Christofer Sundberg confirmed on X on Oct. 19 that Liquid Swords, the Swedish studio behind “Samson: A Tyndalston Story,” is closing. The post came a week after the Stockholm District Court declared the studio bankrupt on Oct. 12, and roughly six months after “Samson” first launched on PC.
“Liquid Swords is closing. Samson did far better on consoles, but it wasn’t enough to save the studio,” Sundberg wrote. The game reached PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on Sept. 21, more than five months after its rocky April debut on PC.
The Details Behind The Liquid Swords Studio Closure
Sundberg launched Liquid Swords in Stockholm in 2020. Before that, he co-founded Avalanche Studios, where he oversaw the “Just Cause” series. “Samson” turned out to be the only game his new studio would ship.
The open-world crime game released on Steam and the Epic Games Store on April 8 and ran into trouble right away. It holds a 51 on Metacritic, according to Kotaku, with critics and players pointing to bugs and performance issues. Sundberg addressed the problems in an apology posted on Steam, calling the game’s launch state “unacceptable.”
Sales never caught up. A bidding document from court-appointed administrator Cirio puts total sales at 151,900 copies, TrueAchievements reports. Staff reportedly went unpaid starting in August, and Swedish business outlet Breakit reported that employees themselves petitioned for the bankruptcy. All 27 remaining employees are being let go, and their unpaid wages are expected to be covered by Sweden’s state wage guarantee.
What It Means For Samson Players
The team kept working even without paychecks. “Samson” got a Steam update on Oct. 8, just four days before the bankruptcy order. In his post, Sundberg said he’s proud of the team and that “we’re discussing continued support for Samson,” but he didn’t say who would handle future updates or when. He signed off with “More soon.”
What’s Next
Bidding on Liquid Swords closes Oct. 21. Trustee Karl Björlin of Cirio would prefer to sell the business as a whole, according to Breakit, and Sundberg himself has been named as a possible buyer. There’s a catch: the “Samson” IP was pledged as collateral on earlier loans, so it isn’t yet clear whether the game’s rights will be included in a sale. NetEase, which invested in the studio in 2022, is reportedly among its major creditors.
Sundberg has also said he plans to open a new studio, PC Gamer reports. Whether “Samson” follows him there depends on who ends up holding the rights.
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