| Small Radios Big Televisions | ||
| Glittermitten Grove | ||
| Frog Fractions 2 | ||
| Lee-Lee's Quest 2 | ||
| 2017 | Rise & Shine | |
| Desync | ||
| Rain World | Publishing duties moved to Akupara Games | |
| Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality | ||
| Kingsway | ||
| Battle Chef Brigade | ||
| 2018 | Pool Panic | |
| Death's Gambit | ||
| 2020 | Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time | |
| Ray's The Dead | Helped fund the game.[17] |
References
- ^ Scalzo, John (January 15, 2005). "[Midway bags Adult Swim license]". Gaming Target, Inc. Archived from the original on February 18, 2005. Retrieved March 16, 2009.
- ^ "Capcom announces Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law". Joystiq.com. Archived from the original on April 16, 2007. Retrieved November 25, 2017.
- ^ "Adult Swim Games". Adultswim.com. Archived from the original on April 4, 2017. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
- ^ "Adult Swim on iTunes". Itunes.apple.com. Archived from the original on April 11, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2013.
- ^ a b Williams, Mike (2013-09-13). "Adult Swim Brings "Marketing Muscle" to Great Indie Games". USgamer. Archived from the original on 2020-07-20. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
- ^ "Adult Swim Games". Steam Search. 2014. Archived from the original on October 7, 2014. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
- ^ Hutchins, Robert (2018-03-28). "Turner's Adult Swim grows gaming investment with Big Pixel Studios acquisition". Licensing.biz. Archived from the original on May 22, 2018. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
- ^ Valentine, Rebekah (December 16, 2020). "Big Pixel Studios shuts down, impacting about 40". gamesindustry.biz. Archived from the original on 2020-12-15. Retrieved December 16, 2020.
- ^ Johnson, Jarrod (February 25, 2020). "Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time Is Coming This Summer". Paste Magazine. Archived from the original on 2020-08-12. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
- ^ "Rainworld Ready to Live Again with More Slugcats Mod Becoming Official - Hardcore Gamer". hardcoregamer.com. 2022-01-29. Retrieved 2023-04-01.
- ^ Purdy, Kevin (2024-03-06). ""It's kind of depressing": WB Discovery pulls indie game for "business changes"". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
- ^ McWhorter, Michael (2024-03-08). "Warner Bros. is now erasing games as it plans to delist Adult Swim-published titles". News. Polygon. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
- ^ Allsop, Ken (2024-05-10). "Beloved indie game with 97% Steam rating "is safe," dev confirms amid delisting fears". PCGamesN. Retrieved 2024-05-11.
- ^ McWhertor, Michael (2024-05-10). "Warner Bros. reverses course, won't delist Adult Swim indie games, devs say". Polygon. Retrieved 2024-05-11.
- ^ "Adult Swim Games". IGDB.
- ^ "Adult Swim Games". Adult Swim. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
- ^ Klepek, Patrick (2020-11-23). "After 7 Years in Development Hell, No Fairytale Ending for 'Ray's the Dead'". Vice. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
External links
- Official website
