It’s a tale as old as gaming itself: if a game launches and nobody plays it, did it even exist? Unfortunately, the answer is a loud and painful “yes.” Just like the cascade of uninspired, agenda-driven drivel that plagued the previous year, yet another catastrophic release has surfaced, this time shining a harsh spotlight on Sweet Baby Inc., the infamous narrative consultancy firm.
For those not in the loop, Sweet Baby Inc. has been a thorn in the side of gamers for years. Observant players have connected the dots, realizing that this allegedly modest Canadian consultancy has had its fingerprints all over some of the most disastrous flops in recent memory.
Worse yet, their involvement often coincides with an uptick in “wokeness,” seemingly driven by adherence to corporate overlords like BlackRock’s DEI and ESG mandates. The result? Characters who are woefully ugly, racially stereotypical with censorship beyond comprehension, ESG and DEI calls for the erasure of traditional feminine traits to make way for so-called “inclusive” man-faced Mary Sues, characters devoid of depth, reduced to ambiguous symbols of corporate virtue signaling.
Sweet Baby Inc gained public attention after one of its employees, Chris Kindred, attempted to launch a cancel campaign against an individual who created a Steam curation group aimed at warning consumers about the company. The group highlighted Sweet Baby Inc’s involvement in projects awash with inclusive pandering, woke themes and character race swapping.
Using publicly available information, the group sought to inform potential buyers about the company’s track record. In response, employees of Sweet Baby Inc initiated a campaign to have the group removed and the creator’s Steam account banned. This attempt to silence criticism backfired, drawing widespread attention and fostering resentment toward the company.
The controversy attracted a wave of politically motivated commentators, including journalists who published articles framing Sweet Baby Inc as victims of a hate campaign while omitting key details about the incident. This narrative sparked comparisons to GamerGate, as accusations of collusion between journalists and industry entities emerged again.
Since then, Sweet Baby Inc has faced increased scrutiny. Many of its 2024 releases have suffered catastrophic commercial failures, costing companies like Bandai Namco and Warner Bros. tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars. Critics have also raised concerns about the company’s internal practices, citing statements from co-founder Kim Belair.
She has advocated for leveraging scare tactics to influence game design, encouraging the inclusion of “authentic” depictions of diverse characters and representation of LGBTQ+ themes, with warnings about potential social backlash if these conditions are not met.
Sweet Baby Inc keeps finding new ways to make headlines, like when Camerin Wild, one of their employees, decided to casually proclaim during a GDC keynote that the purpose of enforced diversity and inclusivity was to “burn the industry to the ground.” Bold strategy, huh?
This isn’t news to anyone paying attention, though. Politically charged activism has infected the gaming industry, putting checkbox diversity ahead of actual storytelling and craftsmanship for years. Ubisoft’s downfall is Exhibit A.
Their upcoming title, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, reimagines feudal Japan with Yasuke, a Black samurai, shoehorned into history. When people called it out for blatant historical revisionism, a former Sweet Baby Inc employee ran to Ubisoft’s defense, claiming the outrage was just Westerners pretending to be Japanese. Meanwhile, actual Japanese audiences aren’t thrilled about having their history desecrated for a pro-black narrative.
Sweet Baby Inc’s fingerprints are all over games big and small, but one project managed to fly under the radar for a while. Enter The Crush House, developed by Nerial LTD (of Reigns fame) and published by Devolver Digital. Thanks to Gothic Therapy, we now know this indie title had Sweet Baby Inc involved, proving once again that their influence isn’t limited to AAA disasters.
This game is exactly what you’d expect from Sweet Baby Inc: muddy, ambiguous visuals and an over-the-top obsession with LGBTQ+ representation. Dropping on August 10, 2024, it proudly billed itself as a ’90s-themed “thirst-person shooter” despite being less about shooting and more about being a wannabe producer on a cringy reality TV dating show.
You play as Jae Jimenez Jung, a producer on a 1999-style reality show. Your job? Pick cast members, stir up as much drama as possible, and dig up “sinister secrets” while wading through that cookie-cutter corporate art design Sweet Baby Inc is so fond of.
If the premise sounds questionable, the gameplay and marketing materials only add to the overall absurdity.
The game boasts a cast that is diverse in race, ethnicity, and cultural backgrounds, a core element of its narrative. This diversity aims to create varied interactions and relationships that reflect real-world dynamics. Beyond surface-level representation, the game also emphasizes inclusivity through its characters, who exhibit a range of personalities, professions, and personal stories.
This depth is intended to enhance the gameplay, as players navigate and manage the intricate relationships and conflicts within the cast.
The cast of The Crush House notably lacks White characters, instead featuring a majority of Black and Brown individuals. Many of these characters are portrayed with flamboyant styles that suggest they do not conform to traditional heterosexual designs.
While the game’s focus as an LGBTQ+ dating simulator may cater to a specific audience, its broader implications raise questions.
A recurring criticism is that the developers and designers behind such titles are often hired by larger AAA studios to implement similar design philosophies in mainstream franchises. This has led some to argue that these individuals are more focused on advancing political and social agendas than on creating universally engaging narratives.
The Gothic Therapy YouTube channel, hosted by MasterOfTheTDS and WritingRaven, highlighted The Crush House as a potential Sweet Baby Inc. project. Their claim was based on social media activity from Maxine Sophia Wolff, a narrative designer and transgender individual associated with Kim Belair’s team, who openly stated involvement in the game’s development.
Devolver Digital has built a reputation for publishing some of the most beloved indie games of the past decade, with titles like Cult of the Lamb and Hotline Miami earning them a loyal following. However, their collaboration with Sweet Baby Inc., a company frequently surrounded by controversy, feels out of step with Devolver’s former commitment to quality and originality.
The Crush House appears disjointed, with issues in both its concept and visual design.
The premise of The Crush House heavily relies on reality TV clichés, while its marketing materials fall flat in an unconvincing manner. To make matters worse, its connection to Sweet Baby Inc. severely impacts the game’s credibility. For a reputable publisher like Devolver Digital to associate with this project raises concerns about their judgment and the state of the gaming industry as a whole.
It’s honestly baffling that Nerial, a mostly White feminist team, somehow managed to exclude White characters from The Crush House especially considering the fact that the vast majority of video game consumers, particularly in the Western world, are White. Surveys have been clear for years: over 80% of gamers are male, and a larger percentage of which are straight.
Sure, there’s a tiny niche that might enjoy a queer-centric Brown dating simulator, but here’s the rub: these same people end up working as consultants for AAA studios, pushing their political ideologies onto massive franchises. And that’s where things go off the rails.
Look at Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Transgender breast removal surgical scars, pansexual companions who suddenly come out as non-binary, it’s no wonder fans are pissed off. Consumers don’t want ideological nonsense shoved into their escapism as beloved mainstream franchises one after the after are culturally raped, which is why games like this are often massive commercial failures.
There’s a place for every demographic, sure, but trying to please everyone by cramming in diversity and sexuality in the most obnoxious way possible only scares off the core fanbase. The problem gets worse when developers proudly announce how they deliberately made these repulsive choices to piss people off, and then call us racists for not wanting to buy it.
At the end of the day, the most important part of game design is understanding your audience. Unfortunately for Sweet Baby Inc. and anyone who teams up with them, heterosexual gamers aren’t buying what they’re selling.
The Crush House has an all-time peak of just 362 players on Steam, with a recent 24-hour peak of only 13 players worldwide. For most indie games created by small teams, this might not be a problem, but considering Devolver Digital’s backing and Nerial’s status as a legitimate developer with around 20 employees, it’s hard to believe the game has recouped its investment.
The Crush House is another flop from Sweet Baby Inc., so obscure and undesirable that it languished in obscurity for over half a year. Without delving into the obvious reasons behind its failure, its poor aesthetic choices and heavy focus on diversity and inclusivity are hard to ignore.
Despite the predominantly White feminist team behind it, the game only features a single White character, who is ironically the most “normal” in appearance. This reflects a broader issue of developmental missteps, attempting to cater to an LGBT demographic that doesn’t have the widespread presence social media activists suggest.
The result is a game shaped more by an agenda than by genuine creative passion, which is exactly what indie studios are supposed to be all about. Instead of delivering a fresh, exciting experience that connects with players, The Crush House feels like a unappealing attempt to tick off diversity boxes. It’s like they forgot that indie games are supposed to break the mold, not act as a corporate mouthpiece.
The modern gaming industry has devolved into a corporate playground for ideologues who care more about climbing the ranks than creating memorable experiences. What was once a passion-driven field has been overtaken by individuals treating game development as just another job, a means to gain status and push their agendas uncontested.
They see video games as a means of career advancement and profit, leaving creativity and fun as afterthoughts.
This is a textbook example of what happens when companies sacrifice creative freedom to force-feed a political agenda. If “agenda-driven slop” were a genre, this would undoubtedly fall under it. Game development is an art form, it can’t be approached like a monotonous task. It demands creativity and innovation, which is why it’s not just a job; it’s a passion-driven craft.
The Crush House is yet another glaring example of the industry’s inevitable death. It’s already sunk into obscurity as a soulless failure, only for me to unearth it solely to mock both the game and Sweet Baby Inc. Meanwhile, its so-called “creative” team will likely leapfrog to other studios, climbing the corporate ladder while burdening the industry with their progressive priorities.
