Sweet Baby Inc. Detected‘s Steam curator group has somehow achieved a significant milestone, now boasting over 300,000 followers, positioning itself as the sixth most followed on the platform. Coincidentally, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn has been added to the list of games the group does not recommend – something that kicked up its own bit of controversy.
The group recently gained mainstream attention, dubbed by some as “GamerGate 2.0”, following an incident where a Sweet Baby Inc. (SBI) employee, Chris Kindred, urged followers to boycott the curator group and its creator on Steam. Despite these efforts, Kindred faced repercussions for violating the Steam platform policies, leading to a ban due to targeted harassment.
While discussions about the controversy surrounding the group remains active on social media, there is no denying that the Sweet Baby Inc. Detected group has garnered growing support in an increasingly polarized and hostile online landscape.
Earlier reports noted that the Sweet Baby Inc. Detected Steam curator list had exceeded 200 thousand followers, which has grown to over 330 thousand. This growth is indicative of the increasing critical issues within the gaming community, particularly amidst an increasingly hostile debate surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in video game development.
A rift has emerged between gamers critical of Sweet Baby Inc.’s practices and other gamers and journalists who challenge such perspectives. Critics accuse the latter of overlooking crucial details, including instances of targeted harassment and statements from current and former Sweet Baby Inc. employees such as Chris Kindred and Kim Belair.
Some gamers took to social media such as X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit to quote and criticize Sweet Baby Inc. CEO Kim Belair’s remarks, advocating for strong-arm tactics in negotiations with developers stating “terrify them with the possibility of what’s gonna happen if they don’t give you what you want.”
However, there are supporters within the industry that echo Sweet Baby Inc.’s stance on perceived toxicity toward the company’s goal of fostering inclusiveness. Sam Winkler, Narrative Director at Gearbox and lead writer on Borderlands 3, echoed Sweet Baby Inc.’s narrative. On his X.com feed, Winkler defended the necessity of narrative consulting services such as Sweet Baby Inc. offers.
Just further evidence that 99.99% of the people spewing this shit have never created a single thing in their lives that they’re proud of, and the rest are just straight up bigots.
— Sam Winkler (@ThatSamWinkler) March 24, 2024
Knowing you can’t, aren’t ready, or aren’t the right person to write something is one of the chief skills for a pro writer. Ideally you have a team that can cover all your bases, but if you have a gap you hire an outside expert… just like in literally any f–ng other industry.
Winkler followed up by identifying certain groups of gamers that supposedly do not understand this necessity as “straight up bigots.” Considering how many of the critics outright display this, it might be a fairer assessment than many would like to admit.
This contention, propagated by Sweet Baby Inc. and echoed by industry figures, suggests a deeper ideological divide within the gaming community. Nevertheless, the Sweet Baby Inc. Detected Curator group’s continued growth suggests ongoing interest in its curated game recommendations and discussions around DEI in gaming – but then, all kinds of bigotry has been on the rise too.
Just as the followers of the Steam curator group substantially increased, another game that apparently has Sweet Baby Inc. in its DNA has been added to the list. Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is an action roleplaying game developed by A44 Games and published by Kepler Interactive. Sweet Baby Inc. Detected’s moderator Kabrutus (@kabrutusrambo on X.com) confirmed that it was added to the Steam curator list.
Hey guys, I added another game to my curator list. The game is called Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, and as shown in this physical copy of the Edge magazine, it involves Kim Belair (Sweet Baby Inc. CEO).
I have waited a bit before deciding to add this one because a dev from… pic.twitter.com/tXPXyC33Lo
— Kabrutus (@kabrutusrambo) March 20, 2024
In a post on X, Kabrutus alleged that the Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn devs reached out to say that they removed the parts recommended by Sweet Baby Inc. from the game. This could be seen as an attempt to avoid negative perception toward their video game as its release this 2024 approaches.
However, A44 Games allegedly refused requests for a prerelease copy of Flintlock and an interview to confirm that the parts from the Sweet Baby Inc. narrative consultation were eliminated. Hence, the game remains included in the Sweet Baby Inc. Detected Steam curator list.
Whether such initiatives are perceived as necessary progress or unwarranted imposition remains a contentious issue within the gaming industry. Are we witnessing a fundamental shift in the way diversity is approached in gaming, or is this entire scenario just going to be remembered as simply GamerGate 2.0, as much as a failure as the first round?
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is targeted for release this 2024 on the Playstation 4 and Playstation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows PC platforms.
