Adult Swim Games


Adult Swim Games is the video game publishing division of The Cartoon Network, Inc. While Adult Swim has 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. 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.
Various third-party Flash-based games, such as Robot Unicorn Attack and the Five Minutes to Kill series, were once available for free play on the Adult Swim website, 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 : Wedding Day, and Pocket Mortys.
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. The publisher began to seek out new indie games to partner with and publish, in an effort to provide a platform for indie games.
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 and Duck Game.
On May 22, 2018, Adult Swim acquired their first video game developer, Big Pixel Studios, the development studio behind Pocket Mortys. The studio would later close at the end of 2020 following WarnerMedia's decision to restructure the division. In 2020, Adult Swim released Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time, meant to serve as a conclusion to the series. In 2022, Adult Swim lost the rights of Rain World to Videocult following prolonged legal disputes, with Akupara Games publishing it.
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." Parent company Warner Bros. further announced plans to retire more Adult Swim games from online stores later in 2024. 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.

List of games published (selection)

YearNameNotes
2004InuYasha: Demon Tournament
2005Fullmetal Alchemist: Iron & Flame
2007Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am
2007Bible Fight
2008Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law
2008Amateur Surgeon
2009Pizza CityAlso developer
20095 Minutes to Kill YourselfAlso developer
2010Robot Unicorn Attack
2010Give Up, Robot
2010Give Up Robot 2
2011Hot Throttle
2011Major Mayhem
2011Lee-Lee's QuestAlso developer
2011Monsters Ate My Condo
2011Snoticles
2012Girls Like Robots
2012Super Mole Escape
2012Burrito Bison Revenge
2013Super House of Dead Ninjas
2013Super Puzzle Platformer Deluxe
2013Fist Puncher
2013Amateur Surgeon 3: Tag Team Trauma
2013Volgarr the Viking
2013Soundodger+
2013Westerado
2014Castle Doombad
2014Jazzpunk
2014Duck GamePublishing duties moved to CORPTRON GAMES CORP
2014Mega Coin Squad
2014Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars
2014Bionic Chainsaw Pogo GorillaAlso developer
2015Robot Unicorn Attack Evolution
2015Westerado: Double Barreled
2015ZenzizenzicAlso developer
2015OblitusAlso developer
2015Traverser
2016Pocket Mortys
2016Peter PanicAlso developer
2016WastedAlso developer
2016Headlander
2016Small Radios Big Televisions
2016Glittermitten Grove
2016Frog Fractions 2
2016Lee-Lee's Quest 2
2017Rise & Shine
2017Desync
2017Rain WorldPublishing duties moved to Akupara Games
2017Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality
2017KingswayPublishing duties moved to Andrew Morrish
2017Battle Chef Brigade
2018Pool Panic
2018Death's Gambit
2020Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time
2020Ray's The DeadHelped fund the game.
2024Ninja Kamui: Shinobi Origins