Founder of bankrupt Samson studio mulls how to use AI for his next attempt: 'Cutting corners in game development has a habit of coming back to bite you in the ass'

Christofer Sundberg, the founder of Samson developer Liquid Swords, has confirmed the studio's closure, saying that while the console version of the game enjoyed "much greater success" than the PC release, it "wasn't enough to get the company across the finish line."

Reports over the weekend revealed that Liquid Swords had gone bankrupt just six months after the PC release of Samson, which was followed by a console launch in September. "It's been a hell of a ride and a lot of fun, even when the circumstances gave us very little to laugh about," Sundberg wrote. "Building a studio, creating Samson and releasing it on PC and consoles took an enormous amount of work from people who cared deeply about what we were making.

"The console versions met with much greater success than the PC release. We got them out, but that success wasn't enough to get the company across the finish line. Market conditions and some bad business decisions brought us here, and I own my part in that. I can look honestly at what went wrong and still be proud of what we built."

Samson wasn't especially well received when it debuted on PCs, and while post-launch updates have tightened it up, it still holds a very "mixed" rating on Steam, where just 55% of user reviews are positive, and a 51 aggregate score on Metacritic. It wasn't a MindsEye-scale mess, but Sundberg acknowledged shortly after Samson's launch that Liquid Swords "released a game with flaws."

Sundberg said in his message that discussions about how to support Samson in the future are now underway; more interestingly, he added that, with Liquid Swords gone, he plans to open a new studio. Despite the lack of the traditional cooling-off period, it's not surprising that Sundberg is staying in the game dev biz: Prior to Liquid Swords, he was the co-founder and chief creative officer at Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios.

"We make mistakes, we learn, we fall, we rise up, we move on. That's sometimes a painful process, especially when it affects people you care about, but I refuse to give up. I never give up," Sundberg wrote.

"I'll be back at it again soon and will share more about my plans for a new studio. It will be built with the current market in mind, with a solid foundation and business decisions that give the games and the people making them room to succeed. The lessons from Liquid Swords will be part of how I build it. I still love making games."

It's far too early for anything concrete, but Sundberg told PC Gamer that "starting with what we can actually sustain" is the initial goal.

"A small, experienced team, low running costs and a game we can afford to finish without needing every sales forecast to come true," Sundberg explained. "I want room to make a wrong turn, fix it, and keep going without putting the whole company at risk."

Part of that will include using AI in the development process, "to help with prototyping, repetitive production tasks and testing," Sundberg said—although he emphasized that he doesn't see the technology as a game dev panacea.

"We're not looking to replace roles with AI or treating it as a way to save money (or make money quickly), because AI is bloody expensive too. And cutting corners in game development has a habit of coming back to bite you in the ass. You need solid game development experience to make anything that isn't slop and the proofs are already out there."

Sundberg is also aware of the PR risks attached to AI use, which he believes arise primarily from bold management pronouncements about the "AI-first" future with no consideration of what dev teams actually need or what problems are being solved.

"It feels like everyone is using AI, but hardly anyone talks openly about how," he said. "I think a lot of people are still figuring out where it helps and where it creates more work. Then the bill arrives for all those tokens burned, and they realise it wasn't quite the cheap shortcut they imagined.

"I'm positive about these tools, but 'AI-first' isn't a production plan or a business strategy. You need people who understand the work well enough to know when AI helps and when to switch it off. I'd like us to talk more openly about that."

Alongside the news of Liquid Swords' bankruptcy, there were claims that employees had gone unpaid for at least two months. We have since learned that the studio's bankruptcy means those employees will be paid by Sweden's wage guarantee. Sundberg declined to comment on the possibility of compensation beyond that guarantee, but said "there are people at Liquid Swords [he] would love to work with again," although it's way too soon for any commitments.

"I still want to make games with personality, freedom and enough action to cause a small diplomatic incident," Sundberg said. "I just want the explosions on screen to be bigger than the monthly overhead.

"There's plenty of fight left in me, but the next studio needs to work without running on stubbornness alone. I can do that too, but it's quite exhausting in the long-run."