Research: GamerGate 2.0 — Sweet Baby Inc, the Steam Curator Movement, and the Gaming Industry DEI Fallout (2023-2026)
From: Lurk More
Contents 88 sections
For Book 3: Lurk More
Compiled: March 9, 2026 Purpose: Comprehensive, sourced research document for chapter material on the “GamerGate 2.0” controversy. Every claim is sourced or marked as disputed. This is research, not prose.
Table of Contents
- Sweet Baby Inc — The Company
- The Kiwi Farms Origin and Early Backlash (October 2023)
- The Steam Curator Movement (January-March 2024)
- The Streisand Effect — Chris Kindred, ResetEra, and the Blowup
- Kim Belair’s Statements and GDC Talks
- The Journalism Angle
- Game Flops and Commercial Fallout (2024)
- Xbox/Microsoft — The Great Contraction
- Sony PlayStation — Layoffs, Closures, and Concord
- Industry-Wide Layoffs and Studio Closures
- The Industry-Wide DEI Pullback (2024-2026)
- Key Figures and Direct Quotes
- Chronological Timeline
- What’s Verified vs. What’s Disputed
1. Sweet Baby Inc — The Company
Founding and Structure
- Founded: 2018, Montreal, Canada
- Founders: Kim Belair (CEO, former Ubisoft scriptwriter) and David Bédard (COO, former Ubisoft product manager)
- Size: 16 employees as of April 2024
- Nature: Narrative development and consultation studio
Source: Sweet Baby Inc. — Wikipedia; Marketplace, “This video game company wants to make the industry safer for marginalized people,” September 27, 2021
What They Actually Do
Sweet Baby Inc. offers four service categories:
- Writing — cinematics, dialogue, UI/UX writing
- Narrative — story pitches, world building, character creation, narrative design
- Representation — cultural consultation, sensitivity and inclusivity reading, risk and opportunities assessment
- Development — full-scale game development and interactive fiction
Their self-described mission: “to tell better, more empathetic stories while diversifying and enriching the video games industry.”
Source: Sweet Baby Inc. official website; PC Gamer, “A company called Sweet Baby Inc. has become the target of ‘anti-woke’ gamers… an industry-standard service that’s been normal for years,” March 2024
Confirmed Client List and Games
Major confirmed clients include: Valve, Xbox, 2K, Electronic Arts, Rocksteady, Santa Monica Studio, Square Enix, Ubisoft, Warner Bros. Games, Wizards of the Coast.
Games with confirmed Sweet Baby Inc. involvement (from credits and public acknowledgments):
- God of War Ragnarök (2022) — Santa Monica Studio — narrative consultation
- Alan Wake 2 (2023) — Remedy Entertainment — narrative consultation on Saga Anderson character
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (2023) — Insomniac Games — script writing and rewriting
- Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (2024) — Rocksteady/Warner Bros.
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Dawn of Ragnarök DLC — Ubisoft
- Sable (2021) — Shedworks
- Unknown 9: Awakening (2024) — Reflector Entertainment/Bandai Namco
- South of Midnight (TBA) — Compulsion Games/Xbox
- Hogwarts Legacy (2023) — Avalanche Software/Warner Bros.
- Gears Tactics (2020) — Splash Damage/Xbox
- Goodbye Volcano High (2023) — KO_OP
- Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance (2021) — Tuque Games
Source: MobyGames — Sweet Baby Inc. credits database; Steam curator page; NeoGAF compiled list
Spider-Man 2 Clarification
Sweet Baby team member clarified their role: “We helped write and rewrite numerous character arcs. None of it was related to diversity or anything like that. It was literally about ‘What is the best Spider-Man story we can tell?’”
Alan Wake 2 Clarification
Game director Kyle Rowley denied that Sweet Baby Inc. was responsible for making Saga Anderson (a Black woman) one of the game’s dual protagonists. The character decision was Remedy’s own.
Source: GosuGamers, “Deep dive: What’s going on with Sweet Baby Inc. and GamerGate 2.0?”; Kotaku, “Sweet Baby Inc. Doesn’t Do What Some Gamers Think It Does,” March 9, 2024
2. The Kiwi Farms Origin and Early Backlash (October 2023)
In October 2023, a user on Kiwi Farms (a web forum known for tracking and documenting internet figures) described Sweet Baby Inc.’s involvement with Alan Wake 2 as “possibly one of the biggest scandals in gaming history.”
This was the first notable instance of organized attention on the company. The Kiwi Farms thread documented SBI’s involvement across multiple game credits.
According to Kim Belair, a “small degree of harassment was directed towards the company” following this initial attention, which increased significantly in January 2024.
Source: Sweet Baby Inc. — Wikipedia; GosuGamers, “Deep dive: What’s going on with Sweet Baby Inc. and GamerGate 2.0?”
3. The Steam Curator Movement (January-March 2024)
The Curator List
- Created: January 29, 2024
- Creator: Steam user Kabrutus (Brazilian gamer, X handle @kabrutusrambo)
- Name: “Sweet Baby Inc detected”
- Purpose: List all Steam games that Sweet Baby Inc. consulted on, using publicly available credit information
- Catalyst: The launch of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (January 30, 2024) inspired Kabrutus to create the page
Source: The Shortcut, “Exclusive interview with Sweet Baby Inc. detected creator,” 2024; Game8, “Sweet Baby Inc. Employees Fail Spectacularly at Trying to Get Steam Curator Banned”
Growth
- The list was initially small and unnoticed
- February 28, 2024: The list was noticed by the KotakuInAction subreddit (the GamerGate hub)
- Early March 2024: Chris Kindred’s tweets triggered the Streisand Effect
- By March 2024: surpassed 300,000 followers, becoming the sixth most-followed Steam Curator Group
- By April 2024: exceeded 355,000 followers
- As of November 2025: over 330,000 followers (some attrition, but still one of the most-followed curators on Steam)
Source: The Shortcut, “Sweet Baby Inc. detected has surpassed 300,000 followers on Steam”; Steam Curator page
Valve/Steam’s Response
Valve took a largely hands-off approach:
- The curator list was permitted to remain active
- Steam forced the closure of the Discussion and Comments tabs of the group (to limit harassment vectors)
- Valve warned the group’s moderators that content on their platform may result in removal, forcing additional moderation steps
- The curator itself was never removed or banned
Kabrutus responded: “It is with great pride that I say: BASED VALVE! Thank you Valve for respecting your players freedom of choice.”
Source: Game Developer, “Why are Valve and Discord permitting harassment against Sweet Baby Inc.?,” Bryant Francis, March 2024; Steam community discussions
DEI Detected — Expansion
In April 2024, Kabrutus launched deidetected.com, expanding the tracking beyond Sweet Baby Inc. to cover other DEI consulting firms in gaming. The website lists games by multiple consulting firms and also promotes “DEI-Free” games. Kabrutus announced plans to expand to movies, TV series, and anime.
Source: Geeks + Gamers, “Kabrutus Launches DEI Detected Website,” April 2024; DEI Detected website
4. The Streisand Effect — Chris Kindred, ResetEra, and the Blowup
Chris Kindred’s Tweets (Early March 2024)
Chris Kindred, a Sweet Baby Inc. writer/designer, discovered the “Sweet Baby Inc detected” curator group and took the following actions on X (formerly Twitter):
- Accused the group of harassment
- Tagged the creator and Steam
- Said: “Even with the discriminatory language filed off, the group itself still fails the code of conduct”
- Asked followers to “report the f*** out of this group”
- Asked followers to report the creator “since he loves his account so much”
Consequences:
- Kindred was banned from X for six days for breaching policies on targeted harassment
- The curator list’s follower count exploded (classic Streisand Effect)
- Kindred later deleted the posts
- On March 8, 2024 (seven days after Akira Toriyama’s death), Kindred tweeted that “Toriyama gave us the best and worst black characters in anime in the same series” — a tweet widely perceived as disrespectful given the timing
- Kindred was reportedly later fired from Sweet Baby Inc.
Source: That Park Place, “Sweet Baby Inc. Employee Begs Followers To Report Steam Curator,” March 2024; Know Your Meme, “Sweet Baby Inc Detected Controversy”; SmashjT, “Chris Kindred Has Been Fired from Sweet Baby Inc!”
The ResetEra Thread
ResetEra, a gaming forum known for progressive moderation, created a thread titled: “GamerGate 2.0? Chuds furious about a consulting company named ‘Sweet Baby Inc’ which overviews scripts to make sure nothing offensive was written.”
The thread title itself became a flashpoint — critics cited it as evidence of the gaming community’s tendency to dismiss any consumer criticism as bigotry, while supporters argued it accurately described the movement’s origins.
Source: ResetEra thread, “GamerGate 2.0? Chuds furious about a consulting company named ‘Sweet Baby Inc’…”
Elon Musk Weighs In
On March 16, 2024, Elon Musk tweeted: “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!”
This was in response to Chris Kindred’s attempted cancellation of streamer Asmongold after he was featured as an official character in Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma II.
Source: Elon Musk, X post, March 16, 2024
Asmongold Amplification
Popular Twitch streamer Asmongold (2.5M+ Twitch followers) interviewed Kabrutus in early March 2024, giving the movement significant additional visibility. Both agreed they “just wanted to play good games” and criticized what they saw as “heavy-handed” imposition of DEI agendas.
Source: Delarroz.com, “Asmongold & The Steam ‘Sweet Baby Inc detected’ Curator Kabrutus,” March 6, 2024
5. Kim Belair’s Statements and GDC Talks
GDC 2019 — “Now You See Me: Representation as Innovation”
Kim Belair’s 2019 GDC presentation is the single most cited piece of evidence by SBI critics. Key quotes:
The “terrify” quote: “If you’re a creative working in AAA which I did for many, many years: put this stuff up to your higher-ups. And if they don’t see the value in what you’re asking for when you ask for consultancy, when you ask for research: go have a coffee with your marketing team and just terrify them with the possibility if they don’t give you what you want.”
On company mission: “We do narrative development in games and kind of beyond and we try to bring inclusion, diversity, and new ideas kind of to the industry.”
On sensitivity services: “We need sensitivity readers. We need risk assessment. And these are like, again, important services that I literally like list on every PDF that I send out to be like, ‘Hey, I can do risk assessment and sensitivity reading.’”
Source: GDC Vault, “Now You See Me: Representation as Innovation”; Niche Gamer, “Sweet Baby CEO: ’terrify them’ if game devs don’t push diversity” (archived; original removed)
Belair’s Response to the Backlash
In later statements, Belair characterized the anti-SBI movement as coming together under the “rallying cry of far-right supremacy.”
Co-founder David Bédard described the company as the target of a “far-right harassment campaign.”
Source: XOXO Festival, “Kim Belair” (keynote talk), August 2024; That Park Place, “Sweet Baby Inc. Co-Founder David Bédard Cries Victim,” 2024
6. The Journalism Angle
The Pattern (Same as GG1)
The gaming press covered the Sweet Baby Inc controversy through an almost identical lens to GamerGate 1:
- Frame the entire movement as harassment — treat consumer criticism and actual harassment as one phenomenon
- Refuse to engage with the substantive claims — never investigate whether DEI consulting actually improved or degraded game quality
- Interview the targets sympathetically — Kotaku, Wired, Game Developer all ran pieces centered on SBI employees’ experience of harassment
- Label critics — ResetEra’s thread title (“chuds”) and multiple outlets using “conspiracy theory” framing
- Trigger counter-backlash — journalists covering the story then received harassment, confirming the original framing
Key Journalism Pieces
Kotaku: Alyssa Mercante published a piece on March 9, 2024 defending Sweet Baby Inc. Mercante said the piece drew a harassment campaign towards her.
Source: Kotaku, “Sweet Baby Inc. Doesn’t Do What Some Gamers Think It Does,” Alyssa Mercante, March 9, 2024
Game Developer: Bryant Francis wrote “Why are Valve and Discord permitting harassment against Sweet Baby Inc.?” framing the Steam curator list and Discord server as harassment infrastructure. He urged Steam and Discord to clarify policies.
PC Gamer: Described SBI’s consultancy as “an industry-standard service that’s been normal for years.”
Source: PC Gamer, March 2024
MobileSyrup: Headline — “More games now include diverse characters, so losers are trying to start ‘Gamergate 2’” (editorial, March 16, 2024)
Northeastern University: “The games industry is in the middle of Gamergate 2.0. Experts explain why harassment and vitriol hurt everyone who loves games” (November 25, 2024)
Source: Northeastern Global News, “The games industry is in the middle of Gamergate 2.0,” November 25, 2024
The Shortcut: More balanced coverage, noting that Sweet Baby Inc’s Wikipedia page was “missing key facts” and publishing exclusive interviews with Kabrutus.
Source: The Shortcut, multiple articles, 2024
7. Game Flops and Commercial Fallout (2024)
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (January 2024)
- Developer: Rocksteady (makers of the Arkham Batman trilogy)
- Publisher: Warner Bros. Games
- SBI involvement: Confirmed (narrative consultation)
- Performance: Contributed to a $200 million hit to Warner Bros.’ games division revenue
- Steam concurrent players: Peaked at ~13,500 on launch, dropped to fewer than 900 by February 23, 2024
- Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav called sales “disappointing”
- Warner Bros. games revenue declined 41% in Q2 2024 vs Q2 2023, primarily due to Suicide Squad
Source: Bloomberg, “‘Suicide Squad,’ Warner Bros.’s $200 Million Flop, Haunts the Gaming Industry,” June 6, 2024; Shacknews, “Warner Bros. says Suicide Squad sales have ‘fallen short of our expectations’”; WCCFtech, “Warner Bros. Games Revenue See A 41% Decrease In Q2 2024”
Concord (August 2024)
- Developer: Firewalk Studios
- Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
- SBI involvement: Not directly confirmed, but became part of the “DEI flop” narrative
- Performance: One of the worst launches in PlayStation history
- Steam peak concurrent players: Under 700 on launch day
- Total estimated sales: Fewer than 30,000 copies across PS5 and PC
- Reported development cost: $400 million (disputed; claimed by podcast host Colin Moriarty citing unnamed developer, pushed back on by PlayStation developers)
- Servers shut down: September 3, 2024 — two weeks after launch
- Studio closure: Firewalk Studios closed October 2024, 172 employees laid off
- Second shortest-living online game ever (after The Culling 2’s eight-day lifespan)
Source: Variety, “PlayStation Closes Firewalk Studios After Shutting Down ‘Concord’ Game,” October 2024; Wikipedia, “Concord (video game)”; PlayStation Blog, “An important update on Concord,” September 3, 2024
Unknown 9: Awakening (October 2024)
- Developer: Reflector Entertainment (owned by Bandai Namco)
- Publisher: Bandai Namco
- SBI involvement: Confirmed
- Performance: Studio CEO admitted it was a “failure”
- Steam peak concurrent players: 285
- Consequence: 18% of workforce laid off within a month of release; a second round of layoffs followed; next original project cancelled
- January 2025: Bandai Namco CCO confirmed no sequels
Source: PC Gamer, “Action adventure game Unknown 9: Awakening was a ‘failure,’ says developer,” 2024; Push Square, “Unknown 9: Awakening Dev Reflector Entertainment Confirms Round of Layoffs”
Dustborn (August 2024)
- Developer: Red Thread Games
- Publisher: Quantic Dream
- SBI involvement: Not confirmed; became part of the broader “DEI flop” conversation
- Performance: Steam peak concurrent players of 83; approximately $260,000 estimated Steam revenue
- Critical reception: 47% positive from critics (OpenCritic)
- Developer statement: Condemned “tidal wave of hate and abuse” directed at them
Source: Wikipedia, “Dustborn”; Steam store page; The Federalist, “Politics-Free Black Myth Sells 10 Million In Three Days As DEI Games Dustborn And Concord Flop,” September 2, 2024
Star Wars Outlaws (August 2024)
- Developer: Massive Entertainment
- Publisher: Ubisoft
- SBI involvement: Not confirmed, but Ubisoft is a known SBI client
- Performance: 1 million copies in first month — well below expectations (Assassin’s Creed Mirage hit 5 million in three months)
- Impact on Ubisoft: Stock hit 10-year low; Assassin’s Creed Shadows delayed; Reuters attributed share drop to “muted reception”
- CEO Yves Guillemot blamed Star Wars brand being “in a bit of choppy waters”
Source: CNBC, “Ubisoft shares skyrocket after report Tencent, Guillemot family considering buyout”; Star Wars News Net, “‘Star Wars Outlaws’ Sold 1 Million Copies In One Month”; Game Developer, “Three reasons Star Wars Outlaws might have undersold”
The Counter-Example: Black Myth: Wukong (August 2024)
- Developer: Game Science (Chinese studio)
- Publisher: Game Science
- SBI involvement: Sweet Baby Inc. reportedly approached Game Science during development; the company declined
- Performance: 10 million copies sold in three days; 18 million in two weeks; ~$800 million revenue in first two weeks against a $70 million development cost
- Peak concurrent Steam players: 3 million
- Pre-launch controversy: IGN reported streamers were given guidelines asking them not to include “politics, violence, nudity, feminist propaganda”
- DEI narrative: Became the poster child for “what happens when you say no to DEI consulting”
Source: Gematsu, “Black Myth: Wukong sales top 18 million, expansion in development,” September 2024; CGTN, “‘Black Myth: Wukong’ sets China AAA game sales record at $961m,” September 2024; Distractify, “Controversy Hangs Over ‘Black Myth: Wukong’”
Ubisoft’s Broader Crisis
- Stock fell ~40% in 2024, market cap ~€1.8 billion ($2 billion)
- Stock hit lowest point since 2015 after Star Wars Outlaws
- October 2024: Bloomberg reported Tencent and the Guillemot family were considering a buyout/taking company private
- Shares jumped 33.97% on the buyout report — biggest single-day gain since the company went public in 1996
- Tencent held 9.2% voting rights; Guillemot family held ~20.5%
Source: CNBC, “Ubisoft shares skyrocket 33% after report Tencent, Guillemot family considering buyout,” October 4, 2024; Bloomberg, October 4, 2024
8. Xbox/Microsoft — The Great Contraction
January 2024 — The Mass Layoff
Three months after completing its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft laid off 1,900 employees across Xbox, Activision Blizzard, and ZeniMax teams — approximately 8.6% of Microsoft’s ~22,000 gaming employees.
Phil Spencer’s internal memo cited “an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure” and “identified areas of overlap.”
Blizzard president Mike Ybarra and co-founder Allen Adham departed.
Source: TechCrunch, “Microsoft lays off 1,900 employees in Activision Blizzard and Xbox divisions,” January 25, 2024; CNBC, “Microsoft lays off 1,900 workers, nearly 9% of gaming division”; Variety, “Microsoft Layoffs: 1,900 Cut From Activision Blizzard, Xbox”
May 2024 — Studio Closures
Microsoft closed four studios under the Bethesda umbrella:
- Tango Gameworks — Created The Evil Within, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and Hi-Fi Rush. The Hi-Fi Rush closure was particularly controversial because the game had launched to critical acclaim and attracted 3 million players.
- Arkane Austin — Created Prey (2017) and Redfall (2023). Redfall’s planned DLC was cancelled.
- Alpha Dog Games — Created Mighty Doom (mobile).
- Roundhouse Studios — Absorbed into ZeniMax Online Studios.
Decision attributed to “reprioritisation of titles and resources.”
Source: Game Developer, “Microsoft closes Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks and Alpha Dog Games,” May 2024; PC Gamer; Game Informer; Windows Central, “Microsoft closes Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Games and Tango Gameworks”
Phil Spencer’s Response
At IGN Live 2024, Spencer said: “I have to run a sustainable business inside the company and [help it] grow, and that means sometimes I have to make hard decisions that, frankly, are not decisions I love, but decisions that somebody needs to go make.”
“The closure of any team is hard obviously on the individuals, hard on the team.”
Source: GameSpot, “Phil Spencer Defends Xbox Studio Closures, Layoffs”; VGChartz; GamesRadar+
Game Pass Strategy and Pricing
The Xbox Game Pass received significant restructuring and price increases in 2024. The Xbox Series X|S generation became defined by mass layoffs, studio closures, game cancellations, the abandonment of Xbox-exclusive titles, and subscription price hikes.
Spencer’s Departure (February 2026)
Phil Spencer retired as Microsoft Gaming CEO. Xbox president Sarah Bond also resigned. Spencer was replaced by Asha Sharma, an AI executive who joined Microsoft in 2024 as president of CoreAI.
Source: PC Gamer, “Xbox boss Phil Spencer is retiring, and his replacement is an AI executive who joined Microsoft in 2024,” February 2026; Game Informer, February 20, 2026
9. Sony PlayStation — Layoffs, Closures, and Concord
February 2024 — The 900
Sony Interactive Entertainment cut approximately 900 employees — 8% of its global workforce — across multiple studios:
- London Studio — Closed entirely
- Insomniac Games — Layoffs
- Naughty Dog — Layoffs
- Guerrilla Games — Layoffs
- Firesprite — Layoffs
CEO Jim Ryan stated the industry “has changed immensely” and they needed to “future-ready” the business.
The layoffs came two weeks after Sony cut its PS5 sales forecast due to decreasing demand.
Source: Sony Interactive Entertainment blog, “Difficult News About Our Workforce,” February 2024; NPR, “Sony is laying off about 900 PlayStation employees,” March 1, 2024; CNBC, “Sony to lay off 900 workers from PlayStation division,” February 27, 2024
Concord and Firewalk (August-October 2024)
See Section 7 for full details. Firewalk Studios closed October 2024 with 172 layoffs. Neon Koi also closed (38 layoffs). Combined: 210 people.
PlayStation Drops Sweet Baby Inc.
Reports emerged that PlayStation deliberately cancelled various projects that involved Sweet Baby Inc. and no longer intends to work with the company. Sweet Baby was reportedly part of Bluepoint’s cancelled God of War title.
Source: That Park Place, “Sweet Baby Inc Reportedly Dropped by Sony,” April 2025; Tech4Gamers, “PlayStation Reportedly Moving Away From Sweet Baby Inc.”
10. Industry-Wide Layoffs and Studio Closures
2024 By the Numbers
- Total known layoffs: ~14,600-15,000 (some sources say 16,000+ when including unreported cuts)
- Companies affected: 160+
- Largest single rounds:
- Microsoft: 2,800 (January + May combined)
- Unity: 1,800
- Sony: 1,339 (February + October combined)
- Studio closures include: Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, London Studio, Firewalk Studios, Volition (Saints Row), Free Radical (TimeSplitters), Deviation Games, Alpha Dog Games, and many more
Source: Game Dev Reports Substack, “Game Industry Layoffs: 14,600 people lost their jobs in 2024”; Luna Sorcery video game layoff tracker; Statista; Game World Observer
GDC 2025 Survey
A GDC survey found that one third of US game industry workers had been laid off in the preceding two years.
Context: This Is Not Just About DEI
The layoff wave began in 2022 and peaked in January 2024. Contributing factors include:
- Post-COVID hiring bubble bursting
- Rising development costs ($200M+ AAA budgets becoming common)
- Stagnating user growth
- Game Pass and subscription model failures
- Over-monetization backlash
- Interest rate increases making cheap capital unavailable
Source: USC Annenberg Media, “The great gaming layoffs and what is behind it,” November 8, 2024; Digital Trends; Variety
11. The Industry-Wide DEI Pullback (2024-2026)
Major Companies Scaling Back
- Google, Meta, Microsoft: All confirmed they would not publish DEI data in 2025 — reversing years of public reporting
- Tesla, GameStop, Workday, Salesforce: Scrubbed mentions of DEI from 10-K filings
- Harley-Davidson, Ford, Jack Daniels: Publicly distanced from DEI programs
Source: AllWork.Space, “Google, Meta, And Microsoft Quietly End Diversity Reporting As DEI Pullback Widens,” November 2025; TechCrunch, “Here are all the tech companies rolling back DEI or still committed to it — so far,” April 2025; NBC News, 2024
In Gaming Specifically
- Sweet Baby Inc. overhauled its website to eliminate most pro-DEI verbiage (no more “Projects,” “Approach,” or “Outreach” tabs)
- Square Enix removed from Sweet Baby’s client list (neither party commented)
- PlayStation reportedly ended relationship with Sweet Baby Inc.
- Some developers skipped GDC 2025 over political/economic concerns
- LGBTQ+ developers reportedly opted for alternative conferences
Source: DEI Detected, “Sweet Baby Inc’s DEI Overhaul”; Tech4Gamers; Reinout te Brake, “Why Some Developers Are Skipping GDC 2025”
Notable Holdout
Riot Games publicly leaned into DEI in 2024-2025, partnering with nonprofit DonorsChoose as a “social impact and DEI initiative” even as other companies retreated.
Source: Digiday, “Why Riot Games is leaning into DEI as other brands pull away”
The Broader Corporate Retreat
The DEI pullback in gaming is part of a much larger corporate trend. After the 2020 George Floyd protests triggered massive corporate DEI investment, right-wing political pressure, lawsuits, and the 2024-2025 political environment caused a widespread retreat. This is not gaming-specific.
Source: SAI360, “DEI in 2025: DEI Cuts Among Big Companies”; NBC News; Game Developer, “DEI is DOA: What’s really failing inside the game industry’s diversity efforts”
12. Key Figures and Direct Quotes
Kim Belair (CEO, Sweet Baby Inc.)
- “Go have a coffee with your marketing team and just terrify them with the possibility if they don’t give you what you want.” — GDC 2019
- “We do narrative development in games and kind of beyond and we try to bring inclusion, diversity, and new ideas kind of to the industry.” — GDC 2019
- Characterized the anti-SBI movement as coming together under the “rallying cry of far-right supremacy” — 2024 statement
David Bédard (COO, Sweet Baby Inc.)
- Described the company as the target of a “far-right harassment campaign” — 2024
Chris Kindred (Writer/Designer, Sweet Baby Inc.)
- “Even with the discriminatory language filed off, the group itself still fails the code of conduct” — X post, March 2024 (deleted)
- Told followers to “report the f*** out of this group” — X post, March 2024 (deleted)
- “Toriyama gave us the best and worst black characters in anime in the same series” — X post, March 8, 2024
Phil Spencer (CEO, Microsoft Gaming)
- “I have to run a sustainable business inside the company and [help it] grow, and that means sometimes I have to make hard decisions that, frankly, are not decisions I love” — IGN Live 2024
- Internal memo: cited “an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure” and “identified areas of overlap” — January 2024
Elon Musk
- “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!” — X post, March 16, 2024
Kabrutus (Creator, Sweet Baby Inc. Detected)
- Created the list “to make people aware of those who try to corrupt our beloved hobby”
- Said he intentionally used fewer “loaded words” to prevent the group from being banned
- “It is with great pride that I say: BASED VALVE!” — on Steam not removing the curator list
Kyle Rowley (Game Director, Remedy Entertainment)
- Denied that Sweet Baby Inc. was responsible for making Saga Anderson a protagonist in Alan Wake 2 — the character decision was Remedy’s own
Sweet Baby Inc. (Spider-Man 2 team member)
- “We helped write and rewrite numerous character arcs. None of it was related to diversity or anything like that. It was literally about ‘What is the best Spider-Man story we can tell?’”
13. Chronological Timeline
2018
- Sweet Baby Inc. founded in Montreal by Kim Belair and David Bédard
2019
- GDC 2019: Kim Belair delivers “Now You See Me: Representation as Innovation” — the “terrify” quote originates here
2020-2023
- Sweet Baby consults on God of War Ragnarök (2022), Alan Wake 2 (2023), Spider-Man 2 (2023), and others
October 2023
- Kiwi Farms thread identifies Sweet Baby Inc.’s involvement in Alan Wake 2 as “possibly one of the biggest scandals in gaming history”
- Initial low-level harassment toward Sweet Baby begins
January 25, 2024
- Microsoft lays off 1,900 gaming employees (post-Activision acquisition)
January 29, 2024
- Kabrutus creates “Sweet Baby Inc detected” Steam curator list
- Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League launches (January 30)
February 2024
- Sony lays off 900 PlayStation employees, closes London Studio (February 27)
- Chris Kindred discovers and tweets about the curator list
February 28, 2024
- KotakuInAction subreddit notices the curator list
Early March 2024
- Chris Kindred tweets: Calls for mass-reporting of curator list and its creator
- Streisand Effect: Curator list explodes from thousands to hundreds of thousands of followers
- Kindred banned from X for six days
- March 5: Kotaku journalist enters SBI Detected Discord, is identified and removed
- March 8: Kindred tweets about Toriyama (seven days after his death)
- March 9: Kotaku publishes defense of Sweet Baby Inc. (Alyssa Mercante)
- March 16: Elon Musk tweets “evil blight” comment
- March 16: MobileSyrup editorial: “losers are trying to start ‘Gamergate 2’”
- Asmongold interviews Kabrutus (early March)
- Game Developer (Bryant Francis) publishes “Why are Valve and Discord permitting harassment against Sweet Baby Inc.?”
- ResetEra creates “GamerGate 2.0? Chuds furious” thread
- Curator surpasses 300,000 followers (becomes 6th most-followed Steam curator)
April 2024
- Curator exceeds 355,000 followers
- Kabrutus launches deidetected.com, expanding scope beyond SBI
- Sweet Baby Inc. reported at 16 employees
May 2024
- Microsoft closes Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Games; absorbs Roundhouse Studios
- Warner Bros. reports $200 million revenue hit from Suicide Squad failure
August 2024
- Black Myth: Wukong launches (August 20) — 10 million copies in 3 days
- Dustborn launches (August 20) — peak 83 concurrent Steam players
- Concord launches (August 23) — peak <700 concurrent Steam players
- Star Wars Outlaws launches (August 27) — underperforms expectations
September 2024
- Concord servers shut down (September 3) — two weeks after launch
- Square Enix removed from Sweet Baby Inc. client list
- Ubisoft stock hits 10-year low
October 2024
- Ubisoft stock jumps 33% on Tencent/Guillemot buyout report (October 4)
- Firewalk Studios closed by Sony (172 layoffs) + Neon Koi closed (38 layoffs)
- Unknown 9: Awakening launches (October 18) — peak 285 Steam players
- Sweet Baby Inc. begins overhauling website, removing DEI-focused language
November 2024
- Reflector Entertainment layoffs and next project cancellation following Unknown 9 failure
January 2025
- Bandai Namco confirms no Unknown 9 sequels
2025
- Google, Meta, Microsoft end diversity reporting
- PlayStation reportedly drops Sweet Baby Inc.
- Multiple companies scrub DEI from SEC filings
- Sweet Baby Inc. website fully overhauled — DEI language largely removed
- Chris Kindred reportedly fired from Sweet Baby Inc.
February 2026
- Phil Spencer retires as Microsoft Gaming CEO
- Sarah Bond leaves Xbox
- Asha Sharma (AI executive) takes over Microsoft Gaming
14. What’s Verified vs. What’s Disputed
Verified (Multiple Independent Sources)
- Sweet Baby Inc. exists, was founded in 2018, and does narrative/DEI consulting
- The Steam curator list was created January 29, 2024 by Kabrutus
- Chris Kindred called for mass-reporting of the curator list and was banned from X
- The Streisand Effect occurred — the list went from thousands to hundreds of thousands of followers
- Suicide Squad, Concord, Unknown 9, and Dustborn all failed commercially
- Warner Bros. took a $200 million revenue hit
- Microsoft laid off 1,900 in January, closed 4 studios in May
- Sony laid off 900 in February, closed Firewalk in October
- ~14,600+ gaming industry layoffs in 2024
- Multiple major companies dropped DEI programs in 2024-2025
- Kim Belair said the “terrify” quote at GDC 2019 (video exists)
- Elon Musk’s “evil blight” tweet is real and timestamped
Partially Verified / Requires Caution
- Sweet Baby Inc. dropped by Sony — sourced primarily from outlets with anti-SBI editorial stance (That Park Place, Tech4Gamers); neither Sony nor SBI confirmed
- Square Enix ended relationship with SBI — based on removal from client list, neither party commented
- Chris Kindred fired from SBI — single source (SmashjT); not independently confirmed
- Concord’s $400 million development cost — claimed by Colin Moriarty citing unnamed developer, disputed by PlayStation developers on social media
Disputed / Contested Causation
- Whether DEI consulting caused game failures (anti-SBI position) vs. general market conditions (pro-SBI position)
- Whether the curator list constitutes “harassment” or “consumer information”
- Whether Sweet Baby Inc. had meaningful creative influence on the games they consulted on, or provided minor advisory services
- Whether the movement is “far-right extremism” or “consumer activism”
- Whether Black Myth: Wukong’s success was related to rejecting SBI (likely not — it’s a great game based on beloved source material)
Conspiracy Theories (Disproven or Unsupported)
- SBI is controlled by or funded by BlackRock — no evidence
- SBI forced Remedy to make Saga Anderson Black in Alan Wake 2 — denied by game director Kyle Rowley
- SBI is directly responsible for industry layoffs — no evidence of direct causation
- SBI is a government operation — no evidence
Source URLs
Major Publications Referenced
- Bloomberg: Suicide Squad financial reporting, Ubisoft buyout reporting
- CNBC: Microsoft layoffs, Ubisoft stock, Sony layoffs
- Variety: PlayStation layoffs, Firewalk closure, Microsoft layoffs
- TechCrunch: Microsoft layoffs, Sony layoffs, DEI pullback tracking
- NPR: Sony layoffs
- Game Developer (gamedeveloper.com): Bryant Francis SBI article, Spencer comments, DEI industry analysis
- Kotaku: Alyssa Mercante SBI defense piece, layoff tracking
- PC Gamer: Studio closures, GDC survey, SBI overview
- GDC Vault: Kim Belair 2019 talk
- The Shortcut: Balanced SBI coverage, Kabrutus interview, curator milestone reporting
- Know Your Meme: SBI Detected Controversy documentation
- GameSpot: Phil Spencer quotes, Xbox leadership timeline
- That Park Place: Anti-SBI editorial; SBI employee tracking (use with editorial caution)
- Bounding Into Comics: Anti-SBI editorial (use with editorial caution)
- MobyGames: SBI game credits database
Primary Sources
- Steam Curator page: store.steampowered.com/curator/Sweet-Baby-Inc-detected
- Sweet Baby Inc. website: sweetbabyinc.com
- DEI Detected website: deidetected.com
- Elon Musk tweet: x.com/elonmusk/status/1768887649723453592
- ResetEra thread: resetera.com/threads/823731
- GDC Vault (Belair talk): gdcvault.com — Now You See Me: Representation as Innovation
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