Politics-Free ‘Black Myth’ Sells 10 Million In Three Days As DEI Games ‘Dustborn’ And ‘Concord’ Flop

[rebelmouse-proxy-image https://thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screenshot-2024-08-29-at-12.11.35 PM-1200x675.png crop_info="%7B%22image%22%3A%20%22https%3A//thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screenshot-2024-08-29-at-12.11.35%5Cu202fPM-1200x675.png%22%7D" expand=1]The failures of 'Concord' and 'Dustborn' offer game developers a stark lesson: Nobody wants to buy these over-the-top woke disasters.

Woke gaming company Sweet Baby Inc. blames 'far-right' conspiracies for backlash from DEI projects



Video game writers accused of injecting diversity, equity, and inclusion narratives in mainstream titles have blamed backlash from their projects on the "far-right."

The company, called Sweet Baby Inc., has dominated headlines in tech circles after a community of gamers formed a group to point out which projects the company has worked on.

The gripe among video game players has been that Sweet Baby Inc. painfully adds DEI storylines into popular games like Spider-Man 2 and God of War Ragnarok.

At the same time, cofounder David Bedard has declared that backlash from the gaming community is part of a far-right harassment campaign.

"For the past 4 months, my company (Sweet Baby Inc) has been targeted by a far-right harassment campaign / conspiracy theory," Bedard wrote on LinkedIn. "This is a tough situation for me, my co-founder Kim Belair, our entire team, and our collaborators. More than the frustrations caused by the harassment, and the precautions we’re putting in place as a result of that, the toughness comes from the fact that this entire campaign is based on misinformation. Misinformation so wild and left-field (or right-field, I guess) that it’s impossible to even engage with it to combat it," Bedard added.

The misinformation, the company has alleged, comes in the form of claims that Sweet Baby Inc.'s predominant work is pushing DEI narratives. Cofounder Belair argued that "people can’t imagine that we might do anything else but DEI. ... They can’t imagine that we’re just talented writers."

"We spoke with press to clear things up about exactly what we do, and how we do it," Bedard continued, as first reported by That Park Place. "Adding our voices to this conversation felt necessary, because what is happening to us is something that has happened before in this industry, and will happen again. It happens to not just us, but also to countless other devs, players, journalists, and creators."

Sweet Baby Inc Co-Founder, David B\u00e9dard speaks out on LinkedIn post. \n\nI would love for the opportunity to interview them on their processes and mission.
— (@)

This consistent position is a peculiar one for the self-described "inclusion-focused narrative and consultation company."

The company's site notes that its consultation process includes a "multitude of perspectives" while bringing in "diverse voices to solve diverse problems." Its website also states that the company provides "Cultural Consultation, Sensitivity And Inclusivity Reading, Risk and Opportunities Assessment, and more."

In addition to boasting that it can "assemble and lead" teams of "new and marginalized voices," the company also provides resources for "new and marginalized talent" with the potential to "change [the] industry if given the proper support."

While individual cases of misconduct toward the company are likely present, and of course inexcusable if elevating to illegal harassment, the overall sentiment from the gaming community is that they simply don't like DEI-infused video games.

The company has even seen criticisms from X owner Elon Musk and recent UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland.

"Sweet Baby Inc is an evil blight on the gaming industry. All they do is make games terrible and try to cancel people. They cannot go broke soon enough!" Musk stated.

"Sean why aren't you in the UFC game"\nYears later being a top contender\n"Wow your stats are so low"\n\nWell you guys, the video game industry is leftist cesspool. I am the definition of what these people hate....\n\nBUT! I I take it as a compliment:) thanks.
— (@)

"Check in on your marginalized colleagues, and friends in this industry," Bedard said. "Make sure they're okay. Let them know that they are loved, that they are appreciated, that they are welcome and that they are talented. Tell them you're not going to let this kind of hate push them out of this industry. Tell them that things like this won't scare all of their community away — that they are protected, and that they have a place here, now more than ever," he concluded.

Bedard later edited his post to note that he had locked the comments section due to the presence of a "hate mob."

Sweet Baby Inc. and its employees have declined several requests for comments on a range of issues related to the ongoing topic.

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Video game developers take part in organized scream for 'diversity' and 'marginalized people'



Video game developers and designers took part in an organized event in which they screamed in unison for upwards of 30 seconds to express discontent with criticisms from fans and the gaming industry as a whole.

Among the reasons for their screams, participants stated frustration with the industry, a priority of sales over passion, and the treatment of diverse and "marginalized individuals" who feel harassed.

The scream took place at the 2024 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, where the event was organized by Caryl Shaw from Epic Games and Fortnite Festival designer Scott Jon Siegel.

"The game industry is falling apart around us, and we're all flocking to San Francisco for a week to pretend like this is fine," the event page read. "Let's take a minute where we all stop pretending, and express just how it feels to be a game developer in 2024. Join us for a collective moment of catharsis, camaraderie, and caterwauling. Let's descend upon Yerba Buena and when the clock strikes noon, have ourselves a nice big GDScream."

Siegal revealed to PC Gamer that the event was organized in part in response to the controversy over gaming narrative developer Sweet Baby Inc., a company accused of incessantly injecting diversity into video games.

Video game developers attending the Game Developers Conference participate in public scream.
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The event was covered by multiple gaming outlets, including IGN's Rebekah Valentine, who described it as a response to the growing discontent among game developers, who are facing mass layoffs and alleged coordinated harassment. Specifically, she noted that marginalized individuals were the ones being harassed.

Siegal told IGN that he is "always slightly screaming inside for a lot of personal reasons, but this is an industry that is built on passion."

"I loved games so much and I found that I had this passion for building them and building experiences that brought delight to other people. It's an industry that really feeds on that passion and takes advantage of that passion, and that's broken my heart over and over again ... and I just wanted to scream about it," he added.

"When you have this many people coming together in the game industry, going to all these events, having all these people attend presentations and awards ceremonies where not necessarily everyone is even mentioning the layoffs, even mentioning where the culture is currently, it all feels absurd," Siegel also told PC Gamer.

The event reportedly had around 50 people, with Siegal and others expressing that they feel forced to act like "everything is fine" in their industry.

Developers vented their frustration at the game industry's layoffs in a long scream at #GDC2024.\n\nGDScream is a "collective moment of catharsis, camaraderie, and caterwauling": https://t.co/WanmY9G0Zq\n\n#games #gamenews #videogames #GDC\n\nVideo by @TenaciousChi
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An anonymous game developer, according to IGN, took part in the scream after talking "about diversity in games."

"We were all marginalized people, and we're all looking at each other going, 'Yeah it sucks, for some reason we have to do this, and we cannot not do this, and I don't know how to deal with the obligation of having to do this just because I'm the person that I am.'"

Another attendee and developer, Jimmy Chi, expressed that his reasons behind screaming were related to job losses, which caused colleagues to lose houses but also lose visas or be deported.

"Meanwhile, record profits, all the time," he noted.

Other employees at publisher Tender Claws spoke of feeling "hopeless" and "angry" and urged for unionization.

"We screamed because we're angry. But we're also here because we really want people to know that you don't just have to be angry. You don't just have to feel hopeless ... I think it's really, really urgent in this time that people use the leverage that we have, that we unionize," said programmer Robin LoBuglio.

Gamers have grown tired of forceful DEI injections into games, but it seems diversity-centric gaming employees are not aligned with their customers on this issue. Developers at an individual level appear to feel attacked by criticisms of forced DEI — as shown by their reactions online and at events like this — but their focus predominately is on their treatment from parent companies and employers.

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Sean Strickland and Elon Musk call out woke gaming company Sweet Baby Inc as 'leftist cesspool' and 'evil blight'



Former UFC Champion Sean Strickland and X owner Elon Musk have entered into the arena of the biggest controversy in the video game industry in years.

With diversity, equity, and inclusion narratives forcefully injected into gaming in recent years, gamers have finally started to pinpoint the culprits. One such company, Sweet Baby Inc., was recently accused of going after gamers when one of the company's employees allegedly encouraged followers to mass report a community that was forming in opposition to DEI in gaming.

The gaming community's apparent crime was simply pointing out which games Sweet Baby Inc. had worked on as a way of warning fellow gamers that such titles were likely ripe with diversity-driven narratives. Employee Chris Kindred allegedly said that this constituted "harassment."

Musk recently commented on the phenomenon of woke gaming in response to an episode of "The Matt Walsh Show." Walsh's podcast not only mentioned Sweet Baby Inc. but also a developer who works under the umbrella of publishing giant Electronic Arts. It was noted that a developer named Danielle Lalonders had said that it is sometimes "hard to work with white people" because they often don't realize they are committing a "microaggression."

"Video games need to get rid of the woke bs," Musk wrote. "Getting lectured with tedious propaganda is not why people play games!"

Days later, Musk commented on the aforementioned Sweet Baby Inc. employee, Kindred, who was again accused of going after a different gamer for "harassment."

"Sweet Baby Inc is an evil blight on the gaming industry. All they do is make games terrible and try to cancel people. They cannot go broke soon enough!" Musk added.

@stillgray Sweet Baby Inc is an evil blight on the gaming industry. All they do is make games terrible and try to cancel people. \n\nThey cannot go broke soon enough!
— (@)

Strickland, the outspoken former middleweight champion, took the opportunity to quote Musk's comments and use them as a way to show that Sweet Baby Inc. is a microcosm of his issues with the gaming industry.

"'Sean why aren't you in the UFC game,'" Strickland wrote to emulate an exchange he has had. "Years later being a top contender 'Wow your stats are so low,'" he continued.

"Well you guys, the video game industry is [a] leftist cesspool. I am the definition of what these people hate... BUT! I take it as a compliment:) thanks," he added.

"Sean why aren't you in the UFC game"\nYears later being a top contender\n"Wow your stats are so low"\n\nWell you guys, the video game industry is leftist cesspool. I am the definition of what these people hate....\n\nBUT! I I take it as a compliment:) thanks.
— (@)

Neither Sweet Baby Inc. nor employee Kindred have replied to requests for comments, however Sweet Baby Inc.'s founder, Kim Belair, has made public statements about the issue.

"People can’t imagine that we might do anything else but DEI," she told website Kotaku. "They can’t imagine that we’re just talented writers, that we’re talented narrative designers and that people are hiring us because we tell good stories, because we collaborate well, and because we write video games. They have to diminish our accomplishments to our identities."

However, a Brazilian gamer called Kabrutus — who was allegedly targeted by Sweet Baby Inc.'s employee — told Blaze News that gamers are intentionally silenced.

"I think that they just want to silence anyone who doesn't like what they do. They even tried to get me banned on Steam and lose my 13-year-old account."

The gamer also referred to a statement posted on the group's page, which noted that it was not, by any means, "a group that is trying to 'kill' [Sweet Baby Inc.] or even convince people to not buy any game that they've worked on."

Sweet Baby Inc. and its employee did not immediately respond to further request for comment regarding Strickland and Musk's statements.

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Meet The Leftist Consultants Spoiling Beloved Video Games With In-Your-Face DEI

If Sweet Baby Inc.'s fetid leftist touch is associated with a game, it must be boycotted.