Steam game Postal address: Bullet Paradise has been canceled within a day of its reveal following a flurry of fan accusations that it uses AI art. While the developer initially denied the allegations, the decision to shut down the Steam-only title came from the publisher.
The Mail franchise is owned by Running with Scissors (RWS), a company based in Tucson, Arizona. Since the series began in 1997, RWS has developed all but two entries: Item 3 (2011), co-developed with Trashmasters, and Post: Brain damaged (2022), created by Hyperstrange and CreativeForge Games. On December 3, RWS announced a third externally developed project, Postal address: Bullet Paradisedescribed as a time-traveling shooter made by indie studio Goonswarm Games.
Post: Bullet Paradise canceled after poor reception of reveal
A day later, RWS announced it was canceling Postal address: Bullet Paradise. The publisher cited the overwhelmingly negative reaction from the online community as the reason for its decision, and acknowledged the widespread accusations on social media that the project uses AI-generated art. “Our trust in the development team is broken, therefore we have killed the project,” RWS said in a prepared statement, albeit without directly confirming fans' suspicions about the origins of some of the Postal address: Bullet Paradises assets.
Postal: Bullet Paradise Publisher issues a provisional apology to fans
In a separate tweet, RWS issued a provisional apology to “anyone who felt offended in the heat of the moment”, except for people who sent it death threats. Some fans criticized the phrasing, arguing that the “heat of the moment” downplayed instances where company representatives allegedly insulted users on the RWS Discord server — and in one case used a slur — while responding to AI-related allegations in the 24 hours between Postal address: Bullet Paradise notified and cancelled. “They CAN still be forgiven but whoever allowed the blatant insults needs to roll immediately,” wrote one vocal fan on Twitter.
Post: Bullet Paradise Dev Denies AI Art Accusations, Then Changes His Mind
Goonswarm Games had initially denied the AI art allegations on December 5, but simultaneously announced the decision to shut down its studio in response to them. A day later, the company issued another statement apologizing for reacting “emotionally and defensively”, saying this mistake was made because the first wave of allegations came as a shock. However, after conducting an internal review, the studio changed its mind, admitting that “the promo art appears to contain or be influenced by AI-generated material [sic].” Goonswarm insisted that all in-game assets were made by “real artists,” and said its internal review only identified issues with promotional images, albeit without elaborating.
The company's statement on December 6 still reiterated its intention to close the studio. But it also included a surprising commitment to “replace all controversial promo art in our projects with works entirely created by human artists.” This appears to be a reaction to social media users pointing out that some of Goonswarm's promotional banners used for its other games show signs of being AI-generated, such as having a sword-wielding character with a missing finger. In a statement to Polygon, Goonswarm said the closure would affect nine people in total, including both full-time developers and contractors.
While Running with Scissors is no stranger to controversy, backlash against its Mail games have usually come from the public rather than from their own fan base. The publisher said that although Postal address: Bullet Paradise not moving forward, many more plans for the franchise are currently in motion, with the first of the lot set to be officially announced in 2026.
Source: Polygon
