They're just a consultancy service - hardly worth investigating. Seems that they purport to offer expertise on how a developer can improve diversity and inclusion in their products.
Like any consultancy, whether they can actually do this and whether their clients will actually implement it effectively are another matter entirely.
The Steam group creator seems to think either they're garbage or that their clients' approach to diversity and inclusion is garbage. (Or maybe they're just some alt-right incel Nazi <insert favoured pejorative here...>)
I think the amount of outrage a Steam Curator group has generated solely by pointing out that $game used $consultancy_service indicates that there is something deeper about the subject. No smoke without fire and all that.
Motherfuckers need real struggle in their lives if this is the shit they're wasting their time on. Art will be diverse, always has been. Get the fuck over yourself and move on to something that caters to whatever bullshit narrative you need to wake up everyday and be an ignorant piece of shit. I mean, the Bible is a work of fiction that's been whitewashed with a cracker ass jesus, how about we start there?
Apologies for the rant, I usually have this type of nonsense filtered outta my feed.
These are people who rely on "I may be a piece of shit, but at least I'm not (minority group)" to get through their day and not have to try to be a better person. If minority groups get treated as well as "normal" people there will be no one for them to look down on!
Anyone else sometimes get sideways glances from people when they tell others that video games are a big hobby you enjoy? Yeah, dumbass shit like this whole saga is why.
Ignoring the controversy for a second, I do think your writing is going to be shit if you outsource it, it just screams "I don't give a fuck, let some intern I can't even supervise do it". So while this company isn't egregious per se, the fact it exists and there's a demand for it spells a bigger issue with the industry.
If you don't have the talent internally, you hire someone else to do it. Is it shit to hire someone to make the music? To make the engine? Why is the writing different?
And even if you do have the talent internally you can still seek specialised feedback on your work - most authors work with editors for example.
The only reason this case is notable is because of the reactionary response to the "woke" games industry (and games journalism in particular). This is just another round of nonsense in this culture war, so people on either side are staking out ridiculous positions.
If I don't have the talent, I'd hire the talent and work with them directly. Not hire some firm and tell them "yes we need to maximize the player engagement portfolio metric synergized meta narrative systems" and whatever other corporate words I could fit in.
Which is specifically what my post was criticizing, unless you're going to try to tell me that doesn't happen.
I spoke with several employees of Sweet Baby Inc. to learn what the company actually does and how the misunderstanding of its role in the industry highlights a far broader problem.
You don't know what Sweet Baby Inc. does, but you assume the people complaining about SBI must be incorrect? Do journalists in any other sector of the market fall all over themselves rushing to defend companies like they do in game development?
The first thing in the sentence is literally them learning about what the company does, directly from the source. Who exactly do you think is more qualified to comment on it? Random internet users with no relation to the industry?
I've wondered what the term was for someone who acts like an incel, but might have had sex at one point or another. I guess it's "anti-woke", or whatever they're calling themselves now.
If the art was already written with diverse characters like they were before companys like this existed then why do you have to hire a firm to make it diverse. A piece of art should not have another company come in and make "suggestions" on things to change to fit inside of a narrative.
If you read the article you’d find out that writing diverse characters isn’t a focus of this company. Once again “gamers” completely misunderstand how games are made.
Edit: noticing a few down votes, if clicking on the video and seeing "woke" as the video image is off putting then please notice its in quotations.
As for the content, well informed about the industry and how esg rating system has lead to check boxing. The video is not saying to avoid inclusivity in vedeo games it is however saying that company's are riding on inclusivity to make money and they're doing so in a lazy way that doesnt seem to help the cause.
It's still a safer bet to avoid whatever they consult on, they've an eye for trash writing and they thrive on "fixing" that. And companies that hire them are just out there to make a quick buck rather than creating a good story, experience or game.
its a good scam create problem that you are the solution to and you never have to face the consequences of what you do because you never make your own games you always work on other peoples games as consulted so that it can never be traced back to you unless you make it public and publish it on your own sweet baby site as promotion to do it again.
This particular take that's going around seems to be almost as stupid as Sweet Baby Inc's attempted takedown of the Steam group.
They're just pointing out reality - gaming media is "woke", if your product doesn't check the diversity and inclusion boxes it will be criticized, "hire us to help". They're basically a PR firm.
This isn't them threatening to cause the damage, they're not The Mob - "Say, that's a nice game you got there. Be a shame if something happened to it."
, if your product doesn’t check the diversity and inclusion boxes it will be criticized, “hire us to help”.
That's textbook extortion. "Nice product you got there, be a shame if twitter didn't like it. Maybe pay us some money, make sure nothing untoward happens to your product"