Postal: Bullet Paradise canceled amid AI asset accusations as developer studio shuts down
Over the span of a few days, Running With Scissors has cancelled its upcoming Postal spinoff called Postal: Bullet Paradise. The project was canceled after fans accused Goonswarm Games, the developers, of using generative AI to create assets. However, Goonswarm Games was quick to deny these allegations, but the project was ultimately axed by Running With Scissors.
Postal: Bullet Paradise was revealed as a “timeline-hopping dystopian bullet heaven first-person shooter” using roguelike mechanics inspired by indie hit Vampire Survivors, coated with the franchise’s dark humor.
The Postal community was quick to dissect the reveal trailer, citing misplaced pixels, inconsistent shading, and weird mouth animations. Users online noted that Goonswarm’s trailers for other titles shared the same hallmarks of generative AI.
Goonswarm Games stated to PCGamesN, “No generative AI was used for the reveal trailer or for the game. All assets were created by our human artist using standard tools. We’ve already shared layered PSDs, work-in-progress files, and other materials to confirm this.”
It’s important to note here that Running With Scissors outsourced the development of Postal: Bullet Paradise to the Russian studio Goonswarm Games. Running With Scissors CEO Vince Desi stated on X:
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.
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. We have a lot of good things coming (some you know and some you don’t).
The scrutiny intensified to threats, and Goonswarm Games wrote on X:
We’ve shut down the studio. Our studio was mistakenly accused of using AI-generated art in our games, and every attempt to clarify our work only escalated the situation. In the last few hours, we’ve received a large number of threats, insults, and mockery, which pushed us toward a very difficult decision.
Postal: Bullet Paradise was scheduled for a Q3 2026 release on Steam, Mac, Linux, PlayStation, and Switch, priced at $19.99. However, the game’s reveal trailer is now set to private on YouTube, and a Steam Page notice states that the game is no longer available.
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