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The Racist Case of Compulsion Games

Another day, another controversy that surges through the gaming community. From the many layoffs reverberating throughout the industry to the various exposés of studios and companies coming to limelight, 2024 continues to prove to be a rough patch for everyone involved in video gaming. Compulsion Games is yet another studio that has been swept into the gaming news cycle as “Gamergate 2” continues to surge throughout the community on and offline. With two games, We Happy Few and Contrast, under their belt, and one new project on the way, South of Midnight, Compulsion Games is not exactly a gaming household name, akin to the likes of Naughty Dog or Insomniac Games. So, what caused this Microsoft Studio to be thrown to the forefront?The situation is twofold: Sweet Baby Inc.’s involvement with the studio and the words of its community manager.

Compulsion Games — South of Any Progress?

According to Mike Kern (@Grummz on Twitter), Compulsion Games’ current project, South of Midnight, went through a lot of changes after hiring the narrative and consultation studio, Sweet Baby Inc., to oversee the upcoming game for sensitivity reading.

Kern reports that he spoke with ex-employees who worked with Compulsion on South of Midnight and revealed several key details regarding the game’s development.

According to the developers Kern talked with, South of Midnight allegedly went through a protagonist overhaul, changing the concept model from a caucasian woman to African-American one, as the story is set in the deep American South.

The Canadian-based game studio reportedly had very little experience with this region and felt unqualified to make a game in this setting without some input, so they hired Sweet Baby Inc. to give their project a lookover, resulting in said changes.

Based on the game’s description, South of Midnight is a third-person action-adventure game where players take on the mantle of Hazel, a young Weaver, who uses magic inspired by Southern folklore and mythos, to overcome a disaster that has struck her home.

Outside of the game’s reveal trailer in 2023 and product description, there is very little we know about the game’s mechanics, features, and other key details, which was a point of criticism levied by Kern/ex-developers at the studio, alleging that Compulsion Games and its social media was more focused on matters of identity politics and similar talking points rather than advertising the game.

This may speak of internal struggles both the game and studio are currently facing amidst development.

According to the devs interview by Kern, South of Midnight was originally a passion project of the game’s creative director, who grew up in the American South, but the game’s direction has gone awry within the same time frame the studio went through an overhaul after Microsoft and Sweet Baby Inc. involvement.

The devs imply that publisher funding and influence caused a shift in studio culture as well as new hires and promotions that were not based on merit. These alterations and changes to the game and the studio working on said game has ham-strung development progress, according to the devs.

Another developer Kern interviewed, an ex-dev of Avalanche Studios who worked on Contraband, purports similar experience during their tenure with the studio, also citing mandated changes for the game as well as the workplace culture.

At Compulsion, the push for diversity, equity, and inclusion practices has, reportedly, left the project in a poor state of development on top of poor community management.

And speaking of community management, the next pillar of Compulsion’s sudden notoriety stems from its very own outspoken community manager Katie Robinson.

Compulsion Games and its Community Mis-Manager

Hired back in September of 2023, Katie Robinson was brought on board at Compulsion Games to be the studio’s community manager moving forward. Based on her LinkedIn page, her responsibilities include:

Developing & executing strategies to grow the awareness of the brand & its properties
Defining & understanding brand audience & the right tone when communicating/developing content
Envisioning, creating, & posting content on social media platforms while engaging with the community at large
Proactively & self-sufficiently creating content about brand on social media platforms (reformating static visuals, basic video editimg, capture gameplay footage, exporting files, etc.)
Developing new partnerships & leveraging existing partners for growth/cross-promotion
Owning influencers, press inquiries, & relationships
Proposing & executing strategy to leverage influencers
aImplementing a multidisciplinary approach in tackling other brand/marketing projects
Assisting in fostering an inclusive internal company culture by promoting DEI-based events, acknowledgements, and practices
Internally representing the studio as an active member of the Xbox Game Studios D&I Network

(and yes, those are unedited typos from the page)That’s quite the laundry list of tasks she is responsible for, but mainly it is her job to represent Compulsion Games as its social media manager, tasked with retweets and interactions in the online space and community. If one scrolls through Compulsion Games’ Twitter/X feed, they will see a startling lack of posts and media promoting their own projects, with more posts centered around social matters surrounding the gaming space. Though it is not odd for a company’s social media account to post about political matters, it is worth pointing out how little actual content there is that markets WHAT Compulsion Games is working out (South of Midnight).This can also be seen on the game’s Steam page, which only features the game’s current CGI trailer and screenshots from the trailer rather than anything more substantial, like gameplay or mechanics. This potentially lends credence to the previously mentioned developers’ claims about developmental woes within Compulsion’s studio.However, the focus regarding Katie Robinson is less about what she has done so far as a community manager and more about her behavior outside of that role.Mark Kern and Twitter user @ScreamerRSA have discovered several tweets Robinson (handle: @PikaChulita) has made in the past that proclaim her disdain for gamers and comparing White people and Asian people in a derogatory manner. This comes around a similar time frame as other Twitter users have found equally barbed Tweets by employees from Sweet Baby Inc. and Playtonic Games.

The first tweet, supposedly, was Robinson’s response to the recent backlash Aspyr got for their opening message on the Tomb Raider I-III Remastered collection. Many gamers took issue with lens Aspyr chose to frame the original Tomb Raider games with in the remaster, causing a stir online between detractors and defendants. Funnily enough, Compulsion Games’ own Twitter account posted in solidarity with Aspyr

Based on this context, it is somewhat excusable and even understandable. Gamers, and those vocal enough to take their opinions online, are not exactly known to be a constantly pleasant bunch. Those posting constantly on Twitter, less so. Dealing with those sort of online tirades will leave anyone lacking faith in their fellow man.

However, the other tweet, the one comparing Asian people and White people, calling Asians “White-adjacent” is indefensible, especially when taking Robinson’s sentiments regarding race into account.

In an interview done by the online outlet Refinery 29, Robinson and writer Melissa Yang unpack who Robinson is as a content creator and the sort of values she stands for. From the get go, Robinson is a person who is deeply passionate about gaming and advocacy. Associated with groups like Black Girl Gamers and the Noir Network, she uses her voice and platform to talk on issues that are important to her and the communities she surrounds herself with.

One of those happens to be the matter of race.

In her interview, Robinson is quoted saying, “White male gamers were a mistake,” a reflection of the type of comments she was willing to outwardly post on her social media.

“I like to think that my kind of presence acts as a way to kind of show people like, ‘Hey, you can be outspoken. You can have a backbone and stand for something and still be successful.’”

It’s also worth noting that Robinson’s Twitter page is now protected and cannot be accessed outside of people approved by her.Clearly, to Robinson, her own race was an important, unchangeable aspect of her identity. Her activist works prove how integral her race is to her as well as the other people she’s worked alongside in her various communities. So, why is it okay for her to make comments, offhand and/or online, about other people’s unchangeable characteristics? Robinson further points out in her interview with Refinery 29 about injustices she sees in the digital space, claiming many of those issues stem from systemic and subconscious racism and biases people carry internally. She sees the races of the top performing streamers on Twitch and considers that to be a reflection of real life.It is a gross misrepresentation and generalization that ignores so many factors to what contributes to a streamer’s popularity and success. Race can play a role, yes, but not to the overly dramatic degree where the streaming space is a microcosm that supposedly represents the unjust world. If Twitch was a reflection of real life, all of our politicians would be bikini-wearing bathtub streamers.A certain resentment towards white people (white males specifically) can be felt in Robinson’s words. And if this is how she feels about white people, then her Tweet regarding Asian people, calling them “white-adjacent,” does not bode well for her sentiments regarding Asian people as well.Attacking a group of people based on a protected, unchangeable characteristic they are born with that was to do with their race and ethnicity.Is that not the textbook example of racism?Of course, it would be negligent to not mention that this interview took place in 2022, prior to Robinson’s working relationship with Microsoft and Compulsion Games. A person can change in that span of time and these could be opinions that Robinson no longer abides by. But by the same token, the opposite could be true as well. Robinson has not made any comments regarding the situation, neither confirming nor denying.Yet, Microsoft/Compulsion has hired a person who was known to make comments like this to represent their brand. How does that reflect back on their company? What sort of response do these brands expect when their hired community manager, whose job is to foster relationships with the company and consumers, is known for vilifying people for their race?If Microsoft, who owns Compulsion Games, is the same company that believes gaming should be for ALL people, then their actions should reflect that. Hiring someone who is racist does not.You cannot fight racism with more racism. You cannot preach for diversity while sowing disunity.