The studio closed its doors immediately
When announcing POSTAL: Bullet Paradisewhich was to be a somewhat retro FPS paying homage to the entire series, the public quickly spotted traces of generative AI in the game from Goonswarm Gamesand was quick to point it out.
At first, the publisher Running With Scissors refused to face the truth despite all the initial criticism of the game. Until the feedback became so important that he was forced to note that the studio had used this tool well.
This could have been a non-incident as generative AI is becoming more and more common, but the very poor reception of the trailer cooled the publisher’s ardor, who decided to cut ties with the studio while canceling POSTAL: Bullet Paradise. Vince Desi, founder of Running With Scissors, then said (via Gematsu):
“ Following the announcement of POSTAL: Bullet Paradise, a title that Running With Scissors planned to release but not develop, we were inundated with negative reactions from our very concerned POSTAL community. Their feedback clearly indicates that some elements of the game are most likely AI-generated, which has seriously damaged our brand and company reputation. We have always been, and always will be, transparent with our community. Our trust in the Goonswarm Games development team is broken; therefore, we abandoned the project. Great things are coming (some you already know about, some you don’t). »
The studio responded, saying it disputed these accusations regarding generative AI. But the next day, after an internal investigation, he admits that the tool was indeed used for promotional images, by external partners. This whole story is now forcing it to close its doors. A brutal conclusion for this small team.