Abubakar Salim the director of Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, painted himself as a victim while discounting the game after it was effectively boycotted on Steam for having hired Sweet Baby Inc. to worked on it.
Abubakar Salim via Abubakar Salim on X
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU was added to the Sweet Baby Inc. detected Steam curator list after Sweet Baby Inc. announced in its January newsletter that it worked on the game.
The company wrote, “Our friends at Surgent Studios dropped the trailer for their upcoming action-adventure platformer, Tales of Kenzera: ZAU. We had the utmost pleasure of working with Abubakar Salim and the Surgent team on this poignant story, which has been heavily inspired and influenced by Bantu mythology. We know you’re gonna love it as much as we do.”
“In Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, join Zau as he journeys through the world of Kenzera to get his Baba back, joined by an unlikely companion: the God of Death,” the company added.
Screenshot from Tales of Kenzera: ZAU (2024), Surgent Studios
Not only did Sweet Baby Inc. announce they worked on the game, but Abubakar Salim was a partner with the founders of Sweet Baby Inc. David Bedard and Kim Belair alongside Sweet Baby Inc. employee and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League writer Amy-Leigh Shaw in a company named Bebe Sucre LTD or Sweet Baby LTD.
Bebe Sucre LTD’s Certificate of Incorporation
Salim resigned from his role as Director of the company on March 12, 2024 after being appointed on April 27, 2023.
A screenshot of Bebe Sucre LTD’s filing history
The game released to Steam on April 23rd and peaked with concurrent players only hitting 287. By the end of May, the game’s peak concurrent was at 19. In the past 24 hours, it has jumped up to 35 as the peak concurrent.
It’s estimated the game has only sold between 11,800 and 14,900 units.
SteamDB data for Tales of Kenzera: ZAU (2024), Surgent Studios
With the game’s player base dwindling, Salim took to X at the end of May to announce a discount for the game. However, he also painted himself as a victim.
He stated, “So, I don’t want to address this, but we’re here now. Look, since the beginning of my career there’s always been someone who has made me feel like I didn’t deserve the opportunity I got. From Assassin’s Creed to Raised by Wolves. I’ve had to ignore people saying that i wasn’t the work that got me the opportunities. No, it was simply because I’m black. Look, I’ve turned the other cheek and just kept doing my thing. Even when people were saying the only reason why he’s been cast as Father in Raised by Wolves is because the character is a service model.”
“Look, some of these comments, you know, a few of them you can just brush off. But when it’s a constant barrage of them it’s exhausting,” he said.
A needed message. pic.twitter.com/oJaJEeZd61
— Abubakar Salim (@Abzybabzy) May 31, 2024
READ: Sweet Baby Inc. Influenced ‘Alan Wake 2’ Still Has Not Recouped Its Budget
Ironically, Assassin’s Creed developer Ubisoft has a hiring document that reveals it has an employee resource group called B.E.A.U. (Black Employees at Ubisoft) that “promotes the advancement of black employees at Ubisoft.” There is no such group for white employees listed. However, they have groups for Asian and Pacific Islanders, Latinos, and individuals from the Middle East and North Africa.
The document also declares, “Inclusion has been the starting point for the deployment of our actions: beyond recruiting diverse talent, we want to create an environment in which everyone can thrive. We are continually working to improve our HR policies and strengthen an inclusive corporate culture where diversity is celebrated!”
It also states, “Ubisoft takes a proactive role in creating a diverse, inclusive, healthy and safe working and gaming environment for its employees and gamers. This commitment has given rise to all the programs, partnerships and mechanisms that make up our Diversity & Inclusion policy today.”
A screenshot of Ubisoft’s Diversity & Inclusion Guide For Applicants
Raised by Wolves was an HBO Max series that aired from 2020 to 2022. Warner Bros. Discovery’s Chief Global DEI Officer Asif Sadiq commented that he actively works to remove opponents of diversity, equality, and inclusion initiatives from the company.
He said during an appearance on an Aspen Institute webinar, “Even beyond leaders, there’s always those few people who will never change. You will never convince them. You can try up until the end of eternity and it will still not happen. We waste so much energy doing that sometimes as individuals whether you’re in a leadership position or in a team and so on.”
He continued, “Focus on the ones who want to change because that way you start changing culture. And if you change culture often those people who don’t come around will start saying this place isn’t the way it used to be and they’ll leave themselves, which is great!”
Screenshot from Tales of Kenzera: ZAU (2024), Surgent Studios
Despite this, Salim continued, “When I look at ZAU, it’s reached this fever pitch. Look, don’t get me wrong, there has been so much amazing and beautiful support for this game. The fact that it has inspired so many people and touched, you know, so many lives — it was one of our goals from the outset to have this positive impact, right?”
“But at the same time we are being faced with constant targeted harassment from people who see diversity as a threat,” he said. “And from people who look across the vast landscape of modern media and anything that doesn’t speak to them or centers around them is unnecessary and inauthentic. And look, there’s a reason why diverse stories can’t exist. It’s either we’re doing it the wrong way or it’s just there to tick boxes. And it’s just beginning to feel like there is no right way.”
“You know these exclusionary rules continue to stack up. And the goalposts continue to shift until me, my studio, people who look like us just sit down, be quiet, and accept the fact that you’re outsiders. But I won’t do that,” he declared.
Screenshot from Tales of Kenzera: ZAU (2024), Surgent Studios
Diversity is indeed a threat. Emily Goldstein at Thought Catalog made this abundantly clear back in 2015 in an article titled “Yes, Diversity Is About Getting Rid Of White People (And That’s A Good Thing).”
She wrote in the article, “One of the more common memes that I’ve seen white supremacists spread around recently has been ‘diversity is a code word for white genocide’. The concept here is that diversity is only promoted in white nations, and that the end goal is to eliminate white people altogether by flooding all white countries with non-white people until there are no white people left. Well, guess what, white supremacists? That’s exactly right. Diversity IS about getting rid of white people, and that’s a good thing.”
She even concludes the article writing, “So, yes, white supremacists: diversity is indeed white genocide. And white genocide is exactly what the world needs more than anything else.”
A screenshot of an article written by Emily Goldstein in Thought Catalog
Salim went on, “So look, if there are people who aren’t like you in a game, you know, I want you to know that game is still for you. If the characters are a different race, or a different gender, or a different, you know, ideology, or a different perspective that doesn’t mean the game is not for you. It can still be for you.”
He explained, “You know it’s an opportunity to live in rich new worlds, to explore different perspective, to explore different cultures and all the while, you know, you’re playing a decent game. These games are opportunities to experience something different, something new. You just need to be open to it.”
Screenshot from Tales of Kenzera: ZAU (2024), Surgent Studios
Salim went on, “Games are a medium unlike any other. And, you know, in all aspects they have this potential to have profound impact on not only the people who make them, but who play them. I really believe games are for everyone. That’s why I insisted on setting ZAU’s cost at the price of pizza.”
He then declared the game would be discounted on Switch, “So, look, starting today on Switch, shout out to Nintendo for acting fast on this. I’m lowering that bar of entry further by dropping the price of ZAU to less than $15. I genuinely believe in the power that games have to bring us close together and I believe this is just one way to show you how serious I am about this.”
“Games are for everyone,” he asserted. “Diverse games, they’re not about taking something away from you. They’re about adding something in because there is room for all of us. Look, I’m working with the team in bringing this discount to all platforms. And it’s going to start from now to the end of June because you know it just means so much to me, man.”
Screenshot from Tales of Kenzera: ZAU (2024), Surgent Studios
Salim then addressed developers, “And look, let me just take this opportunity as well to actually speak to the developers out there that have actually dedicated themselves to making games that speak to different audiences and tell personal stories that uplift the marginalized and underrepresented. You know, your work is so important, so important today.
“And, you know, whether you realize it or not, you are actually setting an example for the next generation of developers, of creators, of artists. Just take that in. Keep doing what you’re doing. Thank you,” he concluded.
The game is still listed for $19.99 on Steam. It has been discounted to $14.99 from $19.99 on the Nintendo Store..
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU’s Nintendo Store entry
What do you make of Salim discounting the game and claiming he’s been harassed?
NEXT: Sweet Baby Inc. Style Consultancy Accused Of Pushing DEI Agenda On Konami’s ‘Silent Hill 2’ Remake
1. I love how they tried to be slick with the name bebe sucre.
2. Maybe if he didn’t work in/with sb, it wouldn’t have been boycotted
3. May there be many many more failures like this to come.
These people are disgusting – Ubisoft in particular is just scum of the earth. Never buying anything from them again.
There are certain hard truths that these people don’t seem to want to accept. A big one is that nobody owes you their cash and leisure time. This whole “It’s our time now” attitude doesn’t work because, while you can force your way into various dev studios, you can’t force people to care. And here’s an even bigger truth in my opinion. There is WAY more entertainment out there than people have time in which to consume it. So you need to be beyond excellent or at least be really lucky and land some game that just goes viral like Helldivers 2 or Lethal Company (both of which are good but probably not quite as excellent to deserve the mania they had.) But there’s such an insane amount of competition for people’s time out there that you can’t rightfully go and sulk when you don’t hit it big.
The dissonance here is astounding, especially since he’s related to groups that frequently erase and censor japanese culture, expressions and humor from japanese games while filling them with made up nonsense and western values under the excuse of “localization.”
Why do Japanese games need to be “localized” for western audiences if they’re “an opportunity to live in rich new worlds, to explore different perspective, to explore different cultures”?
Brainwashing sheep is easy just look at the world we live in today, what these people have not accounted for is individualism and people with functional brain matter still outnumbering them by far, so they figure they will just continue to destroy everything we love in an attempt to break us down and just give in to the communist mentality. to those people I say go f*ck yourself call me whatever name you like, nobody should take insane people seriously.