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The Problem with Sweet Baby Inc.

Have you wondered why a lot of AAA games that have released recently all “feel” the same? I’m not talking about gameplay mechanics here. Games can be from all sorts of different genres, and yet, there is an underlying current that flows beneath the bright lights and particle effects that gives modern games the same eyebrow-raising taste.A focus on modern political talking points. Race swapping characters regardless of culture and previous establishments. Preaching and pandering in service of an agenda with the subtlety of a brick through a glass window.It’s a hot talking point across a variety of mediums, and video games are no exception. It’s all so very tiresome. It is no secret that companies, studios, and development teams are encouraged to participate in this sort of behavior and marketing. After all, it is a great way to receive benefits and finances from large investment firms like BlackRock and Vanguard, the two largest in the United States, in fact. They examine a company and products ESG data and determine whether it aligns with their standards.ESG stands for environmental, social, and governance, which are the three lenses the companies use to score and grade companies worth partnering with. Having a higher score on this spectrum will therefore open more opportunities for said companies, thus bringing in more financial incentive. The riskier a company is, the less likely BlackRock will be willing to invest.BlackRock’s CEO, Larry Fink, has also stated in the past that he [and BlackRock] would “force behaviors” on inclusion and diversity efforts, threatening to cut funding and compensation if certain quotas or metrics were not met by partners.That is all to say that pandering in the name of diversity, equity, and inclusion is in vogue. It’s a great way to market your product and a means to earn favor with the socio-politically involved. Whether these politically-motivated individuals are fans of said product is another matter entirely, but social media has proven that any publicity is good publicity.At this point, you might be wondering why any of what I have just written relates to the title of the article. What even is Sweet Baby Inc.?

Sweet Baby Inc. and its Mission

Sweet Baby Inc., according to their website, is a narrative development and consultation studio based in Montreal whose mission is to “tell better, more empathetic stories while diversifying and enriching video games.”Their aim is to “improve” games by championing diversity and inclusion, which falls very closely in line with the ESG attitude pioneered by BlackRock and Vanguard, focusing mainly on video games and related media.In summation, they are contracted by video game studios to go over their projects and determine whether these games align with the diversity and inclusivity quota. They work on everything from character arcs, character representation, narrative direction, sensitivity reading, and much more.That’s a lot of power outsourced to a third-party—and if you see the games Sweet Baby Inc. has officially worked on, it shows.Their collaborations range from indie games like Goodbye Volcano High to AAA blockbusters like God of War: Ragnarok, Alan Wake 2, and Insomniac Games’ Spiderman 2. Focusing on the AAA games, you can start to see a pattern emerge from games and stories Sweet Baby has worked on.Putting Alan Wake 2 and God of War: Ragnarok as an example, these two games faced controversy prior to release over the same thing: diversity-driven race swaps.Alan Wake 2 features a secondary protagonist to the titular Alan in the form of Saga Anderson. In-game, she is a capable FBI agent of Swedish/African descent. However, before Alan Wake 2, Saga was originally white.God of War: Ragnarok deals with Norse mythology that comes from the Scandinavian region of Europe. Despite knowing full well the background and appearance of the people who originate from there and have propagated the Norse myths, Sony Santa Monica decided to make Angrboda look starkly different from her mythical counterparts.Let me preface this by saying I am not against representation nor diversity in video games. I welcome it wholeheartedly as long as it is done properly and not for diversity and inclusion’s sake. Otherwise, that would just be pandering, which only comes across as disingenuous. Nobody likes an indulgent virtue signaler, unless you are one yourself. In both Saga and Angrboda’s case, it’s very clear which direction the developers went—and it is my assumption that Sweet Baby Inc. pushed the developers into this direction.They’ve touted on their site that they explicitly worked on bringing “representation” to God of War: Ragnarok via character consultation. The discourse surrounding Angrboda is old news at this point that is not worth reiterating, but we have established which party would have potentially pushed for the current Angrboda over one who is more authentically Nordic-looking.As an aside, I find it funny that in order to be more diverse and accepting, Sony Santa Monica, and by extension Sweet Baby, have trampled over other people’s cultures (and perception of said culture) to do so. Apparently their interpretation of what something should be is far more important than actual representation. True forward thinking.However, Sweet Baby’s effect on games is far more than just what we can see at surface level. Among their other responsibilities, they also consult on narrative and character arcs for games. These have a far greater impact on games than what skin color or race a certain character is.Ragnarok, Alan Wake 2, and Spider Man 2 are all games that have earned a great deal of praise, and I am not denying the artistry and hard work that went into making these experiences. But only focusing on the praise these games get would be falsely representing the impacts these games have had, particularly in the story department.Ragnarok had fans of the God of War franchise disconnect with the game over the portrayal of Kratos. Alan Wake 2 is a huge step down from the pacing and writing of the prequel. Spider Man 2’s dual Spidermen driven story does not mesh together cohesively, leaving the story to progress unevenly. Of course, these are a matter of opinion, you do not have to agree or disagree, but they are not singular in nature or one-off comments. There are a decent number of detractors for each game that warrants an examination as to why these criticisms exist in the first place.And, all the issues come about from areas Sweet Baby Inc. assisted these projects on. They are the ones giving consultation advice on narrative development, cutscene portrayal, and sensitivity readings, which all ultimately affect the end product.It will never be possible to please everyone. What someone might find enjoyable, someone else might consider it intolerable. It is a noble endeavor to try to tell more empathetic stories, as Sweet Baby Inc. says in their mission statement, but I am not sure if this “enriching” ultimately creates “better” games. The reason why I am focusing on Sweet Baby Inc. and the issues that might be related to their work on games is not because I believe they are solely responsible for all the problems in modern video game storytelling and the like. Rather, I believe they are symptomatic of a larger problem plaguing the industry and that problem is bad actors, people who use important talking points like diversity and inclusion as nothing more than a means to garner publicity and attention rather than do anything meaningful or worthwhile with it.Just look at the Middle Eastern version of Spider Man 2. None of the representation that Insomniac (and probably Sweet Baby Inc.) pushed for made it in because their inclusion would hamper sales. Call me cynical but it looks like companies care more about profits at the end of the day and will use whatever trick in the book to break more than even. It just so happens that right now inclusivity and diversity are the best and easiest means to do it, encouraged by giants like BlackRock and Vanguard.We don’t know if Sweet Baby Inc. is in the pocket of those financial behemoths, but what we do know is that games that go through Sweet Baby come out more sour than sweet.Thankfully, they were nice enough to give us a list of games to avoid going forward.