Lisy Kane, the Senior Operations & Growth Manager for Kepler Interactive, the video game developer publishing the upcoming Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, shared her rage to social media after the game was added to the Sweet Baby Inc. boycott list.
A screenshot from Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn (2024), A44 Games
Brazilian gamer KabrutusRambo announced the game’s inclusion to the boycott list posting on X, “Hey guys, I added another game to my curator list. The game is called Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, and as shown in this physical copy of the Edge magazine, it involves Kim Belair (Sweet Baby Inc. CEO). I have waited a bit before deciding to add this one because a dev from Flintlock team reached to me through my mail, stating that they eradicated the SBI part and basically remade it completely.”
“At this point, together with my staff, I have decided to give them the chance to prove this, allowing us access to the game prerelease and asking their manager to have a conversation with me. They openly refused on both points, leaving me without any way to confirm what they were telling to us. This doesn’t speak very well about them. So, yeah, new game in the list,” he added.
Hey guys, I added another game to my curator list. The game is called Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, and as shown in this physical copy of the Edge magazine, it involves Kim Belair (Sweet Baby Inc. CEO).
I have waited a bit before deciding to add this one because a dev from… pic.twitter.com/tXPXyC33Lo
— Kabrutus (@kabrutusrambo) March 20, 2024
Following this declaration, former World of Warcraft Team Lead Mark Kern revealed that the entire game had been ruined by Sweet Baby Inc.’s Kim Belair and A44 Games’ former Chief Operating Officer Audrea Topps Harjo.
Kern shared his information to X writing, “Proof Sweet Baby Inc. ruins games: SBI game Flintlock by A44 Games as been overrun by woke: ‘I used to work there. Flintlock was a good project with lots of potential, then it was ruined.'”
Proof Sweet Baby Inc. ruins games:
SBI game Flintlock by @a44games has been overrun by woke:
“I used to work there. Flintlock was a good project with lots of potential, then it was ruined.”
🧵(Con’t) pic.twitter.com/G1b8NTTBOH
— Grummz (@Grummz) March 21, 2024
He continued, “Before I go further, please note this is rumor from a source that seems very knowledgeable about the studios inner workings. Take that as it is. If others would like to verify, please DM me anon. The CEO and COO at a44 are no longer with the company, but the damage seems to have been done. The good devs at a44, I tell you how to fix it at the end of this thread.”
“Did you know the protagonist of Flintlock used to be white? When COO (and Casting Director) Andrea Topps Harjo joined the studio, her first actions were to change the character to hire Sweet Baby Inc. and change the main character to a PoC. This marked the beginnings of the problems with the game and studio,” he shared.
Did you know the protagonist of Flintlock used to be white?
When COO (and Casting Director) Andrea Topps Harjo joined the studio, her first actions were to change the character to hire Sweet Baby Inc. and change the main character to a PoC.
This marked the beginnings of the… pic.twitter.com/DFBqVh69rE
— Grummz (@Grummz) March 21, 2024
READ: Government-Owned Canadian Broadcasting Company Joins Sweet Baby Inc. Misinformation Campaign
Next, Kern provided some more details about Harjo and how she was allegedly using A44 Games’ assets to fund her own business.
“Audrea Topps-Harjo is rumored to have used the company’s funds and manpower to power her personal agenda and projects, on initiatives not related to the game or even the studio itself,” Kern posted. “One such initiative that I found is InclusionFX, a VFX company and advocacy company with shades of Sweet Baby Inc. Here is the bio from the company. She held this position at Flintlock at the same time she ran InclusionFX. I asked and confirmed: “Yea, I have witnessed our UI artists making art assets for its website as their sprint tasks.”
He continued, “Aside from working with Sweet Baby Inc. and making changes to the game, Audrea also directed numerous changes in HR in her role as COO. In 2021, most developers were denied raises, and evaluations were postponed for at least 6 months. Audrea told HR to inform anyone who complained or asked questions that the reasons is ‘Is because I said so.’ She also ordered the HR department to HIDE the salaries of the top execs of the company. HR tried to help, but were unable to get past this. The team was worried about the studio finances. Meanwhile, the new hires and changes to the game resulted in a project where ‘These people know nothing about how a video game is made.'”
Aside from working with Sweet Baby Inc. and making changes to the game, Audrea also directed numerous changes in HR in her role as COO.
In 2021, most developers were denied raises, and evaluations were postponed for at least 6 months. Audrea told HR to inform anyone who…
— Grummz (@Grummz) March 21, 2024
Next, he shared, “After nearly 2 years of these DEI changes at a44, the damage had been done. At this point the studio was purchased for $175m (an unusually high sum for a small studio, btw) by Kepler Interactive in Sept of 2021, a gaming collective fund whose founder also founded the Kowloon Knights gaming fund. It was at this point that Audrea, the COO, left the company. Perhaps this was the start of a clean-up of the game’s troubles?”
Kern concluded, “The state of the game is unknown at this time, but is believed to be in shambles after this 2 year round of DEI changes. As we now know, a44 reached out to Kabrutus to refute SBI’s involvement, saying they are no longer involved and all their changes reversed. But when Kabrutus asked for proof, they refused to speak to him any further.”
The state of the game is unknown at this time, but is believed to be in shambles after this 2 year round of DEI changes.
As we now know, a44 reached out to Kabrutus to refute SBI’s involvement, saying they are no longer involved and all their changes reversed.
But when…
— Grummz (@Grummz) March 21, 2024
Following Kern’s thread Kane took to X where she wrote, “Absolutely fuming, vibrating off the f***ing plane of reality. This piss weak pseudo-journalism that the far-right GG* are taking is so vile. Incredible to see in real time (and closer to home) how wrong Grum**z is and how damaging he and his weird troupe are.”
Lisy Kane on X
Kern would share this post as well as information from Kane’s website, which has now been locked down.
Update:@lisyK, Ops Mgr for @kepler_interact, the studio that purchased @a44games, is not happy with me breaking the story on Flintlock.
A quick review of her homepage shows funding source is woke.
Seems they won’t be taking my advice, or be honest with @kabrutusrambo about… https://t.co/H3XoNOcuXk pic.twitter.com/9qkNmMjvZP
— Grummz (@Grummz) March 21, 2024
In fact, she is now claiming she’s a victim of harassment, but as Kern questions, “She went protected immediately. So how could she have received any harassment? More lies.”
Flintlock funding Ops Mgr (of owners Kepler Interactive), is now claiming harassment after she had a meltdown over my story on the funding wokeness ruining the studio.
She went protected immediately. So how could she have received any harassment?
More lies.
Note she linked to… https://t.co/3eEhr2zJhH
— Grummz (@Grummz) March 21, 2024
Of note, Kane is the co-founder of Girl Geek Academy, which states on its website that its goal is “to bring one million women and girls into technology careers by 2030 through a range of programs in industries such as games, startups, 3D printing, design, and aviation.”
It adds, “We work to tackle structural issues facing women and girls in technology by influencing families, corporations, government, schools, and the tech community.”
Geek Girls Academy website
The organization appears to discriminate based on gender. The about section states, “We started building programs for women after we ran the world’s first all-women hackathon in 2014. We quickly realised if we had started teaching children 10 years ago, we could be hiring them today. So now our programs teach women, girls and families across a range of different industries including games, startups, 3D printing, making, design, tech, drones, space and aviation.”
Geek Girls Academy website
Furthermore, the site claims that since women are not naturally interested in technology jobs there was some kind of structural problem it needs to address.
The site reads, “Gender inequality ain’t gonna fix itself! We were shocked. We thought ‘wait, if no-one has done this very basic thing to support women, what about the hard stuff? Who’s working on that?’ And that’s when we realised if no-one else was working on these structural problems, we had a responsibility to try and tackle them.
It continues, “We knew from our experience volunteer effort alone wasn’t going to fix the structural issues facing women and girls in technology. We decided to build a kickass company that could influence families, big corporates, government, schools and the tech community to work towards achieving gender equality in tech. We also decided if we want women to build their own tech companies, we need to understand and role model what that journey looks like. So here we are. And it’s serious business.”
Geek Girls Academy website
What do you make of Kane raging after Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn was added to the Sweet Baby Inc. boycott list?
Another self-report. Mark Kern was overly optimistic if he thought that these clowns would follow his advice. The developers who invited SBI wanted to be woke, which is why the list should be of companies rather than just games.