In the video game industry, some companies have sparked controversy due to practices that affect both players and workers. For players, criticism often focuses on business decisions that prioritize profit over gaming experience, such as aggressive microtransactions or releasing incomplete games that require multiple updates to be complete. On the other hand, workers often face poor working conditions, including long hours, excessive pressure, and lack of recognition or adequate compensation for their work. This combination of issues has led to increased awareness of business ethics in the video game industry and has prompted calls for greater transparency and accountability from companies.
At times, these issues seem to be the norm rather than the exception, as the video game industry has a long history of such problems, and unfortunately, Sweet Baby Inc. does not seem to be an exception. However, before jumping to conclusions, it's important to understand what this company is and what it has done.
What is Sweet Baby Inc. and what does it do exactly?
In simple terms, Sweet Baby Inc. is a Canadian consulting company focused on narrative for video games. These companies are hired to analyze the story, dialogue, and other narrative elements to determine their quality, if they meet the team's objectives, and how they could be improved. In essence, they function as a sort of editor for these companies.
What is the controversy and how did it start?
In late January 2024, a Steam user created a curation list called 'Sweet Baby Inc. detected (sbi-detected)' and began including all games associated with that company to mark them as 'not recommended'. This was done to warn other players about which games this company was involved in. Notable titles on the list include Sable, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and the game that triggered this whole scandal: Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, which is the most important to mention later in detail.
By late February, an employee of Sweet Baby Inc. discovered the list and asked their followers to help report it. However, this backfired as it suffered the "Streisand Effect" (meaning their attempt at censorship failed or even, in this case, was counterproductive). Some YouTubers noticed this and made the group go viral. It amassed over 100,000 followers, and its Steam group quickly attracted over 50,000 members.
Since going viral, discussions in the group have turned into a witch hunt. There are several topics dedicated to identifying SBI employees, reviewing years of social media presence, and searching for any comments or videos that could be considered negative regardless