Sweet Baby Inc Detected Controversy

Overview

Sweet Baby Inc Detected Controversy refers to a Steam group or page that was made to identify which games the video game narrative consultant group Sweet Baby Inc had consulted on, attempting to help players avoid them. In late February and early March 2024, a controversy surrounding it emerged after two employees with Sweet Baby Inc called attention to the group and tried to have it removed. The aftermath resulting from the initial callout subsequently reignited tensions in the gaming industry held over from GamerGate with many critics of the consulting company calling for the destruction of Sweet Baby Inc.

Background

On February 26th, 2024, Steam user Kabrutus^[1] created a Steam Group page called "Sweet Baby Inc detected" that cataloged any game that was proven to have hired Sweet Baby Inc to consult on it, talking about the company and those games in a negative connotation.

This was subsequently picked up on by the Sweet Baby Inc employee Chris Kindred, who posted on their X^[2] page three days later, on February 29th, calling out the page and claiming it was in breach of the code of conduct (shown below). Kindred notably called for people to report the group and its creator on Steam.

This call-out of Sweet Baby Inc wasn't the first, as earlier in February, Sweet Baby Inc found itself under fire in regards to the Suicide Squad game, which angered many of fans of the Arkhamverse games that Kill The Justice League takes place in.

This anger at the game found its way back to Sweet Baby Inc, with many content creators and users singling them out and claiming that games made in collaboration with the company are doomed to be worse than they would have been without it. This sentiment is echoed in a TikTok uploaded on February 1st, 2024, by TikToker TheTruthGuy18f,^[3] which received over 80,000 views in one month (shown below).

Online Reactions

As news began to spread about Sweet Baby Inc employees casting a spotlight and trying to actively get the Steam Group shut down in late February 2024, a Streisand Effect began to take place, with more people becoming aware of the consulting group as the number of people calling out Sweet Baby Inc began to increase rapidly.

Some users who had been upset with Sweet Baby Inc for some time were quick to point fingers at individual employees, as seen in the multiple screenshots arranged and uploaded together by X^[4] user @Mangalawyer on March 2nd, 2024, in which an employee of Sweet Baby Inc, known online as @Legobutts, had their mission statement at Sweet Baby Inc contrasted against several posts made by them in the past (shown below).

With the actions of Sweet Baby Inc being seen by the gaming collective online, callbacks to GamerGate also began to be made by creators online. For example, on March 2nd, X^[5] user and independent artist @kukuruyo uploaded a comic utilizing Vivian James (the "Pro-GamerGate Icon") as a contrast against a representation of Sweet Baby Inc, who quickly turns himself into a Nazi as the punchline (shown below).

The controversy also garnered numerous discussion videos, memes and other posts on TikTok in early March 2024 as it spread online (examples shown below).

Search Interest

External References