Adult Swim Games
Adult Swim Games (stylized as adult swim games) (formerly Williams Street Games) is the video game publishing division of the Adult Swim brand of Cartoon Network. 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.
 | |
| Type | Division |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Headquarters | , US |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Parent | Adult Swim |
| Website | www |
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", which shuffles a collection of songs that were featured on Adult Swim shows and was hosted by Jon from 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 development, 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 restruct 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]
List of games published (selection)
| Video games published by Adult Swim Games[11][12] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 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 | |
| Major Mayhem | ||
| 2011 | 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 | |
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.
- 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.
- "Adult Swim Games". IGDB.
- "Adult Swim Games". Adult Swim. Retrieved 2023-02-11.