The founder of the bankrupt Liquid Swords plans to open a new studio and use AI in game development
The founder of Liquid Swords, Christofer Sundberg, confirmed the closure of the studio that released the action game Samson. Despite the company's bankruptcy, he intends to remain in the gaming industry and is already considering forming a new team.
As Sundberg explained in an interview with PC Gamer, the console versions of Samson performed significantly better than the PC version, yet it was not enough to save Liquid Swords. He attributed the bankruptcy to the challenging market conditions and poor business decisions, also acknowledging his own mistakes.
According to Sundberg, in creating his next studio, he intends to learn from the experience of Liquid Swords. He plans to assemble a small team of experienced developers, minimize ongoing expenses, and avoid overly optimistic financial forecasts. His goal is to build a business that can withstand a commercial failure of a future game without the risk of bankruptcy.
Sundberg intends to use artificial intelligence in the development of future projects, particularly for prototyping, automating repetitive tasks, and testing. However, he emphasized that he does not see AI as a tool to replace employees or as a guaranteed way to cut costs.
To recap, Liquid Swords was founded in 2020. Its debut game Samson was released on PC in April 2026 and reached consoles in September. The release was marred by technical issues and criticism from players. Samson currently has mixed reviews on Steam, and the PC version has a Metacritic score of 51.
Liquid Swords' financial difficulties began even before the release. In 2025, the studio cut about half of its staff, and in October 2026, it was declared bankrupt. According to the Swedish outlet Breakit, company employees went unpaid for at least two months and initiated the bankruptcy proceedings themselves. It is expected that their wages will be covered by a state wage guarantee.
Liquid Swords' assets, including the rights to Samson, are now up for sale. Preliminary bids from potential buyers are being accepted until October 21. Meanwhile, Sundberg stated that the possibility of further support for the game is still under discussion.
Before founding Liquid Swords, Sundberg was a co-founder and creative director of Avalanche Studios, known for the Just Cause series.