Rain World Nears a New Chapter as Akupara Seeks Full Independence From Adult Swim Ties

Rain World has spent nearly a decade surviving in conditions that would have buried many other independent games. Videocult's strange, punishing survival adventure arrived in 2017 with a premise that was immediately memorable but not especially welcoming: guide a vulnerable slugcat through an ecosystem where nearly everything wants to eat it, supplies are limited, shelter is essential, and devastating rain can end a run in moments.

It was never designed around easy victories or constant explanations. The player is expected to learn through observation, experimentation and repeated failure. A creature may reveal a tactic simply by using it against the slugcat. A discarded spear can become a weapon, a climbing aid, or the difference between reaching safety and becoming prey. That harsh, systems-driven design helped Rain World become a cult favorite, though its path after release has been as complicated as the game itself.

Now, as Rain World marks its ninth anniversary, Akupara Games CEO David Logan and head of publishing Buddy Sola say a lengthy business and legal entanglement connected to the former Adult Swim Games publishing label may finally be approaching a conclusion. Akupara already holds the publishing rights and license for Rain World, but the game has retained quieter ties to Adult Swim Games, the label that originally published it. Logan cautions that a complete resolution is not yet certain, even as he says the parties have continued discussions.

"Recently we've continued talking, and we hope we are close to a resolution with them," Logan said. "That said, I also reached out to you a couple years [ago] with I think a similar story to this, and I thought we were close at that point as well, so we are hoping that we can be fully independent."

For useful background on this topic, read Dragon Age: Origins Fan Decompilation Project Reaches 60% Completion.

A Difficult Game That Found Its Audience Slowly

Rain World launched on PC and PlayStation 4 in 2017 under Adult Swim Games, before later reaching Nintendo Switch. From the start, the game had qualities that made it easy to admire and difficult to recommend without caveats. Its slugcat moves with an intentional awkwardness. It cannot simply power through confrontations with larger animals. It has to eat, find a place to hibernate and navigate an environment governed by its own unpredictable food chains.

The game's creatures are central to that appeal. Rather than existing as simple obstacles following neat routines, animals can surprise players through their behavior. A hostile creature using a spear, for example, can teach the player that the same object has possibilities they may not have realized. That kind of emergent discovery is one reason dedicated players came to love Rain World, even when the game could be frustrating, confusing or brutally unforgiving.

That devotion did not initially translate into a smooth post-launch life. Different editions and regions received updates inconsistently. At one stage, PC and console versions were on different update numbers, while the Korean PC release was on yet another version. Bugs remained unresolved for too long, and an Xbox release that had been promised did not arrive. The result was a small but persistent community keeping attention on a game whose official support appeared to have stalled.

Akupara Games Took Over in 2022

Logan and Sola entered that situation while their newly established company was pursuing work-for-hire opportunities. They saw a game with obvious problems around updates and platform parity, but also a community still deeply committed to it. Akupara Games ultimately took over publishing for Rain World in 2022 after extensive behind-the-scenes negotiations and legal work.

For Logan, the opportunity was clear: Rain World was not dead, but it had reached a stagnant state. Its existing audience had effectively kept the flame alive through its enthusiasm and ongoing attention. Akupara's initial goal was practical. The company worked to bring versions into alignment and address the uneven state of the game across its available platforms. Once that groundwork was in place, the publisher looked for ways to expand the game's reach without losing the qualities that had made it special.

Before Akupara assumed the publishing role, the all-time peak concurrent player count for Rain World was around 600. The game's following was passionate, but relatively small. The publisher then supported community-facing activity beyond ordinary patches: art contests, livestreams, alternate reality game events and physical merchandise. It also delivered the long-awaited Xbox version.

Most importantly, Akupara and Videocult built on the work of fans. Downpour, Rain World's first DLC, launched in 2023 and was adapted from a popular mod. It provided a major example of how an active modding community could become part of the game's official future rather than merely existing alongside it. The expansion's launch pushed Rain World's peak concurrent player figure to 8,500.

The momentum continued with 2025's The Watcher, which raised that peak to 15,500. Logan and Sola said Downpour sold 186,000 units at launch, while The Watcher sold 128,000 units at its own launch. Those are striking figures for expansions attached to a game that began as an especially niche survival title.

Deep Discounts and Fan Commitment Fueled Major Growth

The base game's performance has also accelerated dramatically. During one Steam summer sale, Rain World sold 1.3 million units while heavily discounted. Since Akupara took over publishing, its sales have reached 3.5 million total. That kind of late-life growth is unusual for any game, and perhaps especially unusual for one that still asks so much patience from new players.

Rain World has become more approachable over time through added tutorials and easier playstyle options, but its fundamentals remain uncompromising. Progress can be lost. Routes can become confusing. A player can stumble into circumstances that feel impossible to escape. The game is deliberately opaque in places, preferring that players gradually understand its world rather than presenting every rule in a menu or mandatory lesson.

Logan and Sola acknowledge that the game's median playtime is comparatively low. A lot of people buy Rain World and do not necessarily stay with it for dozens or hundreds of hours. But the people who do connect with it are unusually invested. The community also includes a meaningful number of fans who may watch streams or engage with the world and its characters without regularly playing themselves.

That broader attachment has been particularly visible through merchandise. Logan said Akupara has generated more than seven figures in revenue from Rain World merchandise alone, a result he described as extraordinary compared with the low-thousands merchandise revenue associated with many other games the company has handled. It is a sign that Rain World's appeal now extends beyond traditional measures such as completion rates or even playtime.

The Adult Swim Games Question Still Matters

The unresolved business situation has roots in the decline of Adult Swim Games. Warner Bros. appeared to retire the publishing label in 2024, and concern followed when the company initially planned to delist games that remained under the label's control. Delisting can create serious problems for developers and players, including complications around store availability, updates and ownership of publishing responsibilities.

Following public backlash, publishing rights were returned to a number of developers, though not every situation was resolved in the same way. Rain World's arrangement remains distinct: Akupara owns its publishing rights and license, but the publisher says some connection to Adult Swim Games still exists. The exact details have not been disclosed, and Logan and Sola did not provide specifics about the ongoing negotiations.

For Rain World players, the most important point is that Akupara says the game will continue in some form regardless of how those remaining ties are ultimately settled. The team's plans do not appear to involve simply abandoning the community that helped the game rise from a small cult title to a multimillion-selling success.

What Comes After The Watcher?

That does not necessarily mean fans should expect a steady procession of additional DLC. Logan and Sola said Videocult has effectively pushed the nearly decade-old game close to its limits. There is only so much more that can be added to its existing framework, despite the success of Downpour and The Watcher.

A direct sequel remains unconfirmed. When asked about the possibility of Rain World 2, Sola said it was not something the team was confirming. Still, Logan made clear that Rain World's future may involve more than expansions to the current game.

"We want to continue to do things, including games, including not games," Logan said.

That leaves considerable room for interpretation, but it fits the way Rain World has evolved. Its identity is no longer limited to one difficult game on PC and consoles. It is also a long-running creative community, a modding success story, a merchandise business and an unusual survival world that people enjoy watching as much as playing.

For now, the immediate milestone is the ninth-anniversary celebration, which also brought the announcement of a new physical collector's edition. It is an outcome that would have seemed unlikely when Rain World first emerged in 2017 as an abrasive, mysterious independent release. The slugcat's world remains hostile, but the game itself has endured--and its next cycle appears to be beginning with more stability than the last.