There’s evidence that suggests Compulsion Games, an XBOX Game Studio has race-swapped the main character of their upcoming game, South of Midnight after hiring the nefarious Sweet Baby Inc. on board for DEI consultation.
Former World of Warcraft Team Lead Mark Kern, also known as Grummz on Twitter, recently shared a rumor in an extensive thread. He claims to have received information from an ex-developer at Compulsion Games.
Kern shared on Twitter, “EXCLUSIVE: Microsoft Xbox mandates changes at studios, hire Sweet Baby Inc, erases white characters. I spoke to ex-devs at two different studios who say DEI is ruining and altering games and studio culture. Changes happened after Xbox meddling.”
To add merit to such claims, another game affiliated with Sweet Baby Inc, Remedy’s Alan Wake 2 features race-swapping.
The character Saga Anderson, originally depicted as a White Swedish woman, was revealed in a hidden Easter egg for Quantum Break. However, in Alan Wake 2, Saga’s design underwent significant changes, now resembling a Black woman while still retaining her Swedish heritage and name.
Kyle Rowley, director for Alan Wake 2, was compelled to refute accusations of race-swapping for the game. He asserted that the character’s design was always intended to depict her as Black, despite the original portrayal of the character as White. It seems they didn’t consider hiring a Black actress for the Easter egg.
Sweet Baby Inc’s consultations predominantly center on advancing DEI narratives, political themes, and identity politics. The outcome heavily leans towards ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) due to the inclusion of diverse and inclusive character designs, along with non-controversial storylines.
The fact that a specific character, once depicted as White, is now portrayed as Black is merely coincidental, similar to trends observed in Hollywood films and modern adaptations of American comic franchises.
It’s also coincidental that such race-swapping aligns with the core values of ESG hedge fund investments, just as it does for erasing femininity and purging attractive women from a product.
Mark Kern asserts that he has reasonably confirmed that the developers he spoke to were former employees of the studios in question, Avalanche Studios Group and Compulsion Games. Both studios are also officially listed as partners on the Sweet Baby website.
Considering Compulsion Games’ status as a subsidiary of Xbox Game Studios, it’s noteworthy to mention that Microsoft recently launched a campaign against “sexualization” and “misogynistic” portrayals of female character design. Such an initiative is part of their new Product Inclusion Framework, aimed at assisting developers with guidelines to avoid their product being labeled as offensive or “problematic.”
Capturing the likeness of a female model accurately, unlike the AAA developers of today.
Kern asserts that the purported changes at Avalanche Studios and Compulsion Games following Microsoft’s intervention included hiring a DEI director and engaging a consulting firm to review and “gender balance” hiring and promotion policies.
Moreover, both studios enlisted Sweet Baby Inc. to contribute to their upcoming projects: Contraband for Avalanche and South of Midnight for Compulsion. These studios experienced significant transformations subsequent to Microsoft’s involvement.
Kern then disclosed that one of the major alterations in Contraband was the modification of the character creation system to eliminate gender distinctions, a common practice in today’s time to eradicate descriptive gender definitions to be replaced by the infamous “Body Type” A/B nonsense, if not outright including pronouns such as Starfield.
Such changes to the character creation enabled the swapping of distinct male/female body parts, facial hair, and more across both “body types.” However, the changes didn’t end there. Following the involvement of Sweet Baby Inc. in Compulsion Games’ “South of Midnight,” the main character underwent a race swap from white to black.
Kern then posted a side-by-side comparison of the main character and her alleged original design. He commented that the main character, Hazel, was swapped from White to Black shortly after Sweet Baby Inc.’s involvement.
Such changes align with statements made by current and former Sweet Baby Inc employees, such as Dani Lalonders and her reported anti-White hiring practices. Additionally, CEO and co-founder Kim Belair has openly stated that consultancy is akin to a hostile takeover of the gaming industry.
And of course, there’s Maya Kramer.
Kern concluded that the changes to both studios’ games, as well as the cultural shifts at Contraband, occurred after Microsoft and Sweet Baby Inc. became involved. The implication is that publishing money was influencing decisions, mandating alterations in hiring practices, the employment of DEI staff and consultants, and changes to the games themselves.
Kern contends that these shifts in narrative and character design are not the result of organic development but rather the imposition of overt political agendas onto developers and, ultimately, consumers.
He asserts that these changes are driven by the policies of influential publishers and undisclosed funding sources. Kern argues that Microsoft’s and Xbox’s “Product Inclusion” Guidelines are more mandatory than they are claimed to be.
The evidence suggests a pattern, as previous instances involving Sweet Baby Inc. have demonstrated characters being race-swapped for the sake of representation, such as Alan Wake 2 and Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League.
It’s entirely plausible that Sweet Baby Inc. changed the race of South of Midnight’s protagonist from White to Black. During a presentation at the Game Developers Conference in 2019, Sweet Baby Inc. CEO Kim Belair recounted an experience:
“I once worked on a project where they had an all-white cast and expressed a desire to mix it up a bit. They suggested making a character stereotypically French with a beret and striped shirt. I proposed making them a person of color instead, but they rejected the idea, claiming it would be weird because the character was already French.”
I’m not surprised to hear that Compulsion Games has race-swapped the protagonist for South of Midnight following Sweet Baby Inc’s consultations. After all, Sweet Baby Inc’s involvement has coincided with the closure of three studios.
Volition, Mimimi Games, and Luminous Productions due to major failures, such as the Saints Row Reboot, Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, and Forspoken, respectively.
With Warner Bros. likely to pull the plug on Suicide Squad by the end of the year, Rocksteady Studios may soon join the ranks of studios murdered by Sweet Baby Inc’s influence. I for one am excited to witness the financial failure of South of Midnight when it releases.
Interestingly, Compulsion Games, the same studio that supported Crystal Dynamics’ disclaimer regarding “inexcusable racism” in the Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered trilogy, emphasized the significance of remastering these stories for modern audiences while also stressing the importance of “rewriting new history.”
Additionally, the community manager for Compulsion Games is Katie Robinson, a Black woman known for her outspoken views against White gamers. However, it’s worth noting that the majority of the consumer market for video games, which consists of White individuals, may not feel obligated to purchase products from a company that employs a racist community manager and features racially swapped protagonists.
