Developer of New Postal Game Shuts Down Studio After Game Was Announced, Then Canceled Over Gen AI Allegations

The workplace down the Postal franchise conscionable announced that it volition beryllium publishing a marque caller Postal game, to beryllium developed by Goonswarm Games. Unfortunately, it adjacent much precocious announced it would beryllium cancelling said game, owed to accusations that Goonswarm had utilized generative AI successful its development. And now, Goonswarm is shutting down.

The game, entitled Postal: Bullet Paradise, was announced earlier this week connected Wednesday with a uncover trailer and property release. It purports to beryllium a "timeline-hopping, dystopian slug heavne first-person shooter" acceptable successful the Postal universe, wherever players tin prime from 11 unlockable Postal Dudes from antithetic timelines and, well, sprout people.

However, not agelong aft the trailer debuted, Postal fans began pointing retired that the crippled had a batch of hallmarks of assets made with generative AI. When we went to embed the trailer into this nonfiction for you to watch, our entree to the video record had been chopped disconnected and the authoritative mentation had been removed from YouTube. You tin inactive ticker it done the Steam leafage present and justice for yourself.

Checking successful connected the Postal subreddit, you tin spot immoderate of the feedback. Fan spoint retired that the pixel sprites' mouths "don't marque sense", and elements specified arsenic shading and pixel placement are disconnected somehow. They besides constituent retired that Goonswarm has astir surely utilized generative AI successful its games earlier (a adjacent ticker of this trailer has a fig of beauteous evident indicators), making it not intolerable that it would bash truthful again.

When accusations initially began flying, some Goonswarm and Running With Scissors denied the usage of generative AI. As Goonswarm told PCGamesN successful a statement:

No generative AI was utilized for the uncover trailer oregon for the game. All assets were created by our quality artists utilizing modular tools. We've already shared layered PSDs, work-in-progress files, and different materials to corroborate this. Any mistakes oregon unsmooth spots successful those files are being misinterpreted arsenic 'proof' of AI, but they simply bespeak the normal, quality art-creation process

Meanwhile, portion Running With Scissors initially promised to analyse further, workplace co-owner Mike Jeret angered the Postal assemblage further by not conscionable vehemently denying determination was generative AI successful the game, but besides utilizing reasonably beardown connection toward the accusers, referring to them arsenic "ignorant assholes" and telling anyone who thought the crippled utilized generative AI to "excuse yourself from our Discord."

But finally, today, the steadfast has taken a definitive stance. Running With Scissors announced it would beryllium canceling the crippled entirely, saying that the assemblage feedback had caused "extreme harm to our marque and our institution reputation" and that it nary longer trusted the improvement team.

Here's Running With Scissors' connection successful full:

After revealing Postal: Bullet Paradise, a rubric Running With Scissors was readying connected publishing but not developing, we've been overwhelmed with antagonistic responses from our acrophobic Postal Community. The beardown feedback from them is that elements of the crippled are precise apt AI-generated and frankincense has caused utmost harm to our marque and our institution reputation.We’ve ever been, and volition ever be, transparent with our community. Our spot successful the improvement squad is broken; therefore, we've killed the project. We person a batch of bully things coming (some you cognize and immoderate you don’t).Since forming Running With Scissors successful 1996, we’ve ever said that our fans are portion of the team. Our precedence is to ever bash close by the millions who enactment the Postal franchise. We are grateful for the accidental to marque the games we privation to play, and volition proceed to absorption connected our caller projects and updates coming successful 2026 and beyond. We can’t hold to stock more!

Fan feedback successful effect to this seems mostly positive, with a fig of radical suggesting they were excited astir the premise of the crippled and hoped it could beryllium passed connected to a antithetic developer. Some are inactive hoping for an apology from Jeret for his connection toward the community, but that has not yet manifested.

But there's 1 radical of folks who aren't happy, and that's Goonswarm. In a connection posted to Twitter, the workplace announced it would beryllium shutting down owed to the cancellation of its game. Here's their connection successful afloat arsenic well:

Our project, and everything we built implicit the psat six years, was canceled successful conscionable a fewer days.Our workplace was mistakenly accused of utilizing AI-generated creation successful our games, and each effort to clarify our enactment lone escalated the situation. In the past fewer hours, we've received a ample fig of threats, insults, and mockery, which pushed america toward a precise hard decision.We're genuinely atrocious for the artists who enactment their psyche into this and supported our studio, lone to look mendacious AI accusations. It's pugnacious to determination truthful overmuch vigor into a crippled and extremity up caught successful the mediate of an AI warfare by accident.We've decided to unopen down the workplace and extremity each aboriginal activities.Thank you for being with us. Stay strong, play games.

This is acold from the archetypal clip the Postal games, which are fundamentally astir assorted guys committing wide shootings, person been embroiled successful controversy. The past mainline game, Postal 4: NoRegerts, released successful 2022 to a uncommon 2/10 from us. Our reviewer said that "the drama is lazy and embarrassing, the combat is messy and painfully unsatisfying, and it runs truthful poorly connected high-end hardware that it tin scarcely beryllium enjoyed astatine each adjacent by those conscionable hoping for immoderate campy daze humor." Running With Scissors has besides released aggregate spinoffs successful caller years, specified arsenic 2022's Postal: Brain Damaged by CreativeForge Games and a 2023 April Fool's gag successful POOSTALL Royale.

Rebekah Valentine is simply a elder newsman for IGN. Got a communicative tip? Send it to [email protected].