Controversial Steam Game Canceled Over AI Backlash

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The Steam game Postal: Bullet Paradise was quickly removed from sale just one day after it was announced, following claims from fans that it used art created with artificial intelligence. Although the developer first said these claims were false, the publisher ultimately made the decision to cancel the game, which was intended to be exclusive to Steam.

The Postal series is owned by Running with Scissors (RWS), a game company located in Tucson, Arizona. Since the first game came out in 1997, RWS has created almost all of the Postal games, with the exceptions of Postal 3 (2011), which they made with Trashmasters, and Postal: Brain Damaged (2022), developed by Hyperstrange and CreativeForge Games. Recently, on December 3rd, RWS announced another game made by an outside studio: Postal: Bullet Paradise. This new installment, a time-traveling shooter, is being developed by the indie team at Goonswarm Games.

Postal: Bullet Paradise Canceled Following Poor Reveal Reception

The next day, RWS cancelled the game Postal: Bullet Paradise. They explained that the online community reacted very negatively to the project, and acknowledged concerns raised on social media about the game potentially using art created by AI. In a statement, RWS said they no longer trusted the development team and had therefore stopped work on the game, though they didn’t directly confirm whether AI was used to create some of the game’s artwork.

Postal: Bullet Paradise Publisher Issues a Provisional Apology to Fans

RWS also posted a preliminary apology on Twitter to anyone who felt offended during recent interactions, with the exception of those who sent threats. However, some fans found the apology’s phrasing – referring to things happening “in the heat of the moment” – minimized the alleged insults made by company representatives on the RWS Discord server. These incidents included the use of a slur, and occurred while responding to criticism about the announcement and subsequent cancellation of Postal: Bullet Paradise. One fan tweeted that while forgiveness is possible, those responsible for the insults should be removed from their positions.

Postal: Bullet Paradise Dev Denies AI Art Accusations, Then Changes Its Mind

Goonswarm Games first denied claims that they used AI-generated art on December 5th, but announced they were closing their studio at the same time due to the controversy. The next day, they apologized for their initial defensive reaction, explaining they were caught off guard by the accusations. After looking into the matter internally, Goonswarm admitted that their promotional artwork did seem to include or be based on AI-generated images. They maintained that all the art within the game itself was created by human artists, clarifying that the issue only concerned promotional materials, though they didn’t provide specific details.

So, Goonswarm still confirmed they’re shutting down the studio, which is really sad. But honestly, the weirdest part of their announcement was a promise to replace all the artwork in their games with stuff made by actual humans! Apparently, people online noticed some of their promotional banners looked like they were created with AI – one example was a character with a missing finger! It’s a bit of a mess, and they said the closure will affect nine people, including their developers and anyone they were working with as contractors.

Running with Scissors, the company behind the controversial Postal games, usually faces criticism from the public, not its own fans. Although their game Postal: Bullet Paradise has been cancelled, they have many future plans for the Postal franchise, with the first announcement expected in 2026.

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2025-12-08 02:04