Oh dear. Goonswarm Games are shutting down after Running With Scissors cancelled POSTAL: Bullet Paradise due to the use of generative AI. It’s a bit of a saga this one.
I covered the initial announcement, along with a follow-up update in there where Running With Scissors attempted to defend the developer. The backlash only continued, and eventually RWS cancelled it as per the statement GamingOnLinux was sent on December 5th via Vince Desi, founder of Running With Scissors
Solid apology imo
I had trouble reading the image so here’s the text if you’re like me:
Dear gamers, we want to start with a sincere apology to everyone affected by this situation: the community, our partners, and especially the artists who supported us. The last few days have been overwhelming. As a small studio, suddenly pushed into the spotlight, we reacted emotionally and defensively. The accusations came as a shock, and we needed time to breathe, look at everything calmly, and understand what truly happened. After taking that time and conducting an internal review, we agree with your criticism. The promo art does appear to include or be influenced by Al-generated material. We collaborated with external artists for years and never saw any signs of this. The layered PSDS always looked legitimate within our internal pipeline, which is why our initial reaction was to protect our team and defend our innocence. We understand now that your concerns were valid. And we take responsibility for not catching this earlier. We also want to stress that this issue relates only to the promo art and does not concern the real artists who worked on gameplay visuals, assets, and other content. Many of them have nothing to do with this situation, yet they have been receiving threats, harassment, and hatred. This is deeply unfair, and we hope this message helps protect them. Their work is real, and it deserves respect. We previously announced the closure of the studio, but even in this state we feel responsible for the outcome. As far as our remaining resources allow, we will replace all disputed promo art across our projects with pieces created entirely by human artists. It will take time, but we will do it. We again apologise to everyone who was harmed or affected by this situation. We never intended to mislead anyone, and our earlier statements reflected what we honestly believed at the moment.
Totally reasonable thought process on their side. Sucks that it had to come to this.
Still don’t understand the shutdown? Remove the marketing material and move on if it’s such a problem?
Their publisher pulled the plug on the game they were making due to the accusations, so they probably can’t afford to stay open.