Publisher Addresses Studio Shutdown After Game Was Canceled 24 Hours After Its Reveal

After a dramatic few days of AI-generated art accusations, denials, and a game cancellation; Goonswarm Games releases a new statement explaining its stance and the status of the studio closure.

The original Accusations and Goonswarm Games Response

Goonswarm Games began facing allegations surrounding AI-generated art early in December when Running With Scissors announced the upcoming collaboration for a new game in the POSTAL universe. In response to the accusations, Running With Scissors cancelled the studio’s work on the upcoming game, which had just been announced a day earlier.

After the newly-announced POSTAL: Bullet Paradise project was cancelled, Goonswarm explained that the studio would be closing. This original post asserted that the accusations were false and that the studio was caught up in the middle of an AI war by mistake. The following day, Goonswarm Games made another post that took a different stance and further clarified things.

Goonswarm Games’ updated response

The follow up response was also posted on Twitter/X and provided a lot more context and explanation. In this post, Goonswarm Games apologized to the community for the entire situation and admitted that the small studio reacted emotionally and defensively with their earlier post, due to the shock of the accusation and the sudden spotlight on the team.

Some time and space provided more clarity for the team at Goonswarm Games and the press release went on to explain that the AI-generated art had inadvertently slipped passed their internal review process and made its way into promo art. The studio did assert that no AI-generated art was used in actual game assets, and that the artists involved in developing the company’s previous games have nothing to do with this situation.

Although Goonswarm Games previously announced the closure of the studio, the new press release did explain that the team would be working to update promo art across its projects with pieces created entirely by human artists.

What is next for Postal?

Although this particular project is no longer in the works, it sounds like Running With Scissors is still looking to continue working with the Postal IP and other projects will help keep that universe alive.

Running With Scissors founder Vince Desi confirmed that the publisher will continue to support fans of the POSTAL universe:

“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 occurred.

“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.”

At this time, there are no concrete details on the next POSTAL spin off or sequel, now that POSTAL: Bullet Paradise is cancelled.

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