As some of you know, I have no problem calling myself a gaming journalist and content creator. Part of the channel is that I am a disabled person and a gamer. This is what I am -- Not who. While it is part of my exsperience it is not all of my experience. When you let your point of view dictate your work you lose your objectivity -- a lesson that needs to be learned by Sweet Baby Inc. Recently, I did a video on Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League and how it broke my heart. Since this is one of the games that Sweet Baby Inc worked on, I thought I would share some thoughts.
In a talk from the Game Developers Conference from 2019, Sweet Baby Inc CEO Kim Belair talks about wanting to terrify developers by the idea of not including their messaging in our games. SBI is a consultation firm, and these decisions have to be agreed to be by developers. The talk has a lot of great moments too. Belair shares her love for Nathan Drake and how she rooted for and empathized with many White Male Protagonists in games over the years. However, she also calls gamers "picky babies." The 20-second clip of "scaring devs" has now gone somewhat viral -- with many content creators launching videos and think pieces about the GDC talk.
Initially -- I actually thought this was a clever use of misinformation -- creators clipping out the inflamatory part -- while ignoring the next part of the clip where she suggests it is a joke -- I actually don't think it is -- because of the context being used. While I don't know if this is outwardly racist -- it is definitely defensive, inflammatory, and a bit unprofessional. There is a larger narrative here, and if all has to do with the track record that Sweet Baby Inc has and how that record is now forming a larger opinion about the quality of their work.
SBI is a consulting firm that has worked on several big games recently-- most notably God of War Ragnarok, Alan Wake 2, Spider-Man 2, and Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League. This is also on the tale end of a Sweet Baby Inc Detected, a Steam Community Group that compiles a list of games that Sweet Baby Inc has worked on.
This turn of events also caused a Journalist from Game Developer, Bryant Francis, to attempt a take down campaign. The strange thing about this logic listing the games they worked on being done on is something that SBi does on their own webpage. It a pretty fair conclusion to draw that the reason why the group is seen as a threat by some is the fact that many of these games are now being tagged with a "Not Recommended" Rating. Things went from bad to worse when Sweet Baby Inc employee Chris Kindred not only tried to cancel the list, but also tried to get the curator of that list cancelled as well, posting some very unprofessional and defamatory stuff via Twitter/X. While the group hasn't been taken down, its creator has deleted most of its posts.
With Sweet Baby Inc news, now spreading across the internet like wildfire, many old interviews and pieces featuring SBI's CEO Kim Belair are starting to surface. In an interview with Inclusion FX, she states that she wanted to "take over the industry." The interview from 2019 seems pretty harmless at first -- the idea of wanting to highlight other creators and writers seems like a good idea. She wants to uplift and protect others of marginalized groups and give them voices to create. Sounds Good, right?
The problem here is that tone itself is dripping with alot of malice and not so disguised ill-intent towards anyone who happens to disagree. Any criticism towards Sweet Baby Inc. is re-framed as harassment -- and a disagreement about bad writing is immediately disregarded as Racism.
A big talking point seems to point to inclusion as innovation. Writers including their own point of view or a refelction of their exsperience is noting knew. And a fresh point of view can and should lead to more interesting and varied than your typical Space Marine. However, This seems to be a case where an experience is now shaping how the narrative of chracters should be seen at the expense of the source material.
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