On December 3, 2025, Running With Scissors announced they would release Postal: Bullet Paradise. It was pitched as a Vampire Survivors-style spin-off of the Postal franchise. Indie studio Goonswarm Games was developing the game with a planned release for Q3 2026.
Until fans started tearing the reveal trailer apart. Fans claimed that generative AI was used for the game. They pointed to signs like the odd shading and the look of the pixel sprite mouths being off. Accusations spread fast despite the developers at Goonswarm Games swearing that no AI was used during production.
It wasn’t long until the trailer was removed from YouTube and the game was canceled. Then came the announcement that Goonswarm Games was shutting down.
From initial reveal to studio closure, all happening in about 48 hours.
Running With Scissors says trust was broken
Running with Scissors released a statement explaining their decision. The company stated that “trust in the development team is broken; therefore, we’ve killed the project”. They also emphasized that they were only publishing the game and weren’t involved in its development.
So Running With Scissors is implying that Goonswarm Games used AI without their consent or permission?
That doesn’t make any sense because everything Goonswarm Games did HAD to be approved by someone at Running with Scissors.
It’s impossible for Running With Scissors to play dumb
Postal is a licensed franchise controlled by Running With Scissors. Everything Goonswarm Games produced would have to be approved by RWS.
If the allegations are true that AI was used throughout the development process, Running With Scissors knew about it. There is no realistic scenario where the publisher was completely unaware.
It’s looking like Running With Scissors panicked over the backlash Postal: Bullet Paradise was getting. To them, it was better to cut their losses.
The industry moves on
This is a perfect example of a studio throwing developers under the bus to save their own skin.
So far it seems to be working too. This scandal will be forgotten after a week. Running With Scissors will carry on with business as normal. Gamers will pat themselves on the back for speaking out against the use of AI in gaming.
Nobody will think of the people who used to work for Goonswarm Games.
Not only are they watching all their hard work swirl into the drain. They also have to figure out how to keep a roof over their heads and the food on the table until they can find a new job. And of course, this all happened weeks before Christmas.
All over unverified accusations that were repeatedly denied by the developers. The toll these scandals place on the humans involved barely registers to the people following the drama. It never does.
