Liquid Swords, the Swedish developer and publisher responsible for the recently released open-world game Samson, has filed for bankruptcy. The Stockholm District Court issued the order on October 12, following reports that the studio's nearly 30 employees have not been paid since August.
Founded in 2020 by Christofer Sundberg, a former co-founder of Avalanche Studios who led the development of the Just Cause series, Liquid Swords released its first and only title, Samson, on Steam on April 8, 2026. The game, which was heavily influenced by Grand Theft Auto, garnered mixed reviews. On Metacritic, Samson holds a score of 51 percent, with critics and players frequently citing numerous bugs and performance issues at launch. Sundberg himself issued an apology on Steam, acknowledging the game's state as "unacceptable" and promising to address the problems in future updates.
Despite the studio's financial troubles, the team continued to work on Samson. The game received an update on Steam on October 8, and was also released for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles on September 21. However, the future of these updates is uncertain.
According to reports from Swedish site Breakit, the administrator assigned to Liquid Swords, Cirio Law, has put the developer and its assets, including Samson, up for sale. A bidding window for these assets is set to close on October 21. Neither Liquid Swords nor Sundberg have publicly addressed the bankruptcy filing on their social media channels.