New ‘Postal’ Game Canceled One Day After Reveal, Following Generative AI Allegations

Working With Scissors, writer of the controversial shooter recreation franchise Postal, mentioned this week that it had canceled a newly revealed collection entry sooner or later after saying it, responding to backlash after followers mentioned the reveal trailer appeared to make use of AI-generated paintings.

The sport, Portal: Bullet Paradise, was a fast-paced first-person shooter spinoff developed externally by Goonswarm Video games. The backlash occurred simply days after Working With Scissors railed towards generative AI utilization in gaming, taking a stand towards AI in inventive work.

The writer mentioned it ended the challenge as a result of its belief within the growth group had damaged down, including that it aimed to stay clear with its group and nonetheless had a number of upcoming tasks within the pipeline.

“We have been overwhelmed with detrimental responses from our involved Postal group,” the corporate wrote on X. “The sturdy suggestions from them is that parts of the sport are very seemingly AI-generated, and thus has brought on excessive harm to our model and our firm status.”

The backlash towards Postal: Bullet Paradise intensified after followers dissected the December 3 trailer and flagged particulars they argued have been produced by AI instruments. Late final month, Working With Scissors mentioned on X that prospects ought to know if a recreation was created utilizing AI.

“Prospects should know if a recreation was crafted with creativity, soul and precise expertise relatively than some machine that craps out something from a immediate,” they wrote.

Frustration from avid gamers escalated when firm representatives defended the trailer on X and in Discord whereas insulting critics. Screenshots present firm reps utilizing expletives and slurs when responding to allegations.

As the pictures unfold, Working With Scissors issued a separate X message addressing the conduct.



“We might like, in fact, to apologize to anybody who felt insulted within the warmth of the second, and we thanks for elevating issues on the time,” they mentioned in an added submit. “As for many who particularly despatched us loss of life threats, the apology doesn’t apply.”

Working with Scissors didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark by Decrypt.

The Postal franchise started in 1997 and shortly grew to become recognized for darkish humor, confrontational satire, and graphic violence. The franchise takes its identify from the time period “going postal,” which initially referred to a collection of office shootings by U.S. postal staff within the Nineties, and it later grew to become slang for sudden, violent outbursts or capturing sprees extra usually.

A number of nations, together with Australia, Germany, Malaysia, New Zealand, Sweden, and France, banned entries within the collection for its intense violence, graphic content material, animal cruelty, and offensive themes. The property later impressed a broadly panned 2007 live-action movie directed by Uwe Boll.

The corporate mentioned it could shift its consideration to tasks deliberate for 2026, and reiterated that threats towards workers could be reported. The studio has not mentioned whether or not Postal: Bullet Paradise might return in one other kind, and the expertise has prompted renewed scrutiny of how builders and publishers disclose using AI in recreation manufacturing.

“Since forming Working With Scissors in 1996, we’ve all the time mentioned that our followers are a part of the group. Our precedence is to all the time do proper by the hundreds of thousands who help the Postal franchise,” they wrote. “We’re grateful for the chance to make the video games we wish to play, and can proceed to give attention to our new tasks and updates coming in 2026 and past.”

Following the backlash, Goonswarm Video games introduced on Friday that the studio would shut down and stop operations.

“Our challenge, and every thing we constructed over the previous six years, was canceled in just some days,” it wrote in an announcement. 

“Our studio was mistakenly accused of utilizing AI-generated artwork in our video games, and each try to make clear our work solely escalated the state of affairs,” they mentioned, including that the corporate has acquired a “giant variety of threats, insults, and mockery.”

Main recreation publishers, together with Ubisoft, CD Projekt Crimson, Sq. Enix, and Activision, have expanded their use of generative AI lately, adopting the expertise for in-game asset creation, inner testing, moderation, and efforts to hurry up growth pipelines.

Builders have confronted rising pushback from gamers who argue that AI-generated artwork can look inconsistent, depend on copyrighted coaching information, or change work usually accomplished by human artists. These issues have surfaced throughout studios experimenting with automated instruments, no matter challenge dimension.

The broader business can be grappling with labor pressures. Up to now in 2025, greater than 3,500 jobs have been minimize throughout recreation studios, in response to monitoring web site Gaming Layoffs, fueling worries that automation will additional scale back alternatives for artists and different early-career builders. Almost 15,000 recreation business jobs have been minimize in 2024.

“We’re actually sorry for the artists who put their soul into this and supported our studio, solely to face false AI accusations,” Goonswarm wrote. “It’s robust to pour a lot power right into a recreation and find yourself caught up in the course of an AI warfare by chance.”