One-person studio Fire Face Corporation is making its surreal puzzler Small Radios Big Televisions freely available after publisher Warner Bros. Discovery said it would be "retiring" the title. The game was published by Warner Bros Discovery subsidiary Adult Swim Games, but Fire Face claims it will soon be delisted from both the Steam and PlayStation 4 storefronts at the company's behest.
Speaking with Game Developer, creator Owen Deery has confirmed Warner Bros. Discovery intends to pull Small Radios Big Televisions from storefronts in the next 60 days, describing the decision as "depressing." Deery says they were told the title is being removed from sale due to "business changes" and noted they weren't able to challenge the move.
"The email wasn't so much a discussion about retiring the game, it was a legal notice," they said. "In terms of how it has affected me: it's kind of depressing, I'm very proud of the game, but I can see why they did it. Adult Swim Games hasn't really been a thing for many years now and everyone I worked with at the publisher has long since moved on to other places. When you're working with purely digital products nothing is going to stay around for very long."
Deery essentially retired from game development following the launch of their last project, Radio Viscera, after experiencing burnout and feels the delisting is reflective of the industry's disregard for digital preservation. "It's an insane amount of work, for years and years, with only a very small chance any game will succeed. I put 110 percent of myself into the launch of Radio Viscera but the game basically disappeared on release and left me totally burnt out," they added.
"So rather than being shocked to receive the news about Small Radios Big Televisions, my first reaction was 'Yep, that sounds about right for the games industry.'"
Read the full story at Game Developer.