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Postal IP owner Running With Sicssors has cancelled a project called Postal: Bullet Paradise two days after it was announced due to negative fan feedback over the potential use of AI.
Earlier this week, developer Goonswarm Games announced Postal: Bullet Paradise – a Vampire Survivors-like FPS set in the Postal universe. However, the game was immediately slammed by fans, who pointed out the potential use of AI-generated art. Despite some pushback from the publisher's co-owner and other developers on Discord, Running With Scissors has cancelled the project following the negative feedback.
In a statement sent to the press, Running with Scissors founder Vince Desi said: "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."
Desi continues: "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." He adds, "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."
Running With Scissors also published the following statement on Twitter, saying: "We'd like of course to apologize to anyone who felt insulted in the heat of the moment and we thank you for raising concerns at the time." The publisher also said, "As for those who specifically sent us death threats, the apology does not apply."
Following the project's cancellation, Goonswarm Games issued its own Twitter statement, announcing the studio's closure. "Our project, and everything we built over the past six years, was canceled in just a few days."
The statement says the studio was "mistakenly accused of using AI-generated art in our games" and that "every attempt to clarify our work only escalated the situation," noting the team has received "threats, insults, and mockery," which led the team to decide to close the studio.
"We're truly sorry for the artists who put their soul into this and supported our studio, only to face false AI accusations." The statement then concludes, adding, "It's tough to pour so much energy into a game and end up caught in the middle of an AI war by accident."
