Putting the "Con" in "Con"sultancy - Kim Belair and David Bedard of Sweet Baby Inc. & The Grifters Behind Unknown 9: Awakening
Sweet Baby Inc. (SBI) was supposedly founded on the 'promise' of creating culturally sensitive narratives, advertising themselves as a consultancy agency for game developers to ensure accurate and respectful depictions of 'diverse' cultures. Supposedly, SBI’s mission is to bring “cultural awareness” to games, educating developers on what is “socially acceptable” across various backgrounds... But as Unknown 9: Awakening has proven, SBI’s co-CEOs, Kim Belair and David Bedard, are more focused on the 'idea' of diversity than its actual substance, wielding the promise of 'cultural respect' as a cheap façade to sell their “expertise” professionally.
I first heard of this situation while watching a stream of New Black Street covering the story, so shoutout to them!
When Bandai Namco Entertainment contracted Sweet Baby Inc. for Unknown 9: Awakening, I'd assume they had expected a nuanced, respectful portrayal of the Bengal region in 1912. Instead, players were given a lazy, slapped-on attempt that's offensive in its sheer lack of effort. The region feels like a ridiculous caricature rather than any real, authentic cultural representation. It's filled with inaccurate, laughable NPC dialogue showing complete disregard for the nuances of the region. Kim Belair is credited as “story architect” - and she oversaw these narrative choices, yet her product shows zero understanding of or respect for the culture they supposedly set out to portray.
Somebody please tell me again why these 'consultancy' groups exist (other than to extort money out of companies not knowing any better)?
A Grift Disguised as Cultural Sensitivity
SBI has constantly indirectly claimed themselves as the gatekeepers of cultural sensitivity, that their 'consultancy' service ensures respectful narratives in games. But in the Bengal region of Unknown 9: Awakening, they missed the mark... by miles. Analyzing the dialogue choices for NPCs shows everyone just how poorly researched and shallow the execution truly is. The developers filled the bustling streets of a Bengal market with random, contextless phrases that were clearly ripped randomly off the internet.
According to Private Prime, one instance that highlights the absurdity is a conversation where NPCs in 1912 Bengal are shown speaking in Bangladeshi Bengali—a dialect geographically, culturally, and historically different from the region and time setting... It’s an extremely lazy shortcut that demonstrates just how little SBI actually cares about the culture, treating it as a convenient checkbox rather than an integral part of the story.
We were told that they supposedly bring in 'experts' to assist with getting the culture 'just right' when working on games... but they couldn't do the most basic review of obvious dialogue. How is this culturally sensitive at all? And if they aren't working on things like this, again, what is the point of Sweet Baby Inc.?
One NPC, for instance, casually mentions “fry rice,” as if that adds an air of authenticity to the setting. Other characters are heard rambling about coffee in a way that is both contextually out of place and nonsensical, making it ...painfully obvious that the dialogue was crammed in for show without any understanding of the region’s culinary habits or dialogue styles at the time...
Empty Claims, Empty Promises
If Belair and Bedard had truly cared about the Bengal setting and its people, they would've done their research, ensuring that characters sound authentic, not like a series of Google-translated phrases strung together for ambient noise to make it 'sound' like a crowded marketplace. SBI’s approach treats 'cultural authenticity' as a marketing ploy rather than an essential component of storytelling.
This isn’t about celebrating diversity or respecting culture—this is cultural exploitation, plain and simple... By touting themselves as the arbiters of social acceptability, SBI strong-arms developers into buying their services while delivering subpar, misleading narratives that only harm the very cultural respect they claim to uphold. They are not qualified for the work they claim to be professionals doing.
The Sweet Baby Inc. Mafia: A Culture of Extortion
Under the guise of providing expertise on diversity and inclusion, Sweet Baby Inc. has become the gaming industry’s extortion mafia. Hell the CEO Kim Belair straight up admits it at her GDC conference:
They advertise their services as an all-encompassing solution to cultural respect and sensitivity, yet the end product feels more like a parody than anything truly sincere. They act as the “experts,” yet the output reveals a staggering lack of understanding. The dialogue in Unknown 9: Awakening serves as a warning to developers: Sweet Baby Inc. doesn't deliver the sensitivity or respect they promise. Instead, they produce hollow, inauthentic content while demanding fees for their “expertise.”
By positioning themselves as untouchable experts, Belair, Bedard & company have managed to push through a narrative that THEY are indispensable to the industry’s future. However, the blatant disregard for the culture in Unknown 9: Awakening exposes their true colors. It’s not about enriching stories or preserving the essence of diverse cultures; it’s about squeezing developers for cash... under the guise of social responsibility.
The house of cards is collapsing.
~Smash
Sources/thx:
I thought I would add my comment on this because I am one who doesn't like any of this DEI & SBI bullcrap at all and NO gamer companies should be doing any business at all with Sweet baby Diarrhea at all because they Fuck Up games
I'm not surprised one bit. I mean SBI and the likes of SBI are offering their 'expertise' but in reality they aren't expert of anything but scamming. They use extortion and blackmailing to insert themselves into companies and destroy them from within.
I said it a million times - i hope companies will sue SBI and the other 'consultant' companies till nothing remains of them. I'd like governments(USA and Canada) investigate the legality of SBI activities and then press charges against them. Why? Because there is a good chance they were(and still) violating anti-discrimination laws in the USA and Canada.
Good informative article as always, keep Smashing!
Like Elon musk said they can't go out of business fast enough. Their a cancer to the industry like the rest of these consultancy firms