Sweet Baby Inc.'s Wikipedia page is missing key facts – here’s the unbiased context
Wikipedia's page covering the Sweet Baby Inc. fallout isn't quite as accurate as it could be
✍️ The Sweet Baby Inc. Wikipedia page isn’t as accurate as it could be
🤷♂️ The page fails to include context and focuses on one side of the events
🗣️ The fallout over a Steam Curator Group has caused a dispute between some gamers and those within the industry
The controversy surrounding Sweet Baby Inc. – a narrative consultant company whose mission is “to tell better, more empathetic stories while diversifying and enriching the video games industry” – continues to rumble on as gamers and gaming journalists staunchly defend their version of events.
The fallout, which began when an SBI employee took exception to a Steam Curator group called ‘Sweet Baby Inc. Detected’, has now been officially documented by Wikipedia. But it’s missing a key detail and isn’t completely accurate.
Not only does the Wikipedia article incorrectly claim that the ‘Sweet Baby Inc. Detected’ group was “encouraging players to avoid the games as the studio promoted a ‘woke agenda’“ – it also says, “The group received increased attention in February when a Sweet Baby employee asked others to report it for failing Steam's code of conduct.”
First, the group did not fail Steam’s code of conduct, which is evidenced by the fact it’s still live. The creator, Kabrutus, also allegedly received an email from Valve that confirmed the group wasn’t in breach.
According to The Shortcut’s research, there was also no encouragement given to “avoid the games” that Sweet Baby Inc. had been involved in. As the group’s ‘About’ page clearly states, Sweet Baby Inc. Detected is: “A tracker for games involved with Sweet Baby Inc.” We haven’t found evidence of this to date.
However, and more importantly, the Wikipedia page doesn’t mention that the same Sweet Baby Inc. employee who wanted the group removed then encouraged people to report the user so that their personal Steam account would be banned.
As Kabrutus said on X, “You know, here in Brazil games are expensive as f**, my Steam account is almost 14 years old with more than 700 non-cheap games bought, yet you [a gaming outlet] don't mention that SBI tried to make me lose everything and cease my right to speak”.
Ironically, the SBI employee was subsequently banned for breaching X’s rules for targeted harassment and the Sweet Baby Inc. Wikipedia page now provides a comprehensive list of every game the studio has worked on.
The Wikipedia page has since received “extended confirmed protection”, which only allows edits by editors with user access level and is granted to registered users whose accounts are 30 days old and with at least 500 edits on English Wikipedia.
Why do some gamers dislike Sweet Baby Inc.?
Sweet Baby Inc. has been accused of making games worse by forcing diversity and a “woke agenda” into beloved franchises in a bid to help companies meet their ESG (environmental, social, governance) and DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) targets.
While this is something that Sweet Baby Inc. has denied, along with several game developers, past comments from the company’s CEO Kim Belair haven’t helped matters.
Speaking at the Game Developers Conference in 2019, Belair said: “If you’re a creative working in triple-A, put this stuff up to your higher-ups. And if they don’t see the value of what you’re asking for when you ask for consultants, when you ask for research, go have a coffee with your marketing team and just terrify them with the possibility of what’s gonna happen if they don’t give you what you want.”
An interview with an ex-Sweet Baby Inc. employee has also resurfaced where they admitted to not hiring white people while working on their previous game “because I wanted to create a safe environment. And I know the best way for an environment to be safe is to be around people who are just like me.” They also said white people can be “hard to work with… because they think that something may be okay, but it was really a microaggression.”
Read our exclusive interview with Sweet Baby Inc. detected creator, Kabrutus
The Shortcut has reached out to Sweet Baby Inc. for comment.