The Powell Group SCRUBS Sweet Baby Inc. Partnership Evidence: In Full DAMAGE CONTROL Mode!

BUSTED In 4k... What Are You Hiding, Jay?

Previously, I covered how The Powell Group announced they had partnered with Sweet Baby Inc. as a diversity consultant, in what looked to be a way to hide the Sweet Baby Inc name from the public's eye... If you missed that, I recommend checking that out here first before proceeding, for full context.

Ok, now on with the latest twist in this ongoing saga...

The Powell Group pretends to be some sort of 'major' player in the gaming consultation world, recently found itself in the spotlight for its connection with Sweet Baby Inc. (SBI), a controversial narrative consulting firm that many, myself included, view as a negative influence on the gaming industry.

After publicly announcing a partnership with SBI, the Powell Group seemed to promptly regret its transparency, and - thanks to Vara Dark spotting it - has since been scrubbing any mention of Sweet Baby Inc. from its website and, interestingly enough, from its LinkedIn profile as well. It was up for two weeks without an issue, but when MasteroftheTDS caught wind, it was all down hill from there...

Here's the thing: Typically, when a company makes this kinda move, we would assume the deal could have simply fallen through... or was called off. Maybe there was a last-minute change of heart, or perhaps negotiations didn’t go as planned?

But no - with Sweet Baby Inc., nothing is ever that straightforward, and their past behavior's patterns that this partnership wasn’t simply abandoned. Instead, it looks clear as day to me that the Powell Group is trying to keep this connection under wraps—likely in response to the backlash that SBI’s involvement tends to attract (and for good reason).

This partnership, which briefly surfaced in a “sensitivity consulting” section on the Powell Group’s site, went beyond vague industry jargon. The page explicitly outlined a vision for “diverse voices to solve diverse problems,” heralding Sweet Baby Inc. as a trusted partner in bringing “authenticity” to gaming narratives. The whole thing was wrapped up in typical DEI-injected filled with SBI language—childlike branding with an unsettling undertone that almost felt like they’re marketing to a toy company for kids rather than to any kind of serious developers. To the Powell Group, partnering with SBI was a move that could give SBI access to thousands of developers, potentially injecting its questionable influence into more games than ever... Assuming this 'mom and pop' looking shop was even truthful about the amount of connections they claim to have had in the first place...

But as soon as we began discussing the partnership, the Powell Group seems to have hit the panic button and opted to shut any mention of SBI down, rushing to erase all traces of it EVERYWHERE. The LinkedIn scrub is particularly telling—erasing something from your main website is one thing, but wiping it from professional networking platforms suggests that this isn’t merely a case of a deal gone south; this is an extremely calculated move trying to now hide their connection after it was exposed.

For anyone familiar with Sweet Baby Inc., this doesn’t come as a surprise - like... at all. In fact, it's expected - par for the course at this point. Scam artists gonna scam.

SBI’s team, led by people snake oil salesmen scam artists Kim Belair and David Bedard, has shown everyone how they have a strong aversion to any kind of public scrutiny. Always jumping right to the victim card when caught red handed. Their M.O. is to be working in the shadows, quietly embedding their narrative perspectives without the broader gaming community catching on until... it’s too late. This is, after all, the same group that insists on “flying under the radar,” as Kim put it in her XOXO speech, because they KNOW that more gamers and developers are starting to question the value and impact of these narrative consultants.

So, let’s call it what it is: the Powell Group was CAUGHT, red-handed, and appears to be hiding this partnership after its discovery, hoping that the public’s memory is short enough to move on. But little do they know - the internet doesn’t forget. Screenshots, archives, and the simple fact that Sweet Baby Inc. and the Powell Group would make a perfect storm of agendas have firmly planted this partnership in the community’s collective memory. Thankfully I was able to capture all the screenshots in my original SmashJT article covering this situation.

This latest move by the Powell Group isn’t just about covering tracks—it’s a symptom of a broader problem within the industry. While they attempt to present their services as an asset, the reality is that many gamers are fed up with this kind of narrative manipulation. Still zero transparency to gamers as to what is happening behind the scenes. Instead of elevating games, partnerships with groups like SBI seem to always leave studios with a bad reputation... and developers with products that gamers don’t want.

It’s time the gaming industry stopped welcoming these consulting groups that fly in, stir up controversy, and leave behind projects that struggle to resonate with players. If the Powell Group believes that scrubbing this partnership from public view will erase concerns, they’re sorely mistaken. Publicly stating they made an error and have backed out would help, but honestly, even partering with SBI at this point in any capacity exposes you for not understanding the very industry you claim to be the professional in soooo....

We’re watching, we’re talking, and we’re not going to let this partnership slip quietly into the background.

Nice try though...

~Smash