POSTAL: Bullet Paradise gets cancelled over generative AI with Goonswarm Games shutting down

Oh dear. Goonswarm Games are shutting down after Running With Scissors cancelled POSTAL: Bullet Paradise due to the use of generative AI. It's a bit of a saga this one.

I covered the initial announcement, along with a follow-up update in there where Running With Scissors attempted to defend the developer. The backlash only continued, and eventually RWS cancelled it as per the statement GamingOnLinux was sent on December 5th via Vince Desi, founder of Running With Scissors:

After revealing POSTAL: Bullet Paradise, a title Running With Scissors was planning on publishing but not developing, we've been overwhelmed with negative responses from our concerned POSTAL Community. The strong feedback from them is that elements of the game are very likely AI-generated and thus has caused extreme damage to our brand and our company reputation.

We’ve always been, and will always be, transparent with our community. Our trust in the development team is broken; therefore, we've killed the project. We have a lot of good things coming (some you know and some you don’t).

Since forming Running With Scissors in 1996, we’ve always said that our fans are part of the team. Our priority is to always do right by the millions who support the POSTAL franchise. We are grateful for the opportunity to make the games we want to play, and will continue to focus on our new projects and updates coming in 2026 and beyond. We can’t wait to share more!

And a fresh follow-up statement on December 8th from Vince Desi, founder of Running With Scissors:

Following our statement on Friday, Running With Scissors would like to share an update. While we needed to cut ties with Goonswarm Games on Friday and state the reason for doing so, our broken trust, we still wanted to give Goonswarm the time and space to be transparent about what had occured.

After sharing a tweet on Friday that got more than 8.5 million views which denied they had used generative A.I. and were closing the studio, on Saturday, Goonswarm Games issued a follow-up tweet acknowledging the use of generative A.I. and apologizing. We wish them all the best as we both move forward in our seperate ways.

Running With Scissors has always operated with an unwavering commitment to the truth and transparency. We look forward to continuing to support our fans and expand on the POSTAL universe played by millions.

You can see the original trailer below:

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