Daedalic Entertainment, the German publisher behind Capes, banned numerous Steam users from the game’s forums after they questioned the company’s narrative surrounding Sweet Baby Inc.
A screenshot from Capes (2024), Spitfire Interactive
In a recent post to the game’s Steam forums, Community Strategist Penta wrote a post titled “Conclusive Statement about SBI” where he attempted to explain why there are 12 Sweet Baby Inc. employees listed in the game’s credits if all Sweet Baby Inc. did was act as an intermediary to find voice talent.
Penta had previously made this claim in another thread on the game’s forums in response to the game being added to KabrutusRambo’s DEI Detected website and his Sweet Baby Inc. detected Steam curator list.
A screenshot from Capes (2024), Spitfire Interactive
He wrote, “We already had 3 months and 14 pages of constructive discussion about “DEI” in the forum and delivered a gameplay update focussing on exactly what the playerbase wanted – leading to ~80% positive recent reviews.”
He continued, “You don’t have to take my word for it, you can actually read up on it yourselves (https://steamcommunity.com/app/2081080/discussions/0/4328601129273437389/) , but we were already able to explain that SBI only worked briefly, mainly to bring the 4-5 people strong Indie-Dev team in contact with fitting Voice Actors, together with the Devs (2+ years ago) and many first sceptical players were able to find out that there is no hidden agenda or somethig else we “force down your throats” or other concerns they had – besides a well-rounded, diverse cast, obviously.”
Penta then concluded, “So why don’t we just focus on the most important question, that the OP was mentioning already? Is Capes fun? And this is exactly why I brought up the positive reactions towards our most recent update – we think you would enjoy it, if you gave it a chance.”
Daedalic Entertainment Community Strategist Penta on Steam
In his most recent post, Penta stated, “It is an industry norm, that if you contract a company, you credit the whole company, or at least, that they tell you who they want listed in your credits. If we really would have wanted to ‘hide’ something, we wouldnt have put SBI into the credits at all nor would we have been already talking in the steam forums about it during the last 3 months after release.”
He then indicated that Daedalic will no longer work with Sweet Baby Inc. moving forward, “The Devs collaborated with SBI in early 2022. We are aware of the statements being done by individuals connected to SBI in the years to come – but in 2022 there was no sign of that – it is likely that the decision would have been a different one in 2024.”
A screenshot from Capes (2024), Spitfire Interactive
Finally, he admitted that regardless of Sweet Baby Inc.’s involvement the company is committed to inclusivity and equality. He wrote, “As a company bringing games to an international audience, we take the term inclusivity and equality literal. We don’t condone hate towards any type of group. This includes – among POC, LGBTQ+ and others – white male gamers, aswell.”
“It is sad that we have to actually word it out – it should be a given – we are ALL gamers, no matter who we are. If a diverse cast of heroes makes you not want to play Capes, thats your decision – but we are surely not ‘the enemy’ – at least we don’t see ‘you’ as one for making this decision.”
“But at the moment some – not all – of you are actively trying to harm a small indie Dev Studio – to teach them a lesson, that they never really needed to learn,” he concluded.
Daedalic Entertainment Community Strategist Penta on Steam
X user Kabukijoi1221 shared that he was banned from the Capes Steam forum after questioning this narrative from Penta.
Specifically, he was banned for commenting, “I think he is lying to try and save the game, I believe sweet baby did change stuff and it stayed changed, why hire more consultants then devs and have them on their payroll for a few years then take nothing they said into account? It sounds like a lie.”
For this comment he was “banned from Capes Community Hub by a Capes developer.” This means he is “no longer able to post or comment in the Capes Community Hub or upload new content to this community hub.” The ban is also permanent.
— Lazyjoebeard (@Kabukijoe1221) August 9, 2024
Kabukijoi1221 is not the only one to be banned. A user named Daryl was also banned for posting, “Just a heads up for everyone. ‘Synthetic’ is a level 0 account and the way they’re commenting it, seems like its a fake account made by a member of Spitfire or something.”
He continued, “Notice how the “strategic community dev” dude only responds to “Synthetic” and ignores everyone else, whilst the level 0 account positively reinforce the company by going stuff like ‘all hope and love for the game devs… and ♥♥♥♥ all these LEGION OF CRYBABIES (us the gamers).’ This is sickening cope.”
A post by Daryl on the Capes Steam forum
Penta explained why he banned Daryl, “This is not a moderation free zone – if you break the rules, dont listen to warnings and continue with the pre-warned behavior, we still have to do our job. Making up lies and creating conspiracy theories is not the way here.”
A post by Penta in the Capes Steam forum
Another user Izeyash was also banned after responding to Penta’s post attempting to explain Sweet Baby Inc.’s involvement. He wrote, “Thats a lot of words for “we don’t want your money”, cause at this point I will not buy your game. Just because you make a game doesn’t mean you deserve business. And any company caving to the insane ramblings of critical x theory deserves to go bankrupt.”
“Give us the dudebro culture back and make quality games for the audience that actually plays your games,” he added.
A post by Izeyash in the Capes Steam forum
Penta responded, “If you would have read the ‘lot of words’, you would have seen that this was not what was happening. If you wont take in the information I give you, and you just believe whatever you want to believe, there’s no reason in leaving this discussion open.”
A post by Penta in the Capes Steam forum
Another user was banned for making it clear he would no longer be purchasing from Daedalic due to Penta’s behavior.
Quagimus Decimus posted, “Yep, Just got warned for a post. So much for professionalism. Where was that professionalism when they published Gollum? Whatever Daedlic games are now forever blacklisted from purchase. Have a wonderful day everyone.”
A post by Quagimus Decimus in the Capes Steam forum
Penta replied, “Yes, since breaking the Steam Guidelines, like you did, will still be moderated – Just because I’m giving the SBI topic and the comments about it much more freedom than other CMs would do in this situation, doesnt mean that this is a moderation-free area. You have dozens of examples in here how you can voice your opinion in a mannered way without personal attacks or actively trying to heat up the discussion again.”
A post by Penta in the Capes Steam forum
It does not appear that Penta is convincing anyone or making any sales. In fact, he appears to be doing the opposite as a number of individuals indicated they would never purchase anything from Daedalic ever again.
As for Capes, the game had a peak concurrent player base of 664 at the end of May. In the last 24 hours it hit a peak concurrent of just 21 players.
A screenshot of Capes’ concurrent player numbers via SteamDB
What do you make of Daedalic’s Community Strategist banning numerous individuals questioning his narrative surrounding Sweet Baby Inc.’s involvement with the game?
