I want room to make a wrong turn”: After Samson dev’s bankruptcy, its founder weighs how AI might shape new studio plans

Christofer Sundberg is already thinking about life after Liquid Swords

Over the weekend, Swedish reports revealed that Samson studio Liquid Swords has gone bankrupt less than a year after releasing its debut crimebrawler. Founder and former Just Cause lead Christofer Sundberg subsequently confirmed that Liquid Swords is headed for closure. However, he was also quick to make clear that he won’t be disappearing from game development, announcing plans to form a new studio that he’s now offered a bit more insight on.

“I’ll be back at it again soon and will share more about my plans for a new studio,” Sundberg wrote as part of his LinkedIn post about Liquid Swords’ impending closure. “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.”

While stressing that nothing’s in place as of right now, the dev offered a more detailed picture of the thoughts he’s had thus far in terms of how this new studio might approach development and avoid the same pitfalls as Liquid Swords in a chat with PC Gamer.

“A small, experienced team, low running costs and a game we can afford to finish without needing every sales forecast to come true,” is what Sundberg said he envisions, adding that having “room to make a wrong turn, fix it, and keep going without putting the whole company at risk” is key. Generative AI also factors into that equation, with the developer outlining that he sees it as being used “to help with prototyping, repetitive production tasks and testing”.

“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,” he expanded. “And cutting corners in game development has a habit of coming back to bite you in the ass.” Sundberg went on to specify that he’s “positive about these tools”, but doesn’t believe simply declaring you’re ‘AI-first’ is a viable production plan or business strategy. “You need people who understand the work well enough to know when AI helps and when to switch it off,” he added. “I’d like [people in the industry] to talk more openly about that.”

When myself and Julian played Samson earlier this year, I ran particularly badly afoul of the serious bugs which plagued the PC version early doors. Julian was luckier in that regard, and we both came to appreciate the distinct character offered by its debt-paying central loop, while acknowledging that both the bugs and the clear limitations the game had been built under meant that core idea didn’t achieve its full potential. Here’s hoping all of the developers who made it end up landing on their feet and aren’t left with uncertain futures while their former boss happily goes about his next chapter.