According to the Canadian government-run broadcaster Radio-Canada, the individual who kicked off the current round of video game industry discourse with his creation of the Sweet Baby Inc. Detected Steam curator group, Kabrutus, can be best described not as an unhappy consumer concerned with the ongoing DEI-teriroration of one of his favorite entertainment mediums, but as “the leader of [a] cyberharassment campaign.”
The French-speaking branch of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation leveled this accusation towards the Brazillian video game player in an April 4th ‘summary piece’ entitled Too Woke? A Montreal video game studio is a victim of harassment, itself written with the intention of giving the outlet’s readers a (heavily-slanted) recap of the current Sweet Baby Inc. discourse.
“The small video game consultation studio Sweet Baby Inc. is the target of a vast cyberharassment campaign (including death treats),” wrote the outlet in the opening to their piece, as personally translated by this article’s author. “Thousands of internet figures, including influential figures like Elon Musk, have accused the studio of propagating their ‘woke agenda’ and policies of inclusion, diversity, and equity in the video games they work on.”
From there, the outlet would proceed to present readers with a quote from Kabrutus himself, as initially given to Geeks + Gamers’ Alex Gherzo during a March 2024 interview, in which he explained his reason for creating the aforementioned ‘Sweet Baby Inc. Detected’ Steam curator group.
“SBI forces political agendas and DEI into their games,” reads the part of the interview quoted by Radio-Canada. “I started noticing patterns in some games, like ugly women and male characters being weakened to make female ones look stronger.”
And it would be at this point in their article that the French-Canadian broadcaster would apply their accusatory label to Kabrutus’ character.
In attributing Kabrutus’ quote to the player himself, Radio-Canada would describe him to their readers as “the creator of the ‘Sweet Baby Inc. Detected’ movement and the leader of the cyberharassment campaign.”
Following their insulting of Kabrutus, the outlet would continue to try running defense for Sweet Baby Inc.
Turning their attentions to the Steam curator group itself, Radio-Canada next detailed to their readers, “350,000. That’s the number of subscribers to a list on the Steam platform named ‘Sweet Baby Inc. Detected,’ which lists the video games which the studio and its members have worked on.”
To this end, the outlet then quoted Sweet Baby Inc. co-founder David Bédard, who informed them that after the list’s creation, “Our inbox went from a few messages a day to a hundred. We have gotten thousands of emails from people who want us to disappear.”
“We really do consulting work,” he continued. “We get hired by clients who have already made their game more inclusive, and who want it to be more credible.”
Next, the outlet proposed the question of whether or not this latest discourse could properly be classified as “Gamergate 2.0”.
“In 2014, a cyberharassment campaign called into question the objectivity of video game reviews and, more widely, the place of women in the video game industry,” they wrote. “The starting point? A history of sexual relations between a game designer and a journalist, as reported by her ex-spouse.”
Providing yet another quote ostensibly sought with the specific intention of bolstering their fearmongering, Radio-Canada then cited University of Quebec in Montreal video games research Maude Bonenfant, who recalled of Gamergate, “It was very violent. As soon as someone spoke out, it created waves everywhere.”
Drawing their report to a close, Radio-Canada ultimately questioned whether or not the industry was in the early stages of a “wildfire”.
“The Sweet Baby Inc. team is little-by-little getting used to the idea that the harassment and threats that they’re receiving are their new reality,” concluded the outlet. “No one has submitted their resignation from the small team at Sweet Baby Inc, and no contracts have been lost since the start of this saga.”
Notably, this is not the first time that the collective CBC/Radio-Canada entity has run defense for Sweet Baby Inc.
In explaining the situation to his listeners on the March 19th episode of his talk show The Current, CBC host Matt Galloway asserted, “Now, Sweet Baby is the victim of a giant organized harassment campaign, and gaming insiders say this harassment shows just how toxic certain parts of gaming culture still are.”
