Postal’s new game was canned in 24 hours — fans blamed AI, publisher pulled the plug

Why the Postal: Bullet Paradise cancellation actually matters

When Running With Scissors announced Postal: Bullet Paradise on December 3, 2025, it should have been another messy but predictable chapter for a franchise that courts controversy. Instead, the title was dead within 24 hours. Publisher founder Vince Desi said the controversy – centered on accusations that developer Goonswarm Games used AI-generated assets – had damaged the company’s reputation and broken RWS’s trust in the studio. This caught my attention because it’s not just another delay or PR gaffe: a vocal fandom, fueled by modern fears around generative AI, effectively killed a project and closed a studio in real time.

• Key takeaway: community trust now has teeth-fans can and will torpedo projects they believe betray a franchise.
• Goonswarm denies using generative AI and published work-in-progress files to prove their process, but the damage was already done.
• Running With Scissors is pivoting to Postal 2 Redux for 2026; Bullet Paradise is dead with no coming-back option.

Quick timeline: announce, outrage, cancel

On December 3 RWS revealed Bullet Paradise, a third-person shooter developed by a small Russian outfit calling itself Goonswarm Games (not affiliated with the EVE Online alliance). Fans immediately flagged art and promo assets as suspicious—generic textures, odd composition choices and apparent “image mashups” that, to many, screamed AI. Within about 24 hours Running With Scissors issued an apology and the blunt line: “Our trust in the development team is broken, therefore we’ve killed the project.” Goonswarm pushed back, denying the use of generative AI and releasing work-in-progress files to defend their pipeline. Hours later, they said they were shutting the studio amid a wave of threats and mockery. RWS confirmed it still intends to release Postal 2 Redux in 2026, but Bullet Paradise is off the table.

Why the AI accusation blew up so fast

This whole situation tapped into a very raw nerve in 2025: the fear that AI will cheapen art and replace human craft, plus the internet’s taste for immediate judgment. The Postal fanbase is especially protective—this series survived a history of bad launches and sensational headlines, but it also trades on a kind of crude, handcrafted shock value. To those fans, evidence of AI-generated art looks like a shortcut that would hollow out what makes Postal feel distinct.

There’s also a practical angle: the assets shown in early Bullet Paradise promo looked unfinished and, in places, oddly generic. For a franchise with an outsized cult audience, “looks AI” was enough to trigger distrust. That distrust metastasized into harassment of the devs, which Goonswarm says forced them to shutter operations. Whether the studio actually used generative tools or not, the reaction demonstrates how unforgiving communities can be when they perceive a betrayal.

What this means for Running With Scissors and the wider industry

RWS chose reputational triage: kill the risky new IP and lean on something safe—Postal 2 Redux. That’s telling. It signals that, for smaller publishers with legacy brands, community trust is a non-negotiable asset. You can’t just toss new work out there without expecting a deep-dive from fans who know the franchise intimately.

For the industry, this episode is a reminder that ambiguity around AI use is a liability. If a studio expects to use generative tools, the time for transparency is now: clear notes in dev logs, open workflow demos, or early community previews could head off worst-case assumptions. Conversely, devs who face mob-style accusations may also need better legal and PR support to survive the fallout.

What gamers should watch next

If you care about the integrity of your favorite franchises, start demanding more than teaser images. Ask for dev diaries, assets provenance, and clearer credits. If a studio refuses to show how things are made, that vacuum gets filled by speculation. Support projects that demonstrate open workflows or have credible, trackable teams behind them. And temper the rush to mob judgement: harassment that closes studios doesn’t advance accountability—it silences developers who might have legitimate defenses.

Finally, keep an eye on Postal 2 Redux. RWS’s pivot to a known quantity is predictable, but it’s also an attempt to rebuild trust. Whether that will placate long-term fans remains to be seen; nostalgia remasters are safe, but they don’t erase the larger conversation this fiasco exposed about AI, outsourcing, and fan power.

TL;DR

Postal: Bullet Paradise was canceled within a day after AI-art allegations and a furious fan backlash. Goonswarm denies wrongdoing and shared WIP files, but the reputational damage and toxic reaction ended the project. Running With Scissors is moving on to Postal 2 Redux in 2026—this episode is a blunt case study in how generative AI fears, community scrutiny, and poor communication can topple a game before it ever launches.