Archive link: https://archive.ph/168Vn
There are now several games known to be getting delisted by WBD. I will link to the article with the list at the end
Some key highlights:
Warner Bros. Discovery, as part of its ongoing effort to stretch the definition of "entertainment company," recently told a solo indie developer it would be "retiring" his 2016 dreamlike puzzle adventure game Small Radios Big Televisions from the Steam and PlayStation stores. The developer, in response, has made it free to download for PC
Deery clarified that the game will be pulled in the next 60 days. Deery noted that Adult Swim Games "hasn't really been a thing for many years now" and that most of the people he worked with had moved on. "When you're working with purely digital products nothing is going to stay around for very long," Deery told Game Developer.
The reason given by Warner Bros. Discovery, as seen in the notice that Game Developer also reviewed, was "internal business changes." "Thank you for your contribution to our game library and understanding during this transition," the notice concludes. "We are available should you have any questions."
Warner Bros. Discovery executives said late last month during a financial call that its gaming business was due for a "tough" year-over-year comparison. That is largely due to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
At a higher level, the merged Warner Bros. Discovery entity has shown no hesitation when it comes to folding known names and removing content. The firm killed the fully produced Batgirl and a Scooby-Doo film prior to release as a reported tax strategy.
It's hard to imagine how much it would cost to maintain storefront support for this sub-$20 game from 2016, but it was apparently too much for Warner Bros. Discovery.
The list of Adult Swim games can be found here: https://delistedgames.com/as-more-developers-confirm-it-looks-likely-that-all-adult-swim-games-titles-will-be-removed-by-may/ (Archive link: https://archive.ph/fjt3Q)
People don't look at that because that's not a useful metric. All the big publishers have their own studios so most things they publish are 'independent' by that definition, but they are the very thing people try to exclude when they say indie. In the indie definitions of both music and films, it is stated that they are independent from the established distributors, not that they are entirely self-distributed. It's unreasonable to expect that from indie games.
And conversely for 'independent' to have any meaning it mustn't include those who are in a position where others could depend on them whether through money, name recognition or some other thing. CDPR for instance, by the merit of being very well known and owning one of the most popular online stores is absolutely not an independent studio.
Edit: furthermore even when a large distributor is involved for marketing etc, this doesn't mean the production of the art can't still be largely independent.